Charts are a great way to represent your data to check for individual trends. But what if you need to compare your performance with others and not just have your data represented in a pattern? Try using a Spider Chart to help you.

STEP 1: Prepare the data table Consider that you want to gauge your overall performance in a test that checked various skills. You also want to compare the results with that of your competitors who also took the same test. The first step to creating a spider chart is to collect your raw data, that is, the data you would plot on the various axes.

This would contain your own results of the test as well that of your contenders. After collecting the information, open Excel and enter the data. Here's how Enter the various parameters as individual parameters in one column.

To understand your data better, assig n various colors for different aspects. To do so, click on the "Home" tab and select a color from the "Font" section. Use the nextcolumns to list
the test scores against each parameter. For example, consider
that in this table, you occupy the position of "John".

STEP 2: Prepare the spider chart After you have entered the data in a tabular format, you can then proceed to build your spider chart. The spider chart is created from the radar chart that is found in the chart options in MS Excel. To access this option and use it to represent your data graphically, follow these simple steps:

Click on the "Insert" tab. Select the parameters and their values and then go to the "Charts" section, and click on the "Other Charts" option. Select the first radar chart that displays values relative to a center point where the categories are not directly comparable.

Then click on "Style 2" to select the color code that will help you easily differentiate between the different subject on the chart. Right-click on the "Legend" on the chart and select the "Select Data" option. In the "Select Data Source" dialog box, click on the "Series, option.

Click on the "Edit" button. In the "Edit Series" dialog box that
opens up, enter the name "John" in the "Series name:" field.
CliCk "OK"Similarly edit "Series 2", "Series 3", and "Series 4" to edit the other names of the Legend entries. Once you edited the other legend entries, click "OK".

STEP 3: Evaluate your performance To evaluate your performance in a radar chart, it is important to understand your position in the radar chart. Refer to the legend to understand the color codes in the chart. In the radar chart, a point closer to the center on any axis will indicate a low value. A point that finds itself closer to the edge is considered to be a higher value. In this manner, you can check each axis to rate your own performance as compared to others.

Use the tips in this workshop to enlarge and change the chart type to show markers. Check the areas in which you [in our case,
John] has scored as opposed to your contenders. Look at the blue markers to read your score. John has a high rating in the areas of "multitasking" and "product knowledge" whereas you would need to work on your "leadership skills". You may want to learn these from Michael who has a good lead over the rest in this area.

STEP 4: Save the chart as a template If you want to save the settings to the chart you just created for further use, simply save it as a template. By doing so, you will save yourself the effort of going through the entire process again. Heres how to save a chart as a template.