Show how a sequence of signed changes builds a running total. Use it for a revenue bridge, inventory movements or a cost breakdown. Positive steps increase the running value; negative steps decrease it.

Bind additive changes

1. Add Components → Charts → Column & bar → Waterfall (a new waterfall is 400 × 300 px) and select an Analysis model in Data.
2. Put the ordered step dimension in Field and the signed amount in Measure.
3. Sort the Field by process step or time: hover the field, click ⋮ and use Sort. Values accumulate in member order.
4. Set Filters to a consistent period and scope.

An illustrative bridge of Opening 100, New sales +40 and Returns −15 ends at 125. Bind signed changes; do not supply 100, 140 and 125 as though they were separate changes, because those values would accumulate again.

Each bar spans from the running total before the step to the total after it, so negative steps, steps that cross zero and a negative total are drawn at their true positions. The value axis always covers 0 and both ends of every bar.

With Show items with no data on the Field, a member without a value draws no bar and leaves the running total unchanged; 0 is still a real step. See Show items with no data.

Show the total and movement

Option (Style)	Effect	Default
Bar → Space (%)	Gap between bars, as a percentage of the category width.	20
Bar → Round corners	Rounds the bar corners.
Bar → Connector lines	Thin lines from the end of each step to the start of the next. They skip empty members.	Off
Accumulated value → Show accumulated value	Adds a total bar at the end.	Off
Accumulated value → Label	Name of the total bar.	Total
Accumulated value → Accumulated value color	Color of the total bar.	#096DD9
Data colors → Positive color, Negative color	Colors of increases and decreases.	Palette colors 1 and 2
Legend → Show	Lists Increase, Decrease and the total (named by Label), only the types present in the chart. Items cannot be clicked to hide bars.	Off
Data labels → Show, Font	Value labels on the bars.	On
Data labels → Position	Top, Inside top, Center or Inside bottom. With Top, a decrease is labelled at its lower end so it does not run into the previous label.	Top
Data labels → Compact numbers	K, M, B or T, chosen from the largest value in the chart. Percentages are not converted; the tooltip keeps the full value.	Off
Data labels → Auto label contrast	For labels inside bars, dark or light text by contrast with the bar, with an outline in the bar color.	On for new waterfalls; off in reports from earlier versions
Tooltip → Show Tooltip	Hover tooltip; see below.	On

The waterfall has no Display units setting; use Compact numbers. Labels on the highest bars are not cut off at the top.

The total bar shows the model's aggregate of the measure, not the running total. For an additive measure (an amount, a quantity, a change) the two are equal; for a ratio or an average they differ. Use an additive measure for an ordinary bridge.

Tooltip and arithmetic

Hover a bar to check the arithmetic:

• A step shows Before, the step value and After (the running total around the step).
• The total bar shows its value as ‹measure› (model total). When the model total differs from the sum of the steps, it adds a Sum of steps row.

Running totals are calculated in the browser and formatted like the step values (prefix, suffix, decimals, thousands separators, percent).

• Wrong sequence: sort by business step or time, not by the size of the change.
• Unexpected final total: check whether the measure is additive and whether an opening or closing total was also included as a change.
• Wrong sign: verify how reductions are represented in the source.

The Analytics tab adds constant lines, bands and vertical lines at a category; statistic lines are not available. See Reference lines.

Opening reports made before 10.00

• Negative, zero-crossing and negative-total steps are redrawn at their true positions, and empty members no longer restart the running total at 0.
• In English, a total bar whose label was never stored is now called Total instead of Accumulated value. A label you typed is kept.
• Saved positive and negative colors are kept when the report is reopened.

Use a Line chart for a series of ending balances and a Stacked column for contributions that do not need a running sequence.