Waterfall Chart in OBIEE11.1.1.6.0

Waterfall Chart in OBIEE

As several blogs have mentioned there is an unactivated graph in OBIEE 11.1.1.6.0. This is the waterfall chart.

A waterfall chart is a special type of floating-column chart. A typical waterfall chart shows how an initial value is increased and decreased by a series of intermediate values, leading to a final value. An invisible column keeps the increases and decreases linked to the heights of the previous columns.

It used to be possible to mimic this type of behaviour using a stacked bar graph and setting the 'running total' to the same colour as your background, but this is so much easier.

By default this is not visible in the graph list and we need to enable it manually.

Update: Please note this is not supported by Oracle in this version so if you uncover a bug, you're on your own.

Configuration Changes

Edit your instanceconfig.xml file between the <Views>....</Views> element.

Just before the closing tag add the following (leave off the </Views> which I have left in for clarity).

<Charts>
<EnableWaterfall>true</EnableWaterfall>
</Charts>
</Views>
Save the instanceconfig.xml file and restart OPMN.

WaterFall Graph Results

Now when you add a graph view to your query an option for Waterfall appears in the dropdown.

From playing around it is apparent that the four coloured squares (green, green, red and blue) to the right of the graph relate to
1. First (top) coloured square is the start value or initial column.
2. The second coloured square is used to represent increasing or positive values.
3. The third coloured square is used to represent decreasing or negative values.
4. The bottom coloured square is used to show the final balance.

It is possible to change the colours and representation, but, like I said, I'll need to play a bit more.