Compare Sales Forecast with Actual

[RichUE]

I want to generate two superimposed line charts to represent, during a
particular month:
a) forecast sales (accumulated)
b) actual sales as they are taken (accumulated)

I want to be able to directly compare the progress of actual sales with the
forecast, and a prediction of month end sales.

The forecast sales values and expected dates are entered at the start of the
month. The actual sales are entered daily by checking a separate resource and
entering sales values and corresponding dates. Multiple sales values may be
forecast and taken on the same date.

By the end of the month, in an ideal scenario, all the forecast sales values
will have been entered in the actual column at the forecast date and the
actual total will match the forecast total. In practice, however, the actual
dates may vary from the forecast dates, and perhaps not all the sales will
have been taken. The shortfall should be obvious from the chart.

This sounds to me like two separate charts, because although the range of
dates (month start to month end) is the same for forecast and actual, I can't
use a single column date range for both.

Any advice please?
I'm sure this must have already been done, but I've looked at online
templates and not found anything suitable.

I'm using Excel 2003.

 

[Jon Peltier]

Rather than two separate charts, use one chart, of type XY, with two
separate sets of XY data. Make the chart with one set of XY data, then copy
the other set, select the chart, and use Paste Special to add the data as a
new series, with category data in the first column (or row).

- Jon

 

[RichUE]

Jon

I tried your suggestion, but the new series seems to use the X range of the
pre-existing series.
--
Richard

Search the web and raise money for charity at www.everyclick.com

Rather than two separate charts, use one chart, of type XY, with two
separate sets of XY data. Make the chart with one set of XY data, then copy
the other set, select the chart, and use Paste Special to add the data as a
new series, with category data in the first column (or row).

- Jon

 

[David Biddulph]

What Jon said was:
"... add the data as a new series, with category data in the first column
(or row)."
The last phrase is significant.
--
David Biddulph

Jon

I tried your suggestion, but the new series seems to use the X range of
the
pre-existing series.

 

[Jon Peltier]

If you make an XY chart, not a line chart, this will not happen.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

Jon

I tried your suggestion, but the new series seems to use the X range of
the
pre-existing series.

 

[Jon Peltier]

True, but if the initial chart was a line chart, the added series will still
assume the original series' X values.

- Jon

 

[RichUE]

I changed the Chart Type to XY so now I can compare two XY plots - thanks.
I'm just puzzled that the points on each XY plot are not joined up. I used
the 'joined up' chart version. Specifically, two of the forecast series are
joined (3 not), and three of the actual series (3 not).

 

[Jon Peltier]

You mean the markers are not connected by lines? If the cells between the
data points are actual blank cells (not "" returned by a formula), then go
to Tools menu > Options > Chart tab, and choose the Interpolate option for
dealing with blank cells.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
774-275-0064
208-485-0691 fax
(e-mail address removed)
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

 

[RichUE]

Thanks, Jon. All the markers are connected now.

 

[RichUE]

Now that I have a working chart (thanks to the forum members), am I 'stuck'
with an XY scatter chart to superimpose two different X->Y relationships? Is
it possible to change one of the scatter charts to a column style? When I've
tried this for the Actual chart, the columns use the X parameters from the
Forecast chart instead. Thius gives wrong information because the Actual
sales values are taken on different dates from Forecast sales.

 

[Jon Peltier]

If you're showing a relationship between variables, the column chart type is
probably not a great choice. If your problem is the starting point of chart
series, well, XY series don't care, but line or column series need you to
space out the later-starting series with blanks. It's illustrated in this
post:

http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/2008/06/06/category-axis-tricks-for-line-and-area-charts-1/

- Jon