In Excel, an analyst has a pivot of average amount by province and wants to chart it. Following the four-step method, the first decision is:

Answer

The message — the one sentence the chart must make the reader believe

Options - A. The message — the one sentence the chart must make the reader believe - B. The chart type — bar, column, line or pie for these values - C. The colours — one shade per province so the bars are told apart - D. The data range — whether to select the pivot or the raw sheet Why - A. Correct — message first; the data, the type and the axes are chosen to carry it. - B. The type is the third decision; chosen first it is a guess at what the chart is for. - C. Colour is formatting, decided after the chart exists; one series needs one colour. - D. The data is the second decision, and it follows from the message, not the other way round.

Beginning Excel 2019 §4.1 Table 4.1 (CC BY 4.0) — the four chart decisions, adapted; wording and data original