Chart Component

A chart is a graphical way of displaying data. Charts vary greatly in format, from line plots to pie charts, 2D to 3D, and can represent tabular numerical data, functions, and more.

Common chart elements

  • Title: A chart title is text that conveys what information is represented by a chart. For instance, “2022 Employee Churn” or “Sales Team Size Versus Revenue.”

  • Axes: The Axes, most often X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) are labeled to signify the data they represent. Time labels are common for the X axis, and numerical data is commonly used for the Y axis. This example format is used to visually represent how a variable has changed over time. Pro tip: Internal lets you group chart X axes by multiple time components.

  • Plot: The plot is the area on the chart that displays the data. For instance, on a bar chart, this is the physical space that the bars would be.

  • Data point: A data point is one piece of the total data that is displayed on the chart. For example, a line graph is a series of data points connected by a line.

What is a chart component?

A chart component is a visualization that connects to a data source, and uses functions or data to populate the chart.

Chart components are extremely common in internal tools. Most internal software programs feature breakdowns and visualizations to help users understand how their efforts are performing. This is very generic, so here are a few examples:

Helpdesk software uses chart components to report on the status of tickets and cases, eg. how many get solved per day, how many are left unresolved, etc.

CRMs use chart components to show sales reports and stats like how many deals close per month, per salesperson, and so on.

HR software uses chart components to show information about payments over time, team size, and more.

Internal charts

Charts in Internal connect with a data source and feature pre-made templates and values based on the data they are connected to. Creating a chart is as simple as selecting the chart component, choosing which data to present on each axis, and voila.

Of course, charts also support filtering, sorting, visibility rules, and axis grouping and customization. For more information, check out Internal’s chart components documentation.

Resources

MIT: Chart Elements

CSS Tricks: The many ways of getting data into charts