Line, Column, and Area Graphs

This is a premium feature, purchased separately from your standard OnePager license.

The most significant enhancement that OnePager 8.0 brings is the ability to add graphs (line graphs, column graphs, and area graphs) to the top or bottom of your timeline or Gantt chart. These graphs summarize numerical information over the life of your project. Examples include:

• Monthly Budgeted Cost
• Cumulative Actual Cost, Accrued Monthly
• Weekly Hours Worked
• Monthly Units Produced
• Quarterly CO2 Emissions

Types of Graphs

There are five basic types of graphs.

Line Graph: Plots a series of data in a line. This example shows individual data points, which can be formatted as needed, or disabled entirely.

Smooth Line Graph: Similar to a line graph, but with smoothed curves between values. Data points are not shown in this example.

Column Graph: Also known as a bar graph, this option draws a column for each value.

Area Graph: Shades the area underneath the line.

Smooth Area Graph: Similar to the area graph, but with a smoothed line.

Creating a Basic Graph

To create a simple graph, follow these steps:

1. Go to Home > Chart Properties > Graphs/Data Cells. Click on the Panel #1 tab, and check the box to Display as Graph:

   

   OnePager supports a total of three Panels, meaning that your chart can have a total of three separate graphs. For simplicity, we'll only create one graph on the first panel for now.

2. Pick the Time Unit that you would like to use in your graph. We recommend longer-duration units like months, quarters, or years. Shorter-duration units may create graphs that are hard to read.

   

3. Pick the field that you would like to graph. For Microsoft Project, Cost is a good choice. For Primavera P6, try the Actual Total Cost field. Most numeric fields can be graphed, so if you use different fields or a different project management system altogether, feel free to pick something different.

   

4. Choose a Graph Type:

   

5. Click OK, and OnePager will create the graph based on the settings that you selected:

   

Graphs with Multiple Series

A graph can have up to three series, meaning that you can plot data from three different fields on the same graph to save space. To enable additional series in the same graph:

1. Check the box for Series B:

   

2. For this second series, set the Field to Actual Cost:

   

3. The second series does not have to be the same Graph Type as the first series. In other words, it's possible for the first series to be a Line Graph, while the second series is a Column Graph. However, in this case, we will keep both series a line graphs. To distinguish the two, we can set the Series Style to different colors for each series:

   

4. Click OK, and OnePager will add the second series to the same graph. The Graph Legend in the upper right-hand corner of the chart helps distinguish between the two lines:

   

5. In case where you have multiple series, and each series is a column graph, OnePager will combine them, and will give you the choice to either Stack Vertically or Splay Horizontally:

   

6. When splaying horizontally, the columns for each series are situated left-to-right, like this:

   

7. When stacking vertically, the columns for each series sit on top of each other, like this:

   

Graph Formatting

There are several elements of the graph where users can fine-tune formatting.

Y-Axis

By default, the Y-Axis will generate automatically based on the values in the graph. For example, if graphed values range between 0-100, the Y-Axis will match that range and will provide reasonable tic marks between the minimum and maximum values. However, users can change these and other settings by clicking on the Y-Axis Properties button:

Important settings include:

• Title: Display the name of the field that you are graphing, or create a custom title with different text
• Tic Units: Let OnePager determine the minimum and maximum units for tic marks, and how big of a Step between each tic, or set your own values.
• Tic Line Style: Control the line color, width, and dash type of tic marks, as well as whether they appear in the graph, on the Y-Axis, or both.
• Tic Number Format: If you need to add a currency symbol, thousands separator, or a certain number of decimal places, you can do so here.
• Tic Label Multiplier: The multiplier enables you to reduce the number of digits on the Y-Axis and replace it with a word instead. For example, instead of $12,000, you could have your Y-Axis show $12, and then have "Thousands" in the title instead:

  

X-Axis

In many cases, the X-Axis isn't necessary, but it can be useful if you have multiple series displayed side-by-side that you would like to distinguish. You can configure it by clicking on the X-Axis Properties button:



Important settings include:

• Title & Label Height: This controls the amount of whitespace at the bottom of the graph.
• Axis Title: The title appears at the bottom of the X-Axis, and can either contain text that OnePager generates automatically or your own custom text. You can also change the font of the title as needed.
• Labels: In the case of a column chart with multiple series below, these labels help distinguish between Cost and Actual Cost. We've turned on a 90-degree rotation to make sure that text fits cleanly in the available space:

  

Graph Legend

The graph legend is a special-purpose legend that only applies to elements of the graph like series or pivot values. It is separate from the chart legend which depicts formatting of tasks and milestones. It's possible to have both legends displayed in your chart:



To enable, disable, or configure the graph legend, go to Home > Chart Properties > Graphs/Data Cells. From there, you can check or uncheck the box to show or hide the graph legend, or click on Legend Properties to make other changes:



You can also click on the graph legend with your mouse and drag it to a different location in your chart or resize it to be larger or smaller.

Advanced Settings

For users who need to perform more advanced computations in their graphs, OnePager provides the following advanced settings:



Function

The Function setting lets you apply statistical functions to your graph. For example, you might want to graph the average cost of each task instead of summing the cost of all tasks. Options include:

• Minimum
• Maximum
• Average
• Median
• Mode
• Sum: This is the default



Cumulative

The Cumulative checkbox tells OnePager whether you would like the graph to show values for the specific period, or whether each period should add the values from the previous period.

For example, if you have a three-month project with 40 hours of work per month, a cumulative graph would show 40 hours for the first month, 80 hours for the second month, and 120 hours for the third month, while a non-cumulative graph would only show the 40 hours worked in each separate month.

Interpolation

Some PPM systems like Microsoft Project and Primavera P6 give users the ability to assign cost and work on a time-phased basis. For example, you might have a 30-day task where the total cost is $300, but the cost is non-linear, with $10 allocated on day one, $90 allocated on day 20, and the remaining $200 allocated on day 30. If you have time-phased cost or work in you project plan and want OnePager to build a graph with this level of precision, you should set Interpolation to Time-Phased.

On the other hand, Linear interpolation is a simpler calculation, where OnePager takes the total cost of a task and divides it by its total duration. Using the same $300 example, the cost would be the same $10 for each of the 30 days.

Include

This option lets you decide which values from your project should be included in the graph. For example, you may only bring in a certain number of tasks for your Gantt chart or timeline, but might want costs computed across the entire project, even for tasks that you are not displaying. There are two choices:

• All Tasks: OnePager will include all tasks in the graph, regardless of whether those tasks are displayed in the chart or not.
• Flagged Tasks: OnePager only include flagged tasks in the graph.

In both cases, OnePager ensures that if cost appears for both a child task and its parent, the cost will only be counted once, which avoids duplication.