Cycle Plot Archives - Power BI Visuals by Nova Silva

Cycle Plot for Power BI – October 2024 Update

A cycle plot is a powerful tool for visualizing and understanding seasonal patterns in time series data. Unlike traditional line graphs, which may obscure cyclical trends, cycle plots separate data into cycles (e.g., months, days, or quarters) and plot them individually for each period within a cycle.

This method highlights within-cycle variations and trends across cycles. For example, a cycle plot of monthly sales over several years would display each month’s trend over time, making it easier to identify whether certain months consistently perform better or worse. It also reveals how overall trends (like yearly growth) affect individual periods.

Cycle plots are particularly useful for businesses and analysts who need to identify seasonality in sales, website traffic, or other metrics. By visualizing data this way, decision-makers can better plan for seasonal peaks and troughs, optimize inventory, and tailor marketing efforts.

In summary, cycle plots offer a clearer and more detailed perspective on time series data, making them an essential tool for uncovering and leveraging seasonal patterns.

Try the Cycle Plot for FREE now on your own data by downloading it from the AppSource.

Every month Microsoft publishes a summary of all the new features in Power BI within their Power BI Blog. In the May 2021 post we got the opportunity to introduce our Cycle Plot for Power BI to the Power BI community. Here you have our contribution to the Power BI Blog.

Time series are great to clarify changes over time in measures. The line chart is the favourite chart for this data. But displaying results with a normal line chart can also hide important patterns. This happens when the measure contains seasonality. The Cycle Plot is a special line chart developed to show seasonal time series. It helps you to visualise trends within seasonal data. It has the strengths of common line charts. But without hiding cyclical patterns.

Let’s explain with an example. Say we are looking at items sold over a number of weeks. We expect to sell more on weekdays compared to the weekend. A line chart will show low values during the weekend and higher values during the week. However, it’s hard to tell if sales on Mondays are increasing or decreasing over the weeks. With the Cycle Plot a subplot can be created for each day. You can show the change in sales over time for that day. All the subplots together still show the seasonal pattern as well, as seen in the image above.

Don’t hesitate and try the Cycle Plot now on your own data by downloading it from the AppSource. All features are available for free to evaluate this visual within Power BI Desktop.