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Power BI: Customised Comparison

The Customised Comparison page lets you compare performance across any two time periods of your choosing. Unlike the KPI Tracker, which always compares back-to-back periods, this page is built for situations where you want to compare non-sequential periods, such as the same season across two different years. It's particularly useful for cyclical businesses or any context where the most meaningful comparison isn't simply "last month vs this month."

How to use this page

Understanding the layout

The main visual on this page is a bar chart, with your theme categories or individual themes on the X axis. The Y axis shows whichever KPI you've selected. The chart overlays two sets of data: bars represent your current period and a line represents your comparison period.

Setting your time periods

In the page inputs at the top, you'll see two date selectors. The filter on the left controls the bars (your current period). The input on the right controls the line (your comparison period). For example, to compare this financial year to last financial year, you'd select the current year for the bars and the previous year for the line. The chart updates immediately to show both periods.

Choosing your KPI

At the top of the page inputs, select which metric to display on the Y axis, volume, sentiment, or a specific KPI such as TSM score. Switching to sentiment shows you the sentiment scores for each category or theme across both time periods, so you can immediately see which areas have improved or declined. Volume view shows you where conversation has grown or shrunk. KPI view shows which themes are most impacting your satisfaction scores.

Drilling down

By default, the chart shows theme categories on the X axis. If you spot a category you want to investigate further, for example, Communication and Engagement, you can right-click on the chart and select Drill down to see the individual themes within that category. You can also use the arrows in the top right corner of the bar chart to drill up and down between hierarchy levels.

Using the difference table

On the right-hand side, a difference table shows the exact figures behind your chart, specifically, the difference between your two time periods for the selected KPI (calculated as bars minus line). This table updates based on whatever is selected in the bar chart, and is useful for pulling precise figures into reports alongside the visual.

Sorting your view

Click the three dots in the top right corner of the bar chart and select Sort axis to reorder the chart. By default, themes or categories display alphabetically, but you can sort by your current period, your comparison period, or the difference between them. Sorting by difference descending, for example, instantly shows the biggest improvements on the left and the biggest declines on the right.

Excluding themes for cleaner visuals

If your chart is getting busy with themes you don't need for a particular presentation, right-click any bar and select Exclude. That theme disappears from the chart and is added to the filter panel on the right. To bring it back, just clear that filter. This is particularly useful when preparing screenshots for reports or presentations.

Drilling through to verbatim

Just as with other pages, you can right-click on any bar to drill through to the underlying verbatim. This takes you to a page showing all comments for that theme in the time period represented by the bar you selected.

Key points

  • Purpose: Compare performance across any two time periods of your choice, not just sequential periods. For back-to-back comparisons, use Risers & Fallers.
  • Cyclical analysis: Ideal for comparing same-season performance (for example, December this year vs December last year) in seasonal or cyclical businesses.
  • Two-period selection: Bars represent your current period; the line represents your comparison period. Both are fully customisable.
  • KPI flexibility: Choose to compare volume, sentiment, or a KPI score across your selected periods.
  • Drill-down capability: Right-click on a bar to drill down from category view to individual theme view, or use the arrows in the top right of the bar chart to move up and down through the hierarchy.
  • Sorting options: Use the three-dot menu in the top right of the bar chart to sort by current period, comparison period, or the difference between them. Sorting by difference descending instantly shows biggest improvements on the left and biggest declines on the right.
  • Difference table: Shows the calculated difference between your two selected time periods.
  • Exclusion filtering: Right-click to exclude specific themes from the chart to refine the visual for presentations.
  • Drill-through: Right-click on any bar and select Drill through to access the underlying verbatim for that theme and time period.

  • Combined filtering: Use with page filters to compare specific customer segments across time periods.

Use case

You're preparing a year-end review and want to show your board which key drivers have improved or declined compared to the previous year.

Select a business-critical score as your KPI. Set the bars to show the current financial year and the line to show the previous year, and choose your desired framework for the X axis. You immediately have a visual showing every driver category with year-on-year comparison.

Click the sort options and choose difference descending, your chart reorders to show your biggest improvements on the left. Include this visual in your board paper, and use the difference table on the right for the exact figures to include in your narrative.

Zoe-1    ✍️ Article written by: Zoe, Customer Success Manager 

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