BIKE BRAND
Contoso Bikes LLC a bicycle manufacturer in the Contoso Group. To run the dataset in the app, type "MS Financial Sample" in the "choose a sample dataset" widget.
THE COMPANY
Multi-tier bar chart
See how a dimension - here segment- plays out in the two periods on a metric - here amount.
All segments have been growing at more or less the same rate in terms of sales,...
...in terms of margins all segments up around 70% except Enterprise, whose negative margins worsened.
Marimekko Plot
See how a metric, here revenue, interacts along a pair of dimensions, here segment and country.
Barmekko Plot
See how two metrics - here sales and margins - play along a given dimension, here segment.
Taking only Enterprise sales, the loss of margins was tied to high and medium discount band.
Government represents, across the whole period, the largest and most profitable segment.
Dumbbell Plot
See how a dimension - here segment - plays out in the two periods on a set of metrics - here amount, COGS and gross margin.
Enterprise reduced margins due to a more than proportionate increase in COGS.
Sales variance analysis
See aggregated sales variance or split variance between its components (volume, price, mix, drivers,..). Revenues grew substantially driven by volume.
All metrics point north...
...and are actually improving across the year
The price distribution has remained basically unchanged.
WHAT CHANGED IN SALES
FIRST RESULT COMBINATION
Largest growth in Government and Small Business in terms of Segment.
The first waterfall simply slices by segment. The dataset is built with most items in most dimensions growing more or less at the same rate, so keeping the same dimension in all row results makes sense, since changing dimensions does not add much insight value.
SECOND RESULT COMBINATION
Largest growth in USA, Canada and France in terms of Country.
The second waterfall simply slices by country. The dataset is built with most items in most dimensions growing more or less at the same rate, so keeping the same dimension in all row results makes sense, since changing dimensions does not add much insight value.
THIRD RESULT COMBINATION
Sales growth driven by volume. Paseo price reduction in Government Segment compensated by price hikes in other products sold to Government.
The third waterfall splits volume and price variance. The Paseo model is called out for a relatively significant negative price variance, that carries a potential negative impact on margins. Note that the average price of Paseo bicycles is growing significantly between the two periods.
It is only when one filters the Paseo bikes by their most important segment, Government, that the drop in prices becomes evident.
Every dataset is different
This use case is based on a fake dataset. Test run the app with your data to confirm the advantages of the variable dimension variance approach in your specific use case.
FORTH RESULT COMBINATION
Sales growth driven by New volume in all main segments.
The forth waterfall splits volume variance between new, changed and lost combinations. Growth in the small business segment is coming from new combinations, not present in the first period.
WHAT CHANGED IN MARGINS
Margins grew substantially....
...but stayed stable in % of revenues
FIFTH RESULT COMBINATION
4M Margin increase driven by Government and by Low/No Discount Band Sales. Negative increase for Enterprise Segment and High Discount Band.
The fifth waterfall splits margin variance by segment following mostly, but not totally, the revenue variance order. High discount enterprise sales are flagged as loosing margins.
SIXTH RESULT COMBINATION
Margin increase in all markets.
The sixth waterfall splits margin variance by country, showing margin growth not strictly tied to sales growth.
The Enterprise segment responsible for a 200K reduction of the Margin, especially in the High Discount Band.
Volumes, not costs, drove margin growth.
SEVENTH RESULT COMBINATION
Margin growth driven by Government volumes. Reduction in Paseo price compensated by cost improvement.
The seventh waterfall splits margin variance by variance type. Government Paseo sales, that suffered negative price variance, are not surprisingly a driver of negative margin due to lower prices. What is more interesting is that Government Paseo unit cost fell almost in proportion to the price loss.
EIGHT RESULT COMBINATION
Finding patterns in data
'Mparanza uses variable dimension variance to help find patterns in the data that could be missed with a traditional slice and dice approach.
Positive impact on volumes of Low Discount Band increase in volumes. Goverment Paseo High Discount Band has price and cost impact balancing out.
The eighth waterfall splits margin variance on the discount band dimension. Interestingly Government Paseo negative price and positive unit cost variance impact on margins are tied to high discount band sales.
ANNEX - VARIANCE BY DIMENSION
In this section the data is analyzed with a standard slicing by dimension approach.
The dataset contains four different dimensions.
VARIANCE BY SEGMENT
Government is the key segment. Enterprise negative margin.
Steady sales improvement across the year.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON SALES
Sales growing nicely across Segments.
PRICE AND VOLUME VARIANCE
Sales growing nicely across Segments.
PRICE, VOLUME, MIX VARIANCE
Positive mix impact on Government Segment.
NEW AND LOST VOLUME VARIANCE
Growth driven by new volume.
PRICE, VOLUME AND DISCOUNT VARIANCE
Marginal increase in discounts in all Segments.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Margins driven by Government.
The Enterprise Segment is loosing margins in most Countries...
..products..
...and especially in the High Discount Band.
PRICE, VOLUME & MIX, COST VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Volume impact margins positively.
VARIANCE BY COUNTRY
All Countries performing well.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON SALES
Sales growing nicely across Countries.
PRICE AND VOLUME VARIANCE
Growth driven by volumes, with flat prices. Limited negative price pressure on Canada.
PRICE, VOLUME, MIX VARIANCE
Positive mix impact in Canada.
NEW AND LOST VOLUME VARIANCE
Growth driven by new volume.
PRICE, VOLUME AND DISCOUNT VARIANCE
Marginal increase in discounts in all Countries.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Margins growing nicely across Countries.
PRICE, VOLUME & MIX, COST VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Volumes drive margin. In Canada, price decreases compensated by cost improvement.
VARIANCE BY PRODUCT
Paseo is the number one Product.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON SALES
Paseo highest growing product in terms of sales
PRICE AND VOLUME VARIANCE
Some negative pressure on Paseo prices. Positive price increases on other models.
PRICE, VOLUME, MIX VARIANCE
Positive mix impact on Paseo.
NEW AND LOST VOLUME VARIANCE
Growth driven by new volume.
PRICE, VOLUME AND DISCOUNT VARIANCE
Marginal increase in discounts in all products
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Margins growing nicely across Products.
PRICE, VOLUME & MIX, COST VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Negative margin impact of price on Paseo offset by improved costs.
VARIANCE BY DISCOUNT BAND
Higher margin growth in all Bands.
Revenues in the High Discount Band are lower compared to the corresponding month of last year.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON SALES
High sales growth in all Discount Bands
PRICE AND VOLUME VARIANCE
Negative price pressure on High Discount Band and on No Discount.
PRICE, VOLUME, MIX VARIANCE
Positive mix impact on Medium Discount Band
NEW AND LOST VOLUME VARIANCE
Growth driven by new volume.
PRICE, VOLUME AND DISCOUNT VARIANCE
Marginal increase in discounts.
AGGREGATE VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Margins growing nicely across Bands.
PRICE, VOLUME & MIX, COST VARIANCE ON MARGINS
Negative price impact compensated by improved cost in High and No Discount Band. Opposite dynamic in other Bands.
