Bullet Chart

Bullet is a type of Column or Bar chart where we display series one above the other, and later in their display settings we determine the way the series overlap. This is a simple chart that is suitable for comparing one larger and one smaller size, e.g. Budget and Actual sales values. How to create this type of chart you will find out in the following “recipe”…

Let’s start with a simple table that shows Budget and Actual sales values ​​by strategic business units within one corporation.

We will first create a Clustered Bullet chart and format it as desired. Then, select the first series (Budget), and from the context menu, start the Format Data Series option. In the properties panel, set the Series Overlap parameter to 100%, and the Gap Width to 30%. Then repeat the settings for the second series of data (Actual), specify that this data is displayed on the secondary axis, and then set the Gap Width to 80%. Set the Budget series to be displayed in light blue and the Actual series to be displayed in dark blue. Set the axes to equal scale, then remove the secondary axis. The resulting chart is a Bullet chart.