Radar Plume: 9 recipes to compare profiles in Power BI

These recipes use the data of the getting started guide: the Players table (one measure per statistic) and the Assessments table (one rating per team and per skill). Recipes marked ★ use a premium feature: it works right away, with a "Premium preview" watermark until a key is entered.

How do I show ratings out of 5 (or 100) with the edge at 5?

By default, the common scale stops at a round value just above the largest value of the data. For ratings, you want the edge of the radar to be the top rating.

1. Put Skill in Axes, Team in Series, Average rating in Values.
2. Format › Scale › Maximum (common scale): 5. Leave Minimum empty (zero).
3. Format › Gridlines › Number of levels: 5: one ring per rating point.

Result: the rings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are written between the first and the last axis; a team rated 5 touches the edge.

How do I put measures with different units on the same radar?

1. Drop the measures (speed in km/h, salary in $, rates in %) in Values, with nothing in Axes.
2. Keep Format › Scale › Axis scale on Automatic: each axis has its own scale, written under its name ("0 – 20", "0% – 100%").
3. ★ To compare positions as a percentage of the best, choose Normalized (0–100 % of the axis maximum) ★: levels become 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% and the tooltip gives the % of each value.
4. To make gaps between close players stand out, turn off Start at zero (or, when normalized ★, set Normalization: 0 % to = smallest value of the axis) and say so in the title.

How do I show that a low value is better (salary, lead time, cost) ★?

1. Format › Per-axis settings ★ › Apply settings to: choose Salary.
2. Turn on Lower is better (inverted axis) ★.

Result: the axis is named "Salary ↓", its scale goes from the high value (center) to the low value (edge): the cheapest player is at the edge, like the best one on the other axes. The best / worst axis and the score take it into account.

In the same card, Axis minimum ★ and Axis maximum ★ set the bounds of a single axis (for example Goals from 0 to 30), and All axes applies a setting to every axis.

How do I compare a team with its target, with ▲▼ under each axis ★?

1. Create the target measure, for example Target = AVERAGE ( Assessments[Target score] ) (one target per skill), and drop it in Target ★: a dashed outline appears, "Target" in the legend.
2. Format › Comparison ★ › Compare with: The target.
3. Compared series: North team (empty: the first series).
4. For a relative gap, turn on Gap in %.

Result: under each axis name, "▲ +0.2" in green when the team beats the target, "▼ −0.9" in red otherwise; the arrow gives the direction, the color says whether it is good (a "lower is better" axis flips the color). The tooltip of each point gives "Gap vs Target".

How do I place everyone against the group ★?

1. Format › Reference ★ › Band per axis: Quartiles of the series (25 % to 75 %). A gray band shows, on each axis, where the middle half of the group stands.
2. Or Average of all series ★: a dotted polygon of the average.
3. If your table already has a benchmark row ("Market average", "Last year"), type its name in Reference series (name) ★: it is drawn as a gray dotted outline, with no fill, and leaves the series of the legend.

How do I rank profiles with an overall score ★?

1. Format › Overall score ★ › Method: Weighted mean of the axes (0–100) or Polygon area (% of the full radar).
2. The legend shows "Marc · 73", "Léa · 72"… ranked from best to worst.
3. To give a criterion more weight: Format › Per-axis settings ★, pick the axis, Weight in the score ★ = 2.

Each axis counts as 0 at its minimum and 100 at its maximum (after flipping "lower is better" axes): the score does not depend on units.

How do I animate a radar over time ★?

1. Prepare a table with a Year column (or a date) and one row per year, criterion and brand.
2. Drop Criterion in Axes, Brand in Series, the measure in Values and Year in Play axis ★.
3. Click ▶ under the chart: polygons morph from one year to the next; the current year is written in large type.
4. Format › Playback ★: duration of a frame, loop, frame shown on opening, autoplay. Scales stay the same during the whole playback.
5. ★ Format › Comparison › Compare with: The previous frame (play axis): the dotted outline of the previous year and the ▲▼ show what changed.

How do I show one radar per player (small multiples) ★?

1. Format › Small multiples ★ › One radar per series ★: on. Each player gets a radar, the other players in thin gray behind.
2. With a score (previous recipe), turn on Rank by score: radars are ordered from best to worst, the score written in the center and in the title.
3. For one radar per value of another field (store, region), drop that field in Small multiples ★: all radars share the same scales.

How do I put months (or criteria) back in the right order?

Power BI sorts a text column alphabetically: April, August, December…

1. The simplest way, and free: in Power BI, select the Month column, then Column tools › Sort by column › Month number (a column of numbers from 1 to 12 in the same table). Radar Plume follows the model order: January → December.
2. ★ Without a sort column: Format › Sort › Axis order: Custom ★, then Custom order: Jan; Feb; Mar; Apr; May; Jun; Jul; Aug; Sep; Oct; Nov; Dec (one name per line or separated by ";", case and accents ignored). Axes missing from the list follow at the end.
3. For a cycle (seasonality), choose Format › Layout › Grid shape: Circular. With premium, Type: Polar rose (radial bars) draws one bar per month.

Other orders: Axis name (A → Z or Z → A) or Value (average of the series) ★, from the strongest criterion to the weakest.