Burndown Budget Calculator

What is a burndown chart? This type of chart is typically used in Agile project management. It helps to count down the budget so the last month will appear at zero.

Sean Miller created a video tutorial on how to create one using existing Sales measures from the Tableau Superstore dataset here. This was a Workout Wednesday challenge for 2022 week number 10.

But what if you wanted to know the monthly budget spend and how it increments? I created a calculator dashboard here where you can enter your yearly budget spend. It will automatically calculate the monthly spend.

It is connected to a data source that has all of the days of the year for 2025 in a column called Dates.

It also is helpful to see your actual spend compared to the budget amount so you can see how above or below your budget you are trending. This dashboard is blended with a second data source that has a Dates column containing the first day of the month and an Actual column. This column is for putting the actual spend amount for the month.

How to use this dashboard

Enter your yearly spend in the parameter that is located in collapsible filter container. You can access this by clicking on the blue arrow icon (from icons8.com).

This data only has actuals up to February.

You can download this and use it. Simply recreate the data sources. Instructions for the data structure are located on the second dashboard. Click the Instructions navigation button to view them.

Parameters

You will need to create two parameters for the calculations. A date parameter and one for the yearly budget. They are configured as shown below:

Date Parameter

This date parameter is based on a calculated field you create with today's date. Create that first before you create this parameter.

YearBudget Parameter

Calculations

You will need several calculations for this dashboard. I listed them below separated by the burndown chart, those that are dependent upon the blended data source and then those that are needed for the KPI sheet.

today

today()

No of Months

Size()

Budget Per Month

[YearBudget]/[No of Months]

Running Budget

RUNNING_SUM([Budget Per Month])

Estimated Budget

[YearBudget]

-

[Running Budget]

*Curr Mon From Param

MONTH([Date])-1

*This calculation is for calculating the month behind the current month. You haven't completed the current month yet so the budget will always be based on the previous month's completed actuals.

*Future Months

DATETRUNC('month',[Date])

<=

DATETRUNC('month',[Dates])

*This formula creates a Boolean value. You will need this for a future formula.

Secondary Data Source Calculations

The next set of calculations are based on your data blend with the secondary data source Actuals.

Running Sum Actuals

RUNNING_SUM(SUM([Sheet1 (Actuals (1))].[Actuals]))

Total Actuals Overall

TOTAL( SUM([Sheet1 (Actuals (1))].[Actuals]))

Total Actuals Diff Running Sum

[Estimated Budget]

-

[Running Sum Actuals]

Current Month Budget

WINDOW_MAX(if max([Future Months]) then [Total Actuals Diff Running Sum] END)

Remaining Budget

If not max([Future Months]) then [Total Actuals Diff Running Sum]

ELSE [Current Month Budget]

END

KPI Sheet Calculations

The below calculations are needed for the KPI sheet above the burn down chart on the dashboard.

*Budget Per Month KPI

Window_SUM([YearBudget])/12

Budget to Curr Month

[Curr Mon From Param]*[Budget Per Month KPI]

Projected to Actuals Diff

[Total Actuals Overall]-[Budget to Curr Month]

How to create the Burn Down Chart

Place the Dates field on the Columns shelf.

Format it as Continuous Month.

Add the Estimated Budget calculated field to the Rows shelf.

Then add the Remaining Budget calculated field to this shelf.

Right-click on Remaining Budget and make it a Dual axis.

Synchronize the axes.

Format the Path for the Estimated Budget to be a dotted line and the color grey.

Click on the Color marks card for Remaining Budget and select the color orange. Change the marker to be the center marker as shown below:

I added a caption to my worksheet and edited the comments to help explain the burndown chart. You can do this by selecting the Worksheet menu and selecting Show Caption. You can then right-click on the caption to edit it.

How to Create the KPI Sheet

I used the method where you place multiple in-line calculations on the Columns shelf. You can do this by right-clicking in the desktop application and selecting New Calculation. This creates an empty "pill" that you can type in your formula.

I created the below in-line calculations:

//Year Budget

min(0)

//Monthly Budget

min(0)

//Budget to Month

min(0)

//Actuals

min(0)

//Diff to Actual

min(0)

These create placeholders for each of the separate measures.

I expanded the view to the Entire view in the toolbar.

I formatted the sheet as a Shape marks type and then selected a blank shape to remove the blue highlighting from each KPI square.

I put the following measures in the newly created marks card on the Text label.

Year Budget = YearBudget parameter

Monthly Budget = Budget Per Month KPI

Budget to Month = Budget to Curr Month

Actuals = Running Sum Actuals

Diff to Actual = Projected to Actuals Diff

I also added a caption to this KPI sheet but I customized the text explaining the sheet. You can import your parameter in a caption text!

Feel free to download the dashboard to see how it is configured.