Question : Creating time series chart in Excel

Hi,

I need to create a timeseries chart on Excel.  The data consists of time (in military time) and two sets of data.

Same data is below:
Date      Time      Value1      Value2
11/23/2009      7:22:30      1      
11/23/2009      7:31:36      1      
11/23/2009      7:43:21      1      4
11/23/2009      7:44:44      1      
11/23/2009      7:45:05      3      
11/23/2009      7:45:34      1      
11/23/2009      7:45:38      1      
11/23/2009      7:50:21      5      
11/23/2009      7:51:18      1      

Although date exists, I do not plan on using the data. i might have cases where the dataset is derived from multiple dates.

1. I want to create a timeseries chart that is evenly spaced e.g. 30 mins apart and plots both of the value data sets on the chart.
y should have the values
x should have the time (but will show evenly spaced timeline from say 7:00:00 to 18:00:00)
2. If there are multiple days, I want the chart to aggregate the values of same time, and plot the graph. (if this cannot be done automatically, i can bring in another dataset that already has this done, so this isn't a high priority)

Please let me know if I'm not explaining myself completely.  Thanks.

Answer : Creating time series chart in Excel

You want a scatter chart rather than any other chart type. A scatter chart will group similar times together, and allows you to display data in equally spaced time increments. I've posted a sample workbook showing my intent.

1) Note the formula in cell B2 that extracts the time from your date/time values in column A
2) Plot your data on a scatter chart
3) Right-click the X-axis in the chart and choose Format Axis from the resulting pop-up
4) On the Patterns tab, choose the option for an inside tick mark for the Minor tick mark type
5) On the Scale tab, enter 7:00 for the Min value, 18:00 for the Max value, 1:00 for the Major Unit and 0:20 for the Minor Unit


Since you may want to average the values in each 30 minute slot, I've posted a PivotTable that has this capability built in. The PivotTable uses an auxiliary formula to find the time slots:
=INT(B2*48)/48

Brad

TimeChartQ25001769.xls (33 KB) (File Type Details) 

Scatter chart and PivotChart showing your data