Visualizations → Sankey

About a Sankey Visualization

A Sankey chart visualizes the flow rate between two or more nodes. A node can be a source node, a target node, or both. Incorta dynamically determines an intermediary node, a node which is a source and a target. For intermediary nodes, a user can select a node in the visualization, and filter by source or target.

The flow lines that link between source and target nodes show as individual colored bands that visualize the weight of the measure via the width of the band. In this sense, each link has three parameters: from, to, and weight.

Important

In this release, all columns must be a data backed column or persisted computed column from a physical schema table (formula column). A Sankey insight will not recognize a runtime formula column for a measure. A runtime formula column exists in the insight itself or exists as a formula column in a business schema view. In addition, because of dynamic associations, Filter by Source and Target will invoke errors for a Source or Target which are runtime formula columns.

Configurable Properties of a Sankey Insight in the Analyzer

The available trays for a Sankey insight within the Insight panel are:

Source: Add a column or formula to this tray to represent the source node.
Target: Add a column or formula to this tray to represent the target node.
Measure: Add a column or formula to this tray to represent the flow line.
Individual Filter: Add a column or formula to this tray as an individual filter.
Aggregate Filter: Add a column or formula to this tray as an aggregate filter.

A column or formula in a tray is a Pill. Each pill has configurable properties. The parent tray determines the available properties of a pill. Select the arrow to the right of the pill name to view the Properties panel and set the pill properties.

Sankey Source and Target Pill Properties

Here are the Sankey properties for the pills in the Source and Target trays:

Property	Control	Description
Data → Sort By	drag and drop	Drag and drop the column or formula to sort the source or target nodes by
Format → Date Format	drop down list	Select the format of the formula or date column. This option is available only when you edit the pill properties for a date column or a formula.
Format → Date Mask	text box	Enter a customized date format or select a predefined one to appear in this text box
Format → Quarter/Month Format	drop down list	Select the format of the date column. The options are: ● No Format ● Prefix ● Short ● Long. This property is available only when you set Date Part to Quarter or Month.
Drill Down → Dashboards Drill down	link	Select + Add Dashboard to select a dashboard tab to drill down to when the user clicks on the source or target node
Dashboard → Include Runtime Filters	toggle	Enable this property to pass a filter from one dashboard to another
Add Dashboard → Search Dashboard	text box	Enter a search string to filter the dashboard tree. From the results, select a dashboard tab to drill down to.

Sankey Measure Pill Properties

Here are the Sankey properties for the pills in the Measure tray:

Property	Control	Description
Data → Aggregation	drop down list	The default and only possible value for a Sankey chart is Sum
Data → Scale	drop down list	Select the chart scale. The options are: None Percent (%) Thousands (K) Millions (M) The default is None.
Data → Running Total	toggle	Enable this property to display the source and target counts as a running total
Data → Filter	drag and drop	Drag and drop a formula or column to filter the Sankey chart by an intermediary node
Format	select	Select the format of the measure (e.g. Dollar Rounded)
Format → Decimal Places	text box	This property appears when you select Decimal, Dollar, Euro, Yen, or Percent as the Format. Enter the number of decimal places to display for the measure value.
Format → Thousands Separator	toggle	This property appears for all Format options, except No Format. Enable this property to include a comma separator for values of 1000 or greater.
Format → Abbreviate on Hover	toggle	Enable this property to abbreviate the measure value upon hover
Drill Down → Dashboards Drill down	link	Select + Add Dashboard to select a dashboard tab to drill down to when the user clicks on the measure value in the table column
Add Dashboard → Include Runtime Filters	toggle	Enable this property to pass a filter from one dashboard to another
Add Dashboard → Search Dashboard	text box	Enter a search string to filter the dashboard tree. From the results, select a dashboard tab to drill down to.
Advanced → Base Field	drag and drop	Drag and drop the column to join two tables that are not directly joined. See the Base Table Concept for more detail.
Advanced → Query Plan	button	Select this property to reveal the direct data map path that the Incorta Analytics Service uses to retrieve or calculate the measure

Sankey Individual Filter Properties

Here are the Sankey properties for the pills in the Individual Filter tray:

Property	Control	Description
Operator	drop down list	Select the operator to use in the filter criteria
Values	multi-select	Select the value(s) to filter the chart data by. Enter a string in the search bar to filter the list of values. To add a value to the list, enter it in the text box below the list and select +.

Sankey Aggregate Filter Properties

Here are the Sankey properties for the pills in the Aggregate Filter tray:

Property	Control	Description
Aggregation	drop down list	Select the aggregation type. Options are: Count Distinct None
Operator	drop down list	Select the operator to use in the filter criteria
Values	multi-select	Select the value(s) to filter the chart data by. Enter a string in the search bar to filter the list of values. To add a value to the list, enter it in the text box below the list and select +.

Sankey Insight Settings

Here are the Sankey properties for the Insight Settings that appear when you select Settings (gear icon) in the Action bar.

Property	Control	Description
General → Max Rows	text box	Enter the maximum number of rows to include in the chart
General → Auto Refresh	toggle	Enable this property to automatically update the insight when the underlying data is updated
Layout → Data Labels	toggle	Enable this property to display data labels
Advanced → Max Groups	text box	Set the maximum number of groups that cannot be exceeded in the Insight

Create a Sankey Insight Visualization

For an existing dashboard, to create a Sankey visualization insight, follow these steps:

To add a new insight to the dashboard tab, in the Action bar, select +.
If needed, in the Analyzer, in the Data panel, select Manage Dataset.
In the Manage Data Sets panel, select one or more business schema views and/or one or more physical schema tables.
To close the Manage Data Sets panel, select X or any other area of the Analyzer.
In the Insight panel, select Listing Table or V (down arrow).
In the Insight panel, in Charts, select Sankey.
From the Data panel to the Insight panel, add…
- one column or formula to Source
- one column or formula to Target
- one data backed column to Measure
To save your changes, in the Actions bar, select Save.

Sankey Insight Example

Create a Sankey insight that shows the flow of resources between countries.

Resource Flow Example Data

You can use the example data below to create an external data source and Resource Flow schema.

Country_Source, Country_Target, Resources
Brazil, Portugal, 5
Brazil, Spain, 1
Canada, Portugal, 1
Mexico, Portugal, 1
Mexico, Spain, 5
Portugal, Egypt, 2
Portugal, Senegal, 1
Portugal, Morocco, 1
Spain, Senegal, 1
Spain, Morocco, 3
Egypt, China, 5
Egypt, India, 1
Egypt, Japan, 3
Senegal, China, 5
Senegal, Japan, 3
Morocco, China, 5
Morocco, India, 1
Morocco, Japan, 3

In the example above, there are several countries that are both source and targets: Portugal, Spain, Senegal, Egypt, and Morocco. Incorta dynamically calculates the weight for the bands between source and target nodes.

Add an insight

In the Action bar, select +.
In the Data panel, select Manage Dataset.
In the Manage Data Sets panel, in Tables, select the sch_Resource_Flow schema.
Close the Manage Data Sets panel.
In the Insight panel, under Tables, select Sankey.
From the Data panel
- Drag and drop Country_Source to the Source tray.
- Drag and drop Country_Target to the Target tray.
- Drag and drop Resources to the Measure tray.
Name the insight Flow of Resources between Countries.
Select Save.

Available User Interactions for a Sankey Insight on a Dashboard Tab

As a Dashboard Consumer, there are several actions you can take to customize the Sankey insight to fit your specific needs.

Filter the Sankey

Select a source node, intermediate node, or target node to filter the Sankey by. When you select an intermediate node, you will need to select whether you want to filter with the intermediate node acting as the source or target.

Download the Sankey

Select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis icon) for the Sankey insight.
Select Download.
Select the download file format:
- PNG
- JPEG
- PDF
- SVG

View the Sankey Chart as a Table

Select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis icon) for the Sankey insight.
Select View as Table, and select the table type:
- Regular
- Aggregated

Set an Alert when Data in the Sankey Insight Changes

Select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis icon) for the Sankey insight.
Select Set Alert. Refer to the Scheduler document for additional information on Data Alerts.

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