Are you on track to meet your sales goal?  How many more opportunities do you need to add to the pipeline to meet your goal? A sales gap analysis with this simple cascade chart helps answer these questions:

The first and last columns are straightforward.  The sales team closed $398K in business year-to-date and its yearly sales target is $3,000K.  The  second through fifth columns represent the value of opportunities in the sales pipeline.  I use weighted value in these columns.  That is, I multiply the value of opportunities in the qualified lead stage by the probability that deals in this stage will close.  The sixth column contains the gap.  In our example, the sales team will need to bring enough deals into the pipeline and bring them to close by year-end to generate $692k in revenue.

I use this sales gap analysis to track Mekko Graphics enterprise sales against our yearly goal and find it very helpful.  It’s a key part of the sales pipeline dashboard that is up on SlideShare with the link below:

The post Sales Gap Analysis: Tracking Sales Versus Target appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

One way to increase sales revenue is to increase the percentage of opportunities in the pipeline that you close.  You can measure close rate by dividing opportunities won by opportunities won and lost in a specific time period.  The time period should be fairly long to get a large enough sample of opportunities.  I would typically use a full year as my time period.

Using a Bar-mekko chart you can display close rate versus total number value of opportunities.  In the chart below, I mapped close rate by pipeline stage:

The Bar-mekko allows you to constrast close rate and deal volume.  As you would expect, close rate is inversely related to deal stage.  The later stages have higher close rates.

You can make a similar chart for close rate by product line, industry vertical, sales geography or sales rep.  This will give you a better sense of your higher.  Here is an example of close rate by product line:

I added an average line that allows you to quickly identify which product lines have better and worse than average close rates.  This chart should help senior management allocate resources for sales or product development based on product line.

It’s a key part of the sales pipeline dashboard that is up on SlideShare with the link below:

The post Charting Sales Close Rate with a Bar-Mekko appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

I track three types of sales activity–new opportunities, opportunities won and opportunities lost.  I make a separate Marimekko chart for each.  The first chart contains new opportunities by product line:

Each segment represents a new opportunity added last week.  You should include customer name and type of opportunity in the segment description.  Senior management gets both an overall sense of new activity and can see and possibly assist with specific opportunities.

The second chart contains opportunities won by product line.  It’s a great way to share and celebrate wins.  You can even highlight an important win in red.The third chart shows opportunities lost.  This is grouped by pipeline stage.  The message isn’t positive, but it is important.

 These charts are part of a sales pipeline dashboard that you can produce weekly.  Here is the full dashboard in SlideShare:

The post Last Week’s Sales Activity in 3 Marimekko Charts appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Several of our customers have asked us for a way to generate Mekko Graphics charts programmatically.  They want to set some parameters (e.g., region, product line and time period) on a web page or form and Mekko Graphics produce a chart.  They could then view the chart on the web and/or download a PowerPoint slide containing the chart.  We developed the Mekko Graphics application programming interface (API) to allow developers to build applications that generate Mekko Graphics charts.

You can learn more about the API at our webinar on March 12th.  We will describe what the API allows you to do and demonstrate how to use it in an application.  The webinar will not be very technical.  It will just give you an overview.  We will also cover our ‘Link to Excel’ function.  This is a simpler, but less sophisticated way to automate chart updates.  It assumes your chart data is stored in Excel.

You can also learn more about our API at the API page on our web site.   We have a description of the API and links to documentation and a sample application.  We will be adding other sample applications.

Customers using the API find that it’s a great way to quickly and easily produce high quality charts.  The charts are in PowerPoint so that it’s easy to share them with senior management and key customers.  The charts are also editable by the presenter, since they are standard Mekko Graphics chart.

If you’d like more information on the API I’d encourage you to attend the webinar and check out our API web page.  Feel free to contact us for more details on how to integrate the API into your application.  We are available to support your developers or to take on API projects.

The post Automating Your Charts with the Mekko Graphics API appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Here is a great example of using a Marimekko chart to map a market.  Burton-Taylor produces a report on the Market Data/Analysis Spend in 2013.  Here’s a sample chart:

The chart gives you a great visual summary of the market:

• there are two major competitors that dominate each region and make up about 60-65% of the market
• they are about the same size and neither has a significant advantage over the other in a specific regio
• all other competitors are quite small and they vary somewhat by region.

The sample deck that Burton-Taylor provides has tow other Marimekko charts–a map of spend by region and customer vertical and a drill down into the competitors in a market segment.

These are good examples of the use of Marimekko charts for mapping a market.  I hope you find them useful.

The post Mapping the Financial Data Analysis Market in a Marimekko Chart appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

We’re excited about the launch of the next version of Mekko Graphics.  We’re in the final phases of testing.  It should be released in the next few weeks.  Here are some key features:

• Improved PowerPoint integration–we implemented double-click to launch Mekko Graphics charts, making it easier to move, re-size and activate our charts and to work with other objects on your PowerPoint slides.
  
• Axis breaks–you can now put a break into the Y axis of any bar or ine chart and into the X and Y axis in any bubble or scatter chart.  Axis breaks allow you to represent outliers in nay chart type and to highlight key data in cascade charts.
• Bar comparison lines–allow you to highlight difference between two bars in a stacked bar or cascade chart.  Show changes as a percentage or an absolute value.
• Improved interface and features for average lines–you can more easily place and move average lines.
• Added CAGR feature to growth lines and added CAGR formula to our spreadsheet.
• Enhanced quick launch–you can now add 1/2 page charts and multiple charts with one click.
• Email selected slides–send slides with a few mouse clicks, making it easier to share key slides without emailing the whole presentation.
• Reverse order is now an option for data rows.
• 30 day trial with no watermark–you’ll have more time to evaluate Mekko Graphics and you’ll be able to share the charts you’ve created with senior management or customers without the unsightly watermark.
• Enhanced color palette management.

It won’t be long before you get to try our latest version.  I hope you find that our new capabilities make it easier for you to create and edit strategic charts.

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Mekko Graphics is a sponsor of the MIT Sloan Private Equity Symposium on April 5th in Cambridge.  The event should be extremely informative–Gary Loveman, the CEO at Harrah’s and a former HBS professor and Steve Pagliuca, Managing Director of Bain Capital and Co-Owner of the Boston Celitcs will be keynote speakers.

We will be demonstrating our software and how its used at Private Equity firms.  Our focus will be on the strategic due diligence process.  We will show how our charts can answer questions like:

• Is the market attractive and will it remain attractive?
• Do the target firm’s products or services resonate with the customer?
• Will the competitive landscape change for the industry?
• Where are the opportunities for growth? Cost savings?

We’ll show you how private equity analysts use Marimekko, Bar-mekko, cascade and bubble charts.  If you’re attending the symposium , visit our booth to learn more.

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Overview – This release introduces several new features and ensures it is compatible with the latest in MS Platform and Office technologies.

New Capabilities

• Double click instead of one click to activate the chart

• Axis break functionality
• Bar comparison lines
• Improved interface and features for average lines
• Send selected slides button in PowerPoint
• Enhanced Preference Manager allowing for multiple palettes/themes

• Improved Growth Line:
  • added CAGR feature,
  • added CAGR formula to spreadsheet,
  • support for Cascade charts
• Compatibility with MS Office 2013 implemented
• Mekko Graphics is certified for Windows 8
• Improved installation supported for users without administrative rights

• Enhanced Quick Launch charts
• Add a “+” sign to positive values for Growth and Bar Comparison lines
• Updated Mekko Graphics Help
• Ability to ungroup/regroup chart

Corrected Issues

• Returned context (right-click) menu options to Update Chart and Refresh Excel Link (for selected Mekko Chart) for office 2010/2013
• Legacy charts now retain prefix and suffix in data rows when opened in Mekko 6
• Addressed several label size issues when opening legacy charts
• Mekko Graphics now retains decimal place on bar totals for legacy charts
• Fixed Undo issue for  legacy chart where chart becomes picture

The post Mekko Graphics 6.5.0.1850 Release Notes appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

I’m happy to announce that the latest version of Mekko Graphics is available for download on our web site.  In 2011, we committed to delivering two major versions of Mekko Graphics each year.  This is our Spring 2013 release, which we have numbered Mekko Graphics 6.5.  We’ve gathered feedback from many of our customers and have incorporated it into this version.  Here are the highlights:

• Improved PowerPoint integration–we implemented double-click to launch Mekko Graphics charts, making it easier to move, re-size and activate our charts and to work with other objects on your PowerPoint slides.
• Axis breaks–you can now put a break into the Y axis of any bar or line chart and into the X and Y axis in any bubble or scatter chart.  Axis breaks allow you to represent outliers in nay chart type and to highlight key data in cascade charts.
• Bar comparison lines–allow you to highlight difference between two bars in a stacked bar or cascade chart.  Show changes as a percentage or an absolute value.
• Improved interface and features for average lines–you can more easily place and move average lines.
• Added CAGR feature to growth lines and added CAGR formula to our spreadsheet.
• Enhanced quick launch–you can now add 1/2 page charts and multiple charts with one click.
• Email selected slides–send slides with a few mouse clicks, making it easier to share key slides without emailing the whole presentation.
• Reverse order is now an option for data rows.
• 30 day trial with no watermark–you’ll have more time to evaluate Mekko Graphics and you’ll be able to share the charts you’ve created with senior management or customers without the unsightly watermark.
• Enhanced color palette management.
• Improved installation, including the ability for users without administrative rights to install Mekko Graphics.
• Full compatibility with Office 2013 (64 and 32 bit) and Windows 8 (64 and 32 bit).  Mekko Graphics is Windows 8 certified.

I hope you like the changes we made in this new release.  We’re beginning to work on our Fall release.  Let me know if you have some suggestions for improvement.

The post Introducing Our Latest Version! appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

I had the opportunity this week to demonstrate how Mekko Graphics could meet the data analysis needs of today’s educators, who find themselves deluged with information from skills assessments, standardized tests, and other sources. In preparation, I created several charts to highlight Mekko Graphics’ ability to illustrate Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test results. Some of the resulting charts are included below along with the underlying source table.

2012 English Language Arts MCAS data by Population Group/Performance Level

The Marimekko charts above graphically answer the question “how are we doing by population group vs. the district?” They demonstrate that:

• On average, the students in each of the school’s population groups underperformed their district counterparts in 2012.
• The underperformance was slightly more acute amongst the school’s smaller population groups.

English Language Arts MCAS performance vs. Prior Year

The Stacked Bar chart above uses comparison lines to highlight the following trends:

• The percentage of students in the Warning/Fail performance level is trending in the right direction, lower.
• The percentage of students who scored Proficient is also trending positively, higher.
• Intervention may be required to reverse the 2% loss at the Advanced performance level.

Traditional tabular MCAS data

When it comes to MCAS results, Mekko Graphics charts illustrate the data more effectively than the traditional tabular format. As we continue our work in the educational space, we’ll publish additional examples that demonstrate Mekko Graphics’ ability to augment instructional technology products and transform the school improvement process through insightful analytical charting.

You can view the full presentation deck below.

The post Illustrating MCAS results in Mekko Graphics charts appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

We recently added an API sample application that generates a Market Map of Revenue by Region and Industry from data stored in an enterprise database. The Mekko Graphics API allows users to interact with the Marimekko chart in real time. For instance, they can:

• View the results for different years
• Customize the industries and regions displayed
• Highlight underperforming regions

Try the sample at http://www.mekkographics.com/product/mekko-graphics-api/interactive-market-map-demo. For more information about the Mekko Graphics application programming interface (API), visit http://www.mekkographics.com/product/mekko-graphics-api.

The post Our API Showcase Now Includes an Interactive Market Map appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Overview – This release is a minor update to Mekko Graphics 6.5

New Capabilities

• Added a link to Mekko Graphics online help, in addition to the built-in help
• Improved label sizing for bubble charts when saved in MG5 format
• Improved  visibility of the annotation icon, showing it as a toggle button for on/off

Corrected Issues

• Fixed Preference Manager so that margin changes are remembered
• Resizing or manually editing of Y-axis labels are now retained when close and re-open chart
• Improved error message when user tries to insert axis break at the wrong point
• Improved label font size when convert Mekko 5 chart to Mekko 6.5 charts
• Asian Font setting is now retained in Preference Manager Theme Editor

The post Mekko Graphics 6.5.1.1852 Release Notes appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Tables are great for comparing companies or divisions along a set of dimensions.  Sometimes you want to highlight significant quantitative differences in the table.  Instead of just putting the numbers in the table, try using a simple bar chart.  Here is an example that I borrowed from a McKinsey presentation for the US Ski Association:

I took the McKinsey example and implemented it using Mekko Graphics.  I created my table and used our Harvey Balls to add the checks and exes.  I then inserted a stacked bar chart and shrunk it into fit my table.  I added data, removed the Y axis, changed the axis scale and formatted the bar totals.  I then manipulated margins and chart size to get the chart to line up with the table.  I copied and pasted my first chart to create the other two.

Here is the PowerPoint slide with the table and charts.  It’s in SlideShare so that you can download it.

Here is a link to the McKinsey presentation.  I’d recommend reviewing it.  It’s rare that the work product of a consulting firm is made public.  It provides some good insights into how they work and how they structure their deliverables.

The post Adding Charts to a Table to Make Your Numbers Pop appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

You often want to drill down to show the detail in a specific chart segment.  Here’s an example from McKinsey that uses horizontal stacked bar charts as a drill down for a simple stacked bar:

The left-hand chart shows spending by region of the US Ski Association.  It’s split between allocated association expenses and regional expenses.  You can see the the Eastern Region has the most expenses and a large proportion of its expenses are allocated from USSA.

The two right-hand charts drill down into the components of the allocated and direct expenses for the Eastern Region.  These simple horizontal stacked bars provide an excellent means for drilling down.  I used a similar color palette and linking lines in PowerPoint to connect the summary data with the detail.

Here is the slide in SlideShare for you to download and edit:

The post Drilling Down with a Stacked Bar Chart appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Our latest version of Mekko Graphics now gives you the ability to have multiple custom palettes for your charts. Here you will find palettes that we have created to make it easy for you to download and change the look of your charts quickly. Some palettes look better than others on projectors or printed; be sure to test them for your intended use.

With our new and improved preference manager installing many different custom palettes is quick and simple. There is a short “Read Me” file included with each of the palette sets available for download.

You can view and download all of the palettes here.

Here are just a few of the palettes we’ve created for you:

The post New! Downloadable Custom Palettes appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Our latest version of Mekko Graphics now gives you the ability to have multiple custom palettes for your charts. Here you will find palettes that we have created to make it easy for you to download and change the look of your charts quickly.

We have provided you with 3 types of palettes used for representing different types of data:

• Qualitative palettes used for depicting different categories
• Sequential palettes for showing ordered data
• Diverging palettes used for representing continuous data where both low and high values are important

Using Different Types of Palettes

Qualitative — colors do not have a perceived order.

Qualitative palettes are excellent for marimekko charts, bar charts and pie charts, where colors correspond to categories.

These palettes give the same visual weight to each category so that no group is perceived to be larger or more important than any other one.

Here a Marimekko Chart shows individual projects

Sequential — colors have a perceived order and perceived difference between successive colors is uniform.

Sequential palettes are suited to ordered data that progress from low to high. Lightness steps dominate the look of these schemes, with light colors for low data values to dark colors for high data values.

Here a cascade chart uses a sequential palette to show individual bussiness line contributions to total expenses

Diverging — two back-to-back sequential palettes starting from a common color.

Diverging palettes put equal emphasis on mid-range critical values and extremes at both ends of the data range. The critical class or break in the middle of the legend is emphasized with light colors and low and high extremes are emphasized with dark colors that have contrasting hues.

This Horizontal bar chart uses a diverging color palette to display survey questions with a range from positive to negative responses

The post Using Different Types of Palettes appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Our latest version of Mekko Graphics now gives you the ability to have multiple custom palettes for your charts. Here you will find palettes that we have created to make it easy for you to download and change the look of your charts quickly.

Using Color the in Your Charts

When you use color the right way it will enhance and clarify a presentation.  An effective use of color will group related items and point your attention to the important information.  You want to present your information in an organized manner, making it easy for the viewer to understand the roles and the relationships between the elements.

Backgrounds

As a general rule, you should use a white background for your charts and graphs. While dark backgrounds were historically recommended for projected slides or computer displays to minimize the problem of projector light washing out visuals and text when displayed in a dark room, this is no longer the case. Modern displays and digital projectors are bright enough that they can be viewed in normal room lighting.

Choosing Colors in a Palette

It’s not always a good idea to apply all the colors in the palette at the same time. Using too many colors in a single chart can be confusing. Making strategic color choices to compare and contrast your data effectively will make your chart much more meaningful.

Contrast and Analogy

Contrast and analogy are the principles that define color design. Contrast is used to separate segments or categories. Analogy is used to group items together.

In this chart two color groups are used to differentiate two categories, project back log of less than or more than 80 hours. Analogous colors are used for segments within the same group; blue tones for segments in the more than 80 hours group and green tones for segments in the less than 80 hours group.

.

In this chart contrasting colors are used to distinguish distinct segments that are not related to each other.

In this chart a contrasting color is used to highlight one key series of of data.

The post Using Color in your Charts appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

Overview – This release is a minor update to Mekko Graphics 6.5

New Capabilities

• A new Slide Layout created: Two charts Top/Bottom
• Installation changes were made to support installation using a non-admin profile

Corrected Issues

• Mekko Graphics 6.5.3 now support this configuration: Win 8 (64) and Office 2013 (64)
• Fixed some remaining issues with label sizes when decks saved in MG5 format
• Legacy gantt charts convert properly when opened latest version
• Fixed a Preference Manager issue:  “Restore all Defaults” now restores default office
• Fixed minor issue when  typing in the Preference Manager margin fields
• Harvey balls are now inserting correctly in tables for Office 2003 users
• Export to Excel now works for Office 2003 users

The post Mekko Graphics 6.5.3.1860 Release Notes appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

I’ve spoken with a couple of market researchers over the past week and I demoed Mekko Graphics to them.  They pushed me to think about which Mekko Graphics features and chart types would be most useful for marketing professionals.  My focus is on market researchers, marketing analytics managers, category managers and product managers at both consumer packaged goods companies and other manufacturers and services firms.  I created the presentation below to highlight the key features.  Here is a quick summary:

• cascade charts show the factors that caused an increase in revenue from year-to-year.
• growth lines and CAGR columns highlight overall growth and growth by product line, channel or industry vertical
• bar comparison lines focus attention on changes between two specific time periods
• axis breaks allow you to collapse outlier data and highlight the most relevant changes
• Marimekko charts map markets along two dimensions (e.g., revenue by competitor and region).

I hope you find the presentation helpful.  Let me know if there’s anything I forgot.

You can view and download the presentation here:

The post Mekko Graphics for Marketing Professionals appeared first on Mekko Graphics.

A Mekko Graphics customer sent me a presentation on the Australian government budget.  It charted budget growth versus budget size by spending category in a bar-mekko chart.  I decided to try and reproduce the chart for the U.S. Federal budget.  I found a web site with budget stats (http://www.usfederalbudget.us/federal_budget_detail) and created the following chart:

The chart presents the projected compound annual growth in seven major spending categories from 2012 to 2017 along the Y axis and the size of the spending category in 2012 along the  axis (and as a data row).  The three major categories of non-discretionary spending are projected to increase significantly–interest, health care and pensions–and the discretionary spending categories (defense, education and other) are projected to decrease.

The bar-mekko is a good chart for comparing a percentage change to an absolute amount.  You can use it to highlight revenue or spending growth compared to current revenue or spending by category.  The analysis is valuable for both business and governments.

Here is the chart in PowerPoint for you to see how it was created:

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