Donut visualization example

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 5 minutes to read

    • The donut visualization uses a hollow circular shape to show the proportion or percentage of different categories or groups. The semi-donut visualization does the same job as the donut using a semicircle instead of a full circle.

    Before you begin

    Role required: Anyone with access to data can create a visualization of that data on any dashboard that they can edit. Users with the itil, report_user, admin, or viz_creator role can create a visualization in the Visualization Designer. When you create a visualization in the Visualization Designer, it is saved to the Library. For more information on access, see Report_view access control and Platform Analytics roles.

    About this task

    Use this visualization type when you want to compare subcategories or additional data set in a simple and easy to understand format.

    Procedure

    1. Follow the first steps to Create a pie or donut data visualization:
      1. Navigate to All > Platform Analytics > Library > Data Visualizations, or open an in-line dashboard and select Edit.
      2. Select New.
      3. Select the Donut (icon for a donut visualization) or Semi-donut (icon for a semi-donut visualizationvisualization type.
        In this example, you create a donut visualization, but the concepts are the same.
        Animation showing workspace and visualization designer selection, and choosing to create a donut visualization
    2. For the moment, we can skip the header and border section and move to the data source.
      1. Select Add data source.
      2. Choose the Incident [incident] table.
      3. Because this visualization shows open incidents, let's add the Incidents.Open condition in the Filters section.
        With this filter selected, the visualization only shows the number of active incidents.
      4. Optional: Select Run to preview the records that the visualization will be based on.
      5. Select Add this source.
      A pie visualization with the current value of the selected data appears in the Visualization Designer. Because the only information you've given is that the visualization represents active incidents, you see only a two wedges for Active=True and Active=False. You add priority and assignment group in step 4.
      Animation showing selection of data source, application of filter and result
    3. Now that you can see the visualization, let's add some context for the user.
      1. Expand the Header and border section.
      2. Select Show header and provide the visualization title Open incidents - Priority.
        When Show header is selected, you can add a title and a description. The chart title isn't necessarily the same as the visualization name. The visualization name identifies it in the Visualization Designer and in a list. The chart title appears within the visualization.
      3. Enter a description of the visualization: Open incidents of all priorities.
        While the description and title fields aren't required, this information makes the visualization easier to understand on a dashboard and easier to identify in a list.
      4. Select Save and give the report the title Donut - Open incidents.
    4. Skip the Metric section.
    5. Add a Group by to differentiate the information in the visualization.
      Under Group by, select Priority.
    6. Under Sorting, choose the field to sort by and the order of the sorting.
      1. Choose to sort by Name.
      2. Choose Ascending for the sort order.
        The segments are ordered by Priority, starting with 1 - Critical, 2 - High, and so on.Donut report on open incidents sorted by Priority
    7. Under Data update, configure how the audience interacts with the visualization.
      1. Select Follow filters.
        This option enables the visualization to follow interactive filters on the dashboards it's placed on that are based on the same table.
      2. Select Show filter icon to show the number of filters applied to the visualization.
        For example, if dashboard filters limit the value of the visualization, the icon indicates that you're seeing the number of open incidents that match the filters. You can then check to see which filters are in effect.
      3. Select Enable drilldown to let viewers navigate to relevant information by selecting a data point in the chart.
        Some visualizations only drill down to the list of associated data. Table data is generally restricted by access control lists (ACLs) and viewers may not see all of the associated records.

        This control mirrors Allow chart interaction. Under Chart Interaction, you can also select the destination of drilling down.

    8. Choose how to show what the sections of the donut describe.
      • Show Legend gives examples of the color coding for each value in the visualization. You can choose whether to show the legend, where to place it and how much to show. Ideal placement depends on the size of its container on a dashboard. If you have more horizontal space, place the legend to the left or right. If you have more vertical space, place it above or below.
      • Show data labels adds the label and value information next to the segments of the visualization.
      1. Select Show legend to enable legend options.
      2. Select Show legend value.
        This option adds the number associated with the metric. In this case, 4 is added to the high priority incidents because that is how many high priority incidents there are.
      3. Select Show value on the same line to keep the value with the assignment group name.
      4. Select Show legend percentage to provide more information about the value.
      5. Play with where to place the legend above of the visualization.
        You can choose to place the legend above, below, or to the right or left of the visualization.
      6. Select the Center Horizontal alignment.
        Horizontal alignment is not available if you place the legend to the right or left of the visualization. Start and End move the legend to the left or right of the visualization. (Start and End are right and left for languages that read from right to left.)
      7. Change the Max legend item width to give those values more or less room.
        Open incidents by assignment group pie visualization with legend showing value and percentage options
    9. Clear Show legend and select Show data labels.
      1. Choose the Data label type.
        You can choose Value to show the number next to the label, Percent to show the percentage the value represents, or Value and percent to show both.
      2. Change the Max label size to 50.
        The labels wrap to additional lines. The Truncation type doesn't make a difference, because the labels are wrapped.
      3. Clear the Wrap labels option.
        When you change the Truncation type, you can see that End replaces the ends of the longer labels with three dots. Select Start and the three dots replace the first part of the longer labels. And the same happens when you select middle.
    10. Choose the Default color type for the visualization.
      • Default applies the colors associated with your UX theme.
      • Color palette uses hues of the same color, for example Blue Light to Dark.
      • Fixed element specifies the same color for each element, such as hardware incidents. All data visualizations that use fixed element colors show the same element in the same color.

    Result

    You've created a donut visualization grouped on one value. You've also configured the visualization's labeling, legend, and colors.

    What to do next

    Create a semi-donut visualization.
    • Select the More actions button (The More actions icon which consists of three vertical dots) and choose Duplicate.
    • Name the new visualization Semi-donut - Open incidents and select Duplicate.
    • Change the Visualization type to Semi-donut and select Save.
    The semi-donut has all the same settings as the donut, but is a half circle instead of a full circle.