The Waterfall Widget in Datarails is a powerful visualization tool designed to help users understand the step-by-step changes that drive a value from a starting point to an endpoint. Whether you're analyzing revenue, variance, or any other financial metric, the waterfall widget presents changes in a clear and intuitive format.

This article dives into the two primary modes of the widget: Breakdown Chart and Walkthrough Chart. While they may appear similar at first glance, each serves a distinct analytical purpose.

Breakdown Chart

The Breakdown Chart is ideal for illustrating how a total value is composed of various components. It begins with a base value and breaks it down into its contributing elements. Each bar represents a portion that either increases or decreases the overall total, allowing you to see the composition of the final number.

Walkthrough Chart

The Walkthrough Chart is used to explain how a value changes over time or across scenarios. It focuses on the journey from a starting point to an ending value, detailing each positive or negative driver along the way.

Best Practices and Use Cases

• Ideal for variance analysis, especially in FP&A.

• Break down complex P&L changes over time or period-on-period deltas.

• Keep categories limited to avoid clutter.

Create a Waterfall Widget 

1. On your dashboard, click the New button.

2. Select Add Widget, then choose the Custom category.

3. Enter a clear, unique name for your widget to help identify it later.

4.  Choose Waterfall Widget from the list, then click Next to open the Widget Editor.

5. A 'Start your waterfall widget with' screen will be opened. Choose either Breakdown or Walkthrough Chart. 
   

6. In the Widget Editor, select the table containing the data you want to visualize.

7. Drag and drop the field you want to use as the Category, and choose at least two values. For example: Compare metrics between two dates to highlight changes.

8.  For Breakdown Chart only, drag and drop a field into the Breakdown section. This splits the data by the selected dimension, helping you analyze the factors behind increases or decreases. For example, use the "Account Full" field to see which accounts contributed to the change between two days.

9.  Add the Value field to display the metric being analyzed.

10.  Apply relevant filters to narrow down the data. For example, filter to show only Income accounts.
    

11.  Click the Waterfall Colors button to adjust the color scheme of increase, decrease, and total bars.

12.  To learn more about advanced styling and settings, check out the Widgets Overview article.

Updated May 21, 2025 12:35