Create an icon chart

The Icon chart is a visual presentation of data using icons. It shows repetitions of the same icon (symbol) to show comparison of multiple classes (categories) of data.

  1. When to use an icon chart?
  2. Create an icon chart
  3. Change colors and icons
  4. Configure the icon chart
  5. Example

When to use an icon chart?

The icon chart is useful to compare different categories. 

It allows to see clearly the composition of the dataset as each icon (symbol) represents the portion of the dataset that fits a category.

If you need to compare more categorizations/dimensions, maybe a bar chart would be a better idea (article here)

Create an icon chart

To create an icon chart:

  • Click "Analytics" in the main menu (left)
  • Click the + sign
  • To create the new analytics report, you must:
    • Enter a name
    • Select a dataset
    • Select an output type (in this case: Icon chart)
    • Click Save
  • A draft data visualization will be displayed
  • Configure your report:
    • Click the "Toolbox icon" to open the configuration panel
    • Configure the chart to fit your needs
    • Click "Generate" to see the result
  • Click "Save" to save the report
  • If you open this icon chart in the future, it will be updated to reflect newly added data. So if you need to keep the report that reflects the current data, you must export it.

Change colors and icons

The colors and icons used to represent each category can be changed. 

If you need to change the symbol and color assigned to each category, please refer to the " manage systems lists" article here

Please note that only the administrator (and sometimes other users with this specific access rights) can manage systems lists and therefore change the colors and icons.

Configure the icon chart

In the configuration panel of the icon chart, you will see the following parameters:

Parameter Details Example or Link
Calculation method Allows to select the calculation that will be applied (Average, Sum, Count, etc.) For more details, you can read the "Calculation methods" article.
Field Allows to select the field that will be calculated. This must be a numerical field.
Display the value as a percentage If the labels are displayed, you will see the proportion of the slice Example: The dataset has 15 rows. 3 of them are in category A. Then if this box is checked, it will display "20%" instead of displaying "3" in the slice representing category A.
Disaggregation Field (categories) that will be compared  (this could be gender/region/sectors, etc.)
Distinct values Allows to count items only once and avoid duplicates Example: a participant could have attended multiple activities of the same type. If you need to count participations only once per attendee/type, then you need to select the Attendee field as a distinct value.

For more details, you can read the "Distinct count" article.
Dropdown lists: use predefined colors Allows to color icons using the colors attributed to each category. Otherwise, colors will be attributed randomly For more details, you can read the "Manage system lists" article.
Dropdown lists: use system list icons Allows to use icons attributed to each category. Otherwise, icons will be a default "page" icon (or you can change the default icon too) For more details, you can read the "Manage system lists" article.
Filters Allows to filter out part of the dataset This is optional.

Example

In this example, we want to see the proportion of male vs female (for the value of a disaggregated indicator.)

This example uses the "Indicator disaggregated values" dataset.

Parameter Chosen option for the parameter
Calculation method Sum
Field Overall cumulative
Disaggregation Gender
Distinct values (columns) not applicable - empty
Dropdown lists: use predefined colors Checked (yes)
Dropdown lists: use system lists icons Checked (yes)
Filters Project = the project for which we want that information
+ Last actual only (because we want to compare male vs female for the last value that was entered)