Creating a Multi-Stage Sankey Chart via Template Cascading

[A Template Approach to 3-Stage Sankey Chart]

[Click here to find all my Sankey Chart series]

Since I published the basic 2-stage Sankey chart template, five of my colleagues with rudimentary Tableau skills created Sankey charts for their respective projects using the template. Their charts were so good which went beyond my wildest imaginations.

Following the publication of the template, many asked me how to create a 3-stage one. Here comes the tutorial. It's still based on the same template, just using it twice. Then cascade the two basic Sankey charts. This approach allows us to build Sankey chart of any number of stages. We will use 3-stage Sankey as an example.

Let's start it. Say, we want to create a Sankey chart on Sales from Category to Region to Subcategory. This may appear nonsense. It's just an example.

1.Create a Sankey chart on Sales from Category to Region

-- Open the template and add the Superstore data source

-- Union the data table with itself.

-- Note that we can rename Source by Category and Target by Region in the template. And rename Size as Sales.

-- Replace data source and you are done.

2.Create a Sankey chart on Sales from Region to Subcategory (in a new workbook)

-- Similar steps to the above.

-- Note that we can rename Source by Region and Target by Subcategory in the template. And rename Size as Sales.

3.Cascade the two Sankey charts

-- Copy the worksheets such as Curve, Bar2, Label2 and paste them to the first workbook.

-- Right click the tabs of the sheets to copy, and to paste.

-- Add them to the right of the first Sankey chart in the dashboard composer.

Note that the coloring is changed in the first workbook to be by Target instead of by Source. Just to make the colors more uniform in both charts.

Voila here is the workbook for download. Leave comments if you have questions. This tutorial is based on an earlier one. You need to practice that first.

This doesn't limit itself to 3 stages. You can create as many stages as you wish. Enjoy Sankey!

Also we would love to see what you come up with if you create a public viz based on the template. Leave the link to the viz in comment area.

Sankey Chart Series in Tableau
5.A Template Approach to 3-Stage Sankey Chart

4.Creating Sankey Chart with Sorting/Grouping

3.Creating Sankey Chart with Grouping
2.Creating Multi-Stage Sankey Chart via Template Cascading
1.Creating Sankey Chart Made Easy via Template