A sunburst chart that opens with a click in Power BI

In short

What is a sunburst chart? It is a ring with several floors. The center ring shows the first level of a hierarchy (for example regions); each sector extends outward into its children (the cities of the region), then into their own children (the categories sold in each city). The size of a sector is its share: a sector covering a quarter of the turn weighs a quarter of its parent.

Mini example. A retailer makes $348,000: $140,000 in London, $70,000 of it in Westminster. The London sector covers 40% of the first ring; just outside it, Westminster takes half the width of London.

• What the visual does. Sunburst Plume draws 1 to 8 levels as rings, writes the names along the arcs, shows the total in the center and the percentages of the parent or of the total. It has two modes: Explore, where a click opens the level beneath (animated zoom, breadcrumb, back through the center), and All levels, where everything is shown and a click filters the page.
• When to use it. To show how a total breaks down over several levels: sales by region, city and category; spending by department, item and supplier; headcount by site, team and job.
• When to choose something else. To compare precise values with each other: Bar Plume. To follow a total over time: Line Plume (Sunburst Plume can also replay its rings year by year, with the Play axis ★ field). For flows from one category to another: Sankey Plume.
• What you will be able to do. Prepare the table, create the measure, insert the visual, open and close a sector, switch to All levels, filter the page and read the percentages.
• What you need: Power BI Desktop, the Sunburst Plume visual installed (see the shared basics), a table with at least one category column and an amount. The PlumeSunburst-Sample-EN sample report, in your "Downloads" area, shows exploring and all levels (page 1), use cases (page 2), the ★ features (page 3) and the play axis, year by year (page 4).

The data to provide

The shape. One row per combination of the finest level, with one column per level and an amount. Levels are columns (text, number or date); the amount goes through a measure (a DAX formula that adds up), so that Power BI computes each sector correctly.

Region	City	Category	Amount
London	Westminster	Furniture	41000
London	Westminster	Lighting	29000
London	Camden	Furniture	38000
London	Camden	Decor	32000
South West	Bristol	Furniture	36000
South West	Bristol	Lighting	18000
South West	Bath	Decor	14000
Wales	Cardiff	Furniture	22000
Wales	Cardiff	Kitchen	9000
Wales	Swansea	Decor	11000

To try it without a file: Modeling › New table, then paste:

Sales =
DATATABLE (
    "Region", STRING, "City", STRING, "Category", STRING, "Amount", DOUBLE,
    {
        { "London", "Westminster", "Furniture", 41000 },
        { "London", "Westminster", "Lighting", 29000 },
        { "London", "Camden", "Furniture", 38000 },
        { "London", "Camden", "Decor", 32000 },
        { "South West", "Bristol", "Furniture", 36000 },
        { "South West", "Bristol", "Lighting", 18000 },
        { "South West", "Bath", "Decor", 14000 },
        { "Wales", "Cardiff", "Furniture", 22000 },
        { "Wales", "Cardiff", "Kitchen", 9000 },
        { "Wales", "Swansea", "Decor", 11000 }
    }
)

Then the measure (Modeling › New measure):

Revenue =
SUM ( Sales[Amount] )    -- adds up the amounts of the rows of each sector

Format it as currency (Measure tools › Format: Currency).

Pitfalls.

• A negative amount cannot make a share of a ring: the row is left out and a warning icon appears.
• A blank value in a level (a city without a category, for example) stops the branch: the city sector stays, with nothing outside it. That is the right behavior for a ragged hierarchy.
• Without a measure in Size, the visual counts rows.

Step by step

1. Insert Sunburst Plume from the Visualizations pane. The visual shows "Add fields to get started".
2. Drag Region, then City, then Category into Groups, in that order: the first field is the center ring.
3. Drag the Revenue measure into Size. Two rings appear (regions and cities), the total is in the center and the title "Revenue by Region, City and Category" is written for you. A thin line on the edge of the cities shows that one more level can be opened.
4. Hover a sector: the center shows its name, its value and its share of the parent; the tooltip gives the path ("London › Westminster"), the share of the parent and the share of the total.
5. Click London. The sector opens: it takes the whole circle, its cities and their categories appear, and the breadcrumb reads All › London.
6. Click Westminster: you see its categories. Click the center to go up one level, or All in the breadcrumb to go back to the start.
7. To filter the other visuals of the page without opening the sector, Ctrl + click a region. Click an empty area of the visual to clear the selection.
8. Open Format › Layout › Mode and choose All levels always shown: the three rings show at once and a simple click filters the page.
9. In Format › Data labels › Content, choose Name and percentage: each label shows the sector's share of its parent.
10. Save. In the published report, readers open and close sectors the same way (with the keyboard too: arrows, Enter, Backspace).

Troubleshooting

What you see	Likely cause	Solution
"Add fields to get started"	Nothing in Groups	Drag at least one column into Groups
A single ring although you have three fields	Explore mode, or the other two fields are blank	Click a sector, or increase Layout › Levels shown at once
Title "Count by …" and whole numbers	No measure in Size	Drag your measure into Size
Warning icon "Negative values ignored"	Negative amounts (credit notes, returns)	Filter them out or use a measure that excludes them
Many gray "Others" sectors	More than 12 children per parent	Sectors and levels › Sectors per parent at most: increase it or set 0
Some names do not show	Sector too small for its text	Enlarge the visual, lower Data labels › Text size, or read the tooltip
A click does not filter the page	Explore mode: the click opens the sector	Ctrl + click, or Interactions › Click on a sector = Open and filter the other visuals
"Premium preview" watermark	A ★ feature is used without a key	Go back to the free setting or paste your key in Format › Plume Studio License

Key takeaways

• The order of the fields in Groups gives the order of the rings, from the center to the edge.
• Explore: a click opens, the center and the breadcrumb go back; All levels: a click filters.
• Percentages of the parent, of the total or of the opened sector need no DAX.
• Small sectors are grouped in "Others", blank values stop the branch.
• A year in Play axis ★ (premium, usable with the watermark): ▶ replays the rings from one year to the next.

Learn more

• Use cases: colors, year-by-year change, comparison with last year, budget, icicle.
• Fields and settings: every setting of the Format pane.
• Getting started with Plume visuals: installation, license, styles, dynamic formatting.
• The visual's page: Sunburst Plume. A question? Support.