Use cases
The Org Chart draws any parent–child structure, so it isn't only for reporting lines. This page gives the data shape and the field mapping for the six patterns report editors build most often.
Each example shows the table you need and the fields to bind. Everything else is styling, covered in the pages linked at the end of each section.
Organizational chart
The classic: who reports to whom, with headcount or a performance measure on each card.
Data shape — one row per person:
| EmployeeID | ManagerID | Name | Title | Department | PhotoBase64 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dana Reyes | CEO | Executive | data:image/png;base64,… | |
| 2 | 1 | Sam Okafor | VP Sales | Sales | data:image/png;base64,… |
| 3 | 1 | Priya Nair | VP Engineering | Engineering | data:image/png;base64,… |
Field mapping
| Field | Column |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | EmployeeID |
| Parent ID | ManagerID |
| Information Fields | Name, Title, Department |
| Image (Base-64) | PhotoBase64 |
| Accent Color | Department |
| Card URL | A profile link built from EmployeeID |
Recommended settings — Top-Down orientation, Stack cards without children on (managers with many direct reports stay compact), Expanded levels on load 3, images circular at 40 px.
Add a measure like Headcount = COUNTROWS(Employees) to KPI values and each manager's card shows their span of control. Combine it with a Target Headcount measure to spot over- and under-staffed teams instantly.
Related: Card content & styling · Hierarchy & layout
Cost centre / P&L rollup
A finance hierarchy where each node carries actuals against budget.
Data shape — one row per cost centre, with measures from your model:
| CostCentreID | ParentCostCentre | CostCentreName | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC-100 | Group | A. Bell | |
| CC-110 | CC-100 | Operations | R. Diaz |
| CC-111 | CC-110 | Facilities | M. Chen |
Field mapping
| Field | Column / measure |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | CostCentreID |
| Parent ID | ParentCostCentre |
| Information Fields | CostCentreName, Owner |
| KPI values | Actuals measure |
| KPI Target | Budget measure |
| Tooltips | Variance $, Last month, YTD |
Recommended settings — Comparison mode: % of target, thresholds set to your tolerance (e.g. good at 105, bad at 95), Display units: Millions, legend on with labels renamed to Over budget / On budget / Under budget.
The thresholds always treat the higher side as "good", which is wrong for cost. Don't fight it with the threshold numbers — instead swap the two colours: set Positive color to red and Negative color to green under Format → KPI Configuration → General, and rename the legend labels to Over budget / On budget / Under budget. Attainment above 110% (overspending) then shows red, and the legend explains why.
Related: KPIs, targets & trends
KPI tree
A driver tree: a headline metric at the top, decomposed into the metrics that drive it.
Data shape — a small hand-built table (Enter data, or a reference table in your model) that names each metric and its parent:
| MetricID | ParentMetric | MetricName |
|---|---|---|
| REV | Revenue | |
| VOL | REV | Volume |
| PRICE | REV | Average price |
| NEW | VOL | New customers |
| RET | VOL | Retained customers |
Then a single measure that returns the right value per node, e.g.:
Metric Value =
SWITCH (
SELECTEDVALUE ( MetricTree[MetricID] ),
"REV", [Total Revenue],
"VOL", [Units Sold],
"PRICE", [Average Price],
"NEW", [New Customer Revenue],
"RET", [Retained Customer Revenue],
BLANK ()
)
Write a matching Metric Target measure the same way.
Field mapping
| Field | Column / measure |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | MetricID |
| Parent ID | ParentMetric |
| Information Fields | MetricName |
| KPI values | Metric Value |
| KPI Target | Metric Target |
| KPI Period | Date[Month] |
Recommended settings — Left-to-Right orientation (driver trees read left to right), Bezier connectors, Expand all on load, sparklines on.
Only one measure goes into KPI values, and a measure has a single format string — so a tree mixing currency, unit counts and percentages will format them all the same way. Either keep each tree to one unit, or leave Display units on None and put the properly-formatted figure in a Tooltip field alongside it.
Related: KPIs, targets & trends · Hierarchy & layout
Process flow
Stages of a process, with throughput or conversion at each step.
Data shape — one row per stage, PreviousStage pointing backwards:
| StageID | PreviousStage | StageName | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Lead captured | Marketing | |
| S2 | S1 | Qualified | Sales |
| S3 | S2 | Proposal sent | Sales |
| S4 | S3 | Closed won | Sales |
Field mapping
| Field | Column / measure |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | StageID |
| Parent ID | PreviousStage |
| Information Fields | StageName |
| KPI values | Records at stage measure |
| Swimlane | Team |
Recommended settings — Left-to-Right orientation, Show Link Arrows on (a flow has direction), swimlanes by owning team, Comparison mode: Change vs. previous with a KPI Period to show whether each stage is improving.
Related: Hierarchy & layout
Supply chain / bill of materials
Suppliers, sites and components, with a risk or lead-time measure.
Data shape — one row per node:
| NodeID | ParentNode | NodeName | NodeType | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-1 | Finished product | Product | — | |
| A-1 | P-1 | Assembly A | Assembly | EMEA |
| C-1 | A-1 | Component C | Component | APAC |
Field mapping
| Field | Column / measure |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | NodeID |
| Parent ID | ParentNode |
| Information Fields | NodeName, NodeType |
| KPI values | Lead time (days) measure |
| KPI Target | Target lead time measure |
| Accent Color | Region |
| Card URL | Supplier record in your ERP |
Recommended settings — Top-Down, accent colour by region so geographic concentration is visible at a glance, legend on to filter to at-risk nodes.
With the legend on, one click on Target not met filters the whole page to the components running late — a fast triage view.
Related: Card content & styling
Territory or account hierarchy
Sales geography or key-account structures, where the same chart serves several audiences.
Data shape — one row per territory per month, so the trend is available:
| TerritoryID | ParentTerritory | TerritoryName | Month | Revenue | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLOBAL | Global | 2026-06-01 | … | … | |
| EMEA | GLOBAL | EMEA | 2026-06-01 | … | … |
| UK | EMEA | United Kingdom | 2026-06-01 | … | … |
Field mapping
| Field | Column / measure |
|---|---|
| Entity ID | TerritoryID |
| Parent ID | ParentTerritory |
| Information Fields | TerritoryName |
| KPI values | Revenue measure |
| KPI Target | Quota measure |
| KPI Period | Month |
Recommended settings — sparklines as Area, Display units: Auto, Expanded levels on load 2 so the chart opens on regions and drills to countries.
This is the pattern where one row per card per period matters most. Make sure your table is at the territory-and-month grain, not just territory — otherwise the sparkline has nothing to draw. See One row per card.
Related: Data fields · Interactivity & navigation
Choosing the right settings for your shape
| If your hierarchy is… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Deep and narrow (long reporting chains) | Left-to-Right orientation |
| Wide and shallow (many peers) | Top-Down with card stacking on |
| Very large (thousands of cards) | Expanded levels on load 2–3, and filter before the visual |
| A flow with direction | Show Link Arrows on, Left-to-Right |
| Grouped by an independent dimension | Swimlanes |
| About one category more than the tree | Accent Color with an all-sides border |
Related
- Getting started — build your first chart.
- Data fields — every field explained.
- Troubleshooting — when the chart doesn't look how you expect.