A Sankey diagram visualizes how data flows from one group to another. The width of each branch represents the volume of flow. For example, use a Sankey diagram to visualize and analyze energy flow, material composition, or financial transactions. Sankey diagrams are supported only in Quick BI Premium Edition and Professional Edition workspaces.
Prerequisites
You have created a dashboard. For more information, see Create a dashboard.
Chart Overview
Key benefits
Visualize complex relationships: Clearly shows connections among multiple entities (nodes), especially useful for network-structured data.
Highlight key nodes and links: Node size or link thickness helps identify the most active or important nodes and paths in the network.
Reveal patterns and trends: Helps uncover patterns, flow directions, and associations in data—such as community structures, bottlenecks, or primary interaction paths.
Intuitive and effective: Offers users an intuitive and effective way to explore and understand relational data.
Common scenarios
Sankey diagrams work well for scenarios that involve clear source-to-target relationships, such as:
Sales data analytics: Analyze allocation relationships and volumes between regions or products.
Financial market analysis: Visualize fund flows or transaction relationships among financial institutions.
Transportation network analysis: Show passenger or cargo flow and volume between cities or sites.
Network security analysis: Analyze communication patterns and data traffic between different IP addresses or servers.
Social network analysis: Display interaction relationships among users.
Example visualization
Limits
Prerequisites: You have created a dashboard. For more information, see Create a dashboard.
Edition limits: In Quick BI, you can create Sankey diagrams only in Premium Edition and Professional Edition workspaces.
Field configuration
Node Category/Dimension
Select at least 2 dimension fields.
Select up to 20 dimension fields.
These dimensions define the nodes in the Sankey diagram (for example, area, product type, or order level).
Dimension group fields are supported. You can choose to display all dimensions in the group or a single dimension.
Node Height/Measure
Select up to 1 measure field.
You can also select 0 measure fields (in this case, flow volume may be based on count or evenly distributed, depending on implementation).
This measure defines the flow volume through each node and connecting link (for example, order amount or user count).
Chart Field Configuration
Select the required dimension and measure fields.
In the Dimensions list, drag dimension fields or dimension group fields.
Create a dimension group field as shown in the figure.
Set the original field name to Location Dimensions, which includes area, province, and city.
Double-click or drag the dimension group field Location Dimensions and the dimension fields Order Level and Product Box into the Node Category/Dimension area.
For dimension group fields, you can display all dimensions or a single dimension. In this example, select the single dimension—area.
In the Measures list, find Order Amount and double-click or drag it into the Node Height/Measure area.
Click Update. The system updates the chart automatically.
When a dimension group is displayed as a single dimension, click the
icon next to the dimension to switch to another dimension in the group.
Chart Style Configuration
The following describes style settings specific to this chart. For general chart style settings, see Configure the Chart Title.
In Graph, set Default Display Area, Color Settings, Sorting Method, and Handling of Null Values in Outgoing Data.
Configuration Item
Description
Default Display Area
Set between 20% and 100%.
Color Settings
Choose By Node Category or Monochrome.
Sorting Method
By default, no sorting is applied. You can sort By Node Height Ascending or By Node Height Descending.
Handling of Null Values in Outgoing Data
By default, null values are Displayed as Nodes. You can also choose Display as Loss Bars or Hide Flow Direction. When using loss bars, you can configure their color.
Node
Set Width and Vertical Spacing.
Data Stream
Set Line Type, Line Color, and Transparency.
In data labels, set Show All, Content, Arrangement, and Text Style.
In Category Labels, set label Position, Spacing from Graph, and Text Style.
In Series Settings, configure Node Style and Label Text.
Configuration Item
Description
Node Style
Choose Bar or Card.
Background Color
When Card is selected, set the node’s background color.
Border
When Card is selected, set border thickness and color.
Label Text
Set text style for dimension and measure labels on nodes.
In Tooltip, click the
icon to enable tooltips and configure their style.
Chart Configuration Item
Configuration item descriptions
Background Color
Set the background fill color of the tooltip box.
Text
Set text style in the tooltip box, including font color, size, weight, and italicization.
Mobile Tooltip
Tooltip toggles for PC and mobile are independent. Switch to mobile view using the PC/Mobile toggle button (
) at the top of the dashboard editor to configure mobile tooltips. Font size can be set separately for PC and mobile; all other styles are shared.
What to do next
To let others view your dashboard, share it with specific people. For more information, see Share a dashboard.
To build a complex, navigation-based portal for thematic analysis, integrate your dashboard into a BI portal. For more information, see Create a PC BI portal.