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Sankey

Abstract

Use a Sankey chart when visualizing the flow between sets of values.

A Sankey chart is great to use when visualizing the flow between sets of values. A more complex Sankey will have multiple levels. To build a Sankey chart in Symon.AI, we require the following pieces of information:

  • From - First column of the Sankey chart

  • To - Final column of the Sankey chart

  • Value - Numerical

Sankey.svg

To create a Sankey diagram, you need to have data segmented into categories.

Caution

You cannot create a Sankey diagram with cyclical values. The From and To fields cannot contain the same values if they would flow into each other. Put another way, if a value would flow from one category into the same category, this will cause an error.

When to use this tool

Use a Sankey diagram when you want to show how values map between two categories.

Example

You could use a Sankey chart to show how budget categories flow into different departments. This is a simple example with only a few categories, but you can use Sankey diagrams to show complex value flows. Our example data set looks like this:

Department

Budget (in thousands)

Category

Sales

80

Personnel

Sales

40

IT

Sales

20

Misc.

Development

120

Personnel

Development

67

IT

Development

30

Misc.

Support

75

Personnel

Support

45

IT

Support

12

Misc.

HR

72

Personnel

HR

20

IT

HR

10

Misc.

When we create a Sankey diagram using this data, we can show how each department's budget flows into the different categories. We can easily see which departments are spending the most in each category and how much of our total budget each category represents.

Sankey_from-to.png

Creating a Sankey diagram with more than 2 columns

Tip

When creating a Sankey diagram with more than 2 columns, it is helpful to do some planning in advance, and consider how to organize your data set.

For example, below is a sample data set. Investigate and think about how A flows to B, and then B to C. Map and write that down before listing the ribbons below A.

Table 46. Sample sankey data set

From

To

Value

A1

B1

4

A1

B2

2

A2

B1

1

A2

B2

3

A3

B1

2

A3

B2

1

B1

C1

2

B1

C2

2

B1

C3

3

B2

C1

2

B2

C2

4



This data set illustrates this Sankey diagram:

Screen_Shot_2021-02-05_at_7_46_02_AM.png