Help Manual

Contents






Sigma Magic Help Version 17

Time Series Plot

Overview

Time Series Plot tool can be used to create a Time Series plot for the given sets of data points. A time series plot is usually plotted using a time axis. Data has to be collected in a time sequence. Time Series Plot can determine if the data is stable or unstable.

This tool can be added to your active workbook by clicking on Graph and then selecting Time Series Plot.

Inputs

Click on Analysis Setup to open the menu options for this tool. A sample screenshot of the menu is shown below. inputs
1
Chart Type: Specify the format of the chart. This selection is not enabled since there is only one format available.
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X Axis: Specify the type of x-axis to plot for the run chart. The available options are:
OptionDescription
IndexUse index values (1, 2, 3, ...) for the x-axis.
DatesUse dates for the x-axis. You will need to specify the dates column for this plot.
3
Markers: Specify the type of markers to use for the scatter plot. The available options are:
OptionDescription
NoneDo not use any markers for the plot data points.
CircleUse circles for markers for plot data points.
SquareUse squares for markers for plot data points.
DiamondUse diamonds for markers for plot data points.
4
Show Trendline: Specify whether you want to display a best-fit line for the scatter plot. The available options are:
OptionDescription
NoDo not display the best-fit line on the scatter plot.
YesDisplay the best fit trendline on the scatter plot. You can right-click on the trendline and change it from linear to quadratic or other types of fit as appropriate.
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Help Button: Click on this button to open the help file for this topic.
6
Cancel Button: Click on this button to discard any changes and close the dialog box.
7
OK Button: If possible, click this button to save any changes and compute the analysis outputs.

Data

You will see the following dialog box if you click the Data button. Here, you can specify the data required for this analysis. Data
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Search Data: The available data displays all the columns of data that are available for analysis. You can use the search bar to filter this list and speed up finding the right data for analysis. Enter a few characters in the search field, and the software will filter and display the filtered data in the Available Data box.
2
Available Data: The available data box contains the list of data available for analysis. If your workbook has no data in tabular format, this box will display "No Data Found." The information displayed in this box includes the row number, whether the data is Numeric (N) or Text (T), and the name of the column variable. Note that the software displays data from all the tables in the current workbook. Even though data within the same table have unique column names, columns across different tables can have similar names. Hence, it is crucial that you not only specify the column name but also the table name.
3
Add or View Data: Click on this button to add more data to your workbook for analysis or to view more details about the data listed in the available data box. When you click on this button, it opens the Data Editor dialog box, where you can import more data into your workbook. You can also switch from the list view to a table view to see the individual data values for each column.
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Required Data: The code for the required data specifies what data can be specified for that box. An example code is N: 2-4. If the code starts with an N, you must select only numeric columns. If the code begins with a T, you can select numeric and text columns. The numbers to the right of the colon specify the min-max values. For example, if the min-max values are 2-4, you must select a minimum of 2 columns of data and a maximum of 4 columns in this box. If the minimum value is 0, then no data is required to be specified for this box.
5
Select Button: Click on this button to select the data for analysis. Any data you choose for the analysis is moved to the right. To select a column, click on the columns in the Available Databox to highlight them and then click on the Select Button. A second method to choose the data is to double-click on the columns in the list of Available Data. Finally, you can drag and drop the columns you are interested in by holding down the select columns using your left mouse key and dragging and dropping them in one of the boxes on the right.
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Selected Data: The list box header will be displayed in black if the right number of data columns is specified. If sufficient data has not been specified, then the list box header will be displayed in red color. Note that you can double-click on any of the columns in this box to remove them from the box.
6a
Y Variable: This list box contains the Y data (vertical axis) used to create the time series plot. This list box is mandatory, and one column must be specified. Note that the values specified in this column must be numeric.
6b
X Variable: This list box contains the X data (horizontal axis) used to create the time series plot. This list box is mandatory, and one column must be specified. Note that the values specified in this column must be numeric.
6c
Group Variable: This list box contains information about any groups to use to create the time series plot. It is optional and can contain either numeric or text data. Make sure that the number of rows of data in this column is the same as the number of rows of data in the X and Y variables. If grouping has been specified, then the data is broken up into groups, and the time series plot is created for each group.
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View Selection: Click on this button to view the data you have specified for this analysis. The data can be viewed in a tabular format or a graphical summary.

Charts

You will see the following dialog box if you click the Charts button. Charts
1
Title: The system will automatically pick a title for your chart. However, if you want to override that with your title, you can specify a title for your chart here. Note that this input is optional.
2
Sub Title: The system will automatically pick a subtitle for your chart. However, if you want to override that with your subtitle, specify a subtitle for your chart here. Note that this input is optional.
3
X Label: The system will automatically pick a label for the x-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your label for the x-axis, you can specify a different label here. Note that this input is optional.
4
Y Label: The system will automatically pick a label for the y-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your label for the y-axis, you can specify a different label here. Note that this input is optional.
5
X Axis: The system will automatically pick a scale for the x-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your values for the x-axis, you can specify them here. The format for this input is to determine the minimum, increment, and maximum values separated by a semi-colon. For example, if you specify 10;20, the minimum x-axis scale is set at 10, and the maximum x-axis scale is set at 20. If you specify 10;2;20, the x-axis increment is set at 2. Note that this input is optional.
6
Y Axis: The system will automatically pick a scale for the y-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your values for the y-axis, you can specify them here. The format for this input is to determine the minimum, increment, and maximum values separated by a semi-colon. For example, if you specify 10;20, the minimum y-axis scale is set at 10, and the maximum y-axis is set at 20. If you specify 10;2;20, then, in addition to minimum and maximum values, the y-axis increment is set at 2. Note that this input is optional.
7
Horizontal Lines: You can specify the values here if you want to add a few extra horizontal reference lines on top of your chart. The format for this input is numeric values separated by semi-colon. For example, if you specify 12;15, two horizontal lines are plotted at Y = 12 and Y = 15, respectively. Note that this input is optional.
8
Vertical Lines: You can specify the values here if you want to add a few extra vertical reference lines on top of your chart. The format for this input is numeric values separated by semi-colon. For example, if you specify 2;5, two vertical lines are plotted at X = 2 and X = 5, respectively. Note that this input is optional.

Verify

If you click the Verify button, the software will perform some checks on the data you entered. A sample screenshot of the dialog box is shown in the figure below. Verify The software checks if you have correctly specified the input options and entered the required data on the worksheet. The results of the analysis checks are listed on the right. If the checks are passed, they are shown as green checkmarks. If the verification checks fail, they are shown as a red cross. If the verification checks result in a warning, they are shown in the orange exclamation mark, and finally, any checks that are required to be performed by the user are shown as blue info icons.
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Item: The left-hand side shows the major tabs and the items checked within each section
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Status: The right-hand side shows the status of the checks.
3
Overall Status: The overall status of all the checks for the given analysis is shown here. The overall status check shows a green thumps-up sign if everything is okay and a red thumps-down sign if any checks have not passed. Note that you cannot proceed with generating analysis results for some analyses if the overall status is not okay.

Outputs

Click on Compute Outputs to update the output calculations. A sample screenshot of the worksheet is shown below. outputs
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Notes: The notes section summarizes the inputs - specifically the number of data rows, the number of skipped rows, and the number of distinct groups. The analysis results contain the following data for each group: group name, number of data points in that group, and the minimum, mean, and average values for the Y data values.

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Graphs: The graphs section contains a time series plot of the input data. The Time Series plot contains the plot of the Y Data concerning the X Data, with each group plotted separately. Once you plot the data, you can see if the data is stable or unstable by looking for some typical unstable characteristics, as if the plot has a trend (upwards or downwards), if there are peaks/outliers in the data set, or if there are shifts in the mean.

Notes

Here are a few pointers regarding this analysis:
  • You can format the graph using the standard Excel functions. However, note that if you click on Compute Outputs again, you may lose all the formatting you have done to your graph.

Examples

The following examples are in the Examples folder.
  • Create a Time Series Chart for the data in the file (Time Series 2.xlsx).


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