Hi there,

I'm Pikka and I don't have a question, but I'd like to offer a solution to a problem I was having until recently. I had to make a BCG matrix, which is essentially a bubble chart with multiple series. Kudos to the person writing a good tutorial template (posted on Yahoo answers) that helped me solve it.

This is a sample screenshot of a table used: Sample table It's Office 2010.

For the BCG matrix, you need to have 3 inputs: your sales (bubble width), relative market share (X axis) and market growth percentage (Y axis, percentage).

Now, let's write down the data (look at the table from the link):
- for the A1 bubble: put name of the series (A1) in cell C1, then your bubble width in D3, X axis point in B3, and Y axis point in C3
- for the A2 bubble: put name of the series (A2) in cell E1, your bubble width in F4, X axis point in B4, and Y axis point in E4
- for the A3 bubble: put name of the series (A3) in cell G1, your bubble width in H5, X axis point in B5, and Y axis point in G5
...
-for the final A6 bubble: put name of the series (A6) in cell M1, then your bubble width in N8, X axis point in B8, and Y axis point in M8

The names of the series on the left side (column A) are here just for the ease of use, so you can see which bubble is in which row.

Now here comes the trick part: select the table from the cell B1 all the way to P9 and go to "Insert Table", press the little triangle in the corner of the Insert Table selection, and choose Bubble chart. It should give you a chart like the one in the sample picture. And that's kinda it If the chart is weird looking, try right-clicking on the table, choosing "Select Data", and then "Switch Row/Column". If you should choose only the table without those few extra cells (so B1 to N8), the chart will be complete but without Series names (you won't get A1, A2 etc, but Series 1, Series 2...).

As for the names of the series, you can click on one bubble at a time and go to Format, Data labels, deselect Y axis and select Series name, and setting it wherever you like (I prefer bottom of the bubble). Seems you have to do this one bubble at a time, I haven't found a way to make a multiple selection. There's also a free addon for Excel that makes naming much more easier.

If you're making a BCG matrix, you can also right-click on the X axis, choose "Format axis", and "Values in reverse order" (so you get your leader brands on the left side) and "Vertical axis crosses: Axis value" and put "1" in the box (because relative market share is calculated <1 or >1, so number 1 should be the center of the story).

I registered only to write this down because I was really frustrated when I couldn't find a simple solution for the problem and I'm glad if this helped anyone. Please feel free to edit this post as you wish or delete it if the solution was already posted.

Kind regards,
Pikka