EDUCBA Logo

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Explore
    • EDUCBA Pro
    • PRO Bundles
    • Featured Skills
    • New & Trending
    • Fresh Entries
    • Finance
    • Data Science
    • Programming and Dev
    • Excel
    • Marketing
    • HR
    • PDP
    • VFX and Design
    • Project Management
    • Exam Prep
    • All Courses
  • Blog
  • Enterprise
  • Free Courses
  • Log in
  • Sign Up
Home Data Science Data Science Tutorials Power BI learn Power BI Waterfall Chart
 

Power BI Waterfall Chart

Priya Pedamkar
Article byPriya Pedamkar

Updated March 23, 2023

Power BI Waterfall Chart

 

 

Introduction to Power BI Waterfall Chart

In general, the Waterfall Chart is a kind of Column Chart that is used to show the data is increasing or decreasing from the starting point through the series of changes. In reality, we all have seen waterfalls, where waterfalls step on creating a series of iteration at different levels. Similarly, the Waterfall chart in any tool shows an increase and decrease in the data and iteration begins from the endpoint of the previous data set. This means if my first data point is 100 and the next data point is -50, so in the chart, my second data point will start from the end of the first data point giving +50 jump in the waterfall step. We will be seeing more in the upcoming examples.

Watch our Demo Courses and Videos

Valuation, Hadoop, Excel, Mobile Apps, Web Development & many more.

How to Use the Power BI Waterfall Chart?

The waterfall chart in Power BI shows any positive or negative variance (or difference) in the data with the help of up and down the rise in columns. The waterfall chart in Power BI is readily available under the visualization section as highlighted below.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-1

There are certain limitations of using the Power BI Waterfall Chart. For this, we should be having 2 numerical values from which we can calculate variance or difference to plot on the chart.

Below we have summarized sales data of around 8 months. We have Total Sale (Currency), Quantity sold and Target column. We can use the same data by uploading in Power BI and then calculate variance using DAX or else we can get the difference of number here itself first then upload it.

How to Create a Waterfall Chart in Power BI?

For creating the waterfall chart in Power BI consider the below data that we are going to use. So you can download the excel workbook from the below link which is used for this example.

You can download this Power BI Waterfall Chart Excel Template here – Power BI Waterfall Chart Excel Template

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-2

Let’s do the variance calculation in Power BI only.

  • As we have data, so we will upload it to Power BI. For this, click on Get Data option under the Home menu tab.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-3

  • Select the source of a file that has data. As we can see, our data is in an Excel file so we will select the same.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-4

  • Browse the file location and click on Open.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-5

  • Select the sheet with data from the Navigator window. Once we check the box, then click on Load to upload the data in Power BI.

Load data Example 1-6

  • We will be able to see the uploaded data fields under the Fields section.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-7

  • This is the uploaded data under the Data tab.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-8

  • We will create a column to find the variance or difference between the Target quantity and Actual quantity sold. For this, under the Modeling tab, click on New Column.

Create New Column Example 1-9

  • Once we do that, we will get a new dummy column with no data as shown below.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-10

  • Change the name of a column as per need.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-11

  • To get the difference or variance, we will subtract the Target quantity sold from Quantity sold column as shown below.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-12

  • Press the Enter key to continue. We will get a new column with a calculated field of Difference in Sale.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-13

  • Now go to Report view, and select Waterfall chart from the visualization section as shown below.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-14

  • Now to plot the waterfall, drag Month into Category and Difference in Sale into Y-Axis just like creating the graph in a normal axis.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-15

  • After that, we will get a waterfall chart with the data we used.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-16

  • Now to make the chart a little more attractive and easy to understand for the users, we will add data labels here.

Add data labels Example 1-17

  • We can do further formatting from the Format section.
  • We have a few more options if we click on 3 Dots (…) as highlighted below. This will give the list which has Export Date, Show data, Spotlight, Sorting.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-18

  • Let’s sort the data by month and see what changes.

Sort data by month Example 1-19

  • We will see the data has been sorted the way it should be in the Waterfall Chart.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-20

As we can see in the created waterfall chart, when there is a positive change in data, it is shown with Green color up columns where negative change is shown as Red color fall columns. And the final total sum is shown in Blue color.

Now if we want to further format the chart that can be done using the Format section.

  • We can change the color of column from Sentiment Colors section by which we can define any of the color which we want.

Sentiment Colors section Example 1-21

  • We can even change the Background color of the chart as per our choice and need.

Background color option Example 1-22

  • Then we have Title. It helps us to see the name of the chart. We can even customize the name here as shown below.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-23

  • Under the format, we have a Border option. By which we can change the color border if we want.

Border Option Example 1-24

  • If we try to sum up the data which we used. We can see, out of 8 months, 4 months the sale is below the target. And there is a major fall in May month with 891 quantities.

Power BI Waterfall Chart Example 1-25

NOTE: Power BI Waterfall Chart file can also be downloaded from the link below and the final output can be viewed.
You can download this Power BI Waterfall Chart Template here – Power BI Waterfall Chart Template

Pros of Power BI Waterfall Chart

  • It gives a comparison between the target and actual data values.
  • We can easily analyze the data and see where we need to work on for improvement.
  • We can create a Power BI Waterfall Chart with any data even after creating a column chart as well.

Things to Remember

  • We can use DAX to create different calculated fields.
  • We need to calculate or have a variance to get the difference in each iteration.
  • Always try to show the gain in data with Greenish color and fall in the data with Red or dark color.
  • Power BI automatically inserts the variance column if we don’t have it.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Power BI Waterfall Chart. Here we discuss how to use, create and format Waterfall Chart in Power BI along with a practical example. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –

  1. Steps to Create Power BI Dashboard Samples
  2. How to Use the IF Statement in Power BI?
  3. Power BI Reports (Example with Templates)
  4. How to Use Visual Maps in Power BI?
  5. Steps to Create Power BI Charts

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Follow us!
  • EDUCBA FacebookEDUCBA TwitterEDUCBA LinkedINEDUCBA Instagram
  • EDUCBA YoutubeEDUCBA CourseraEDUCBA Udemy
APPS
EDUCBA Android AppEDUCBA iOS App
Blog
  • Blog
  • Free Tutorials
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Log in
Courses
  • Enterprise Solutions
  • Free Courses
  • Explore Programs
  • All Courses
  • All in One Bundles
  • Sign up
Email
  • [email protected]

ISO 10004:2018 & ISO 9001:2015 Certified

© 2025 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

EDUCBA

Download Power BI Waterfall Chart Excel Template

EDUCBA
Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

By continuing above step, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

EDUCBA

Download Power BI Waterfall Chart Excel Template

Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more

🚀 Limited Time Offer! - ENROLL NOW