QuickSight Q not returning desired bar chart visualization for given query

Question & Answer
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1

Question:
I’m using Amazon QuickSight Q to analyze net profits from our transactions and asked the following:

Query: “Compare the total net profit for completed transactions for Q3 and Q4 2024.”

Expected Output:
A bar chart that clearly compares total net profit for Q3 and Q4 2024, limited only to completed transactions.

Returned Output:
QuickSight Q returns a line graph that shows net profit trends from Q3 to Q4, but this isn’t the visualization I was expecting. I need a simple bar comparison for business review purposes.

Issue:
QuickSight Q seems to understand the time frame and metric but defaults to a trend visualization instead of a comparative one. This doesn’t match the user intent, and it’s not visually aligned with how our stakeholders review quarterly data.

Request for Help:

  • How can I rephrase or tweak the Q query so QuickSight returns a desired chart instead of a line graph?
  • Are there any best practices or keywords that help nudge Q towards specific visual types like bar charts?
  • Would data preparation or semantic model updates help guide Q to understand the correct context better?
2

Hi @Francis_Joel

Thank you for reaching out. Couple of ways you can try to rephrase your query:

"Show bar chart of total net profit for completed transactions comparing Q3 vs Q4 2024"
"Display side-by-side bars of net profit from completed transactions for Q3 and Q4 2024"

Use keywords to guide visualization example:

"bar chart"/ "side by side comparison"/"comparative bars" & "column chart". 
Use "versus" or "vs" in your query to emphasize comparison
Specify "discrete quarters" to avoid continuous time interpretation
Add "show as bars" at the end of your query

The results depend not just on your query, but also on how your data is prepared. Make sure to follow the best practices and provide feedback for questions and if necessary define the unrecognised term.
Please refer to some of the links below.

  1. Supported types of questions by Q - Asking questions with Amazon QuickSight Q - Amazon QuickSight
  2. Providing Feedback - Providing feedback about Amazon QuickSight Q topics - Amazon QuickSight
  3. Correcting Wrong answers - defining unrecognized terms - Correcting wrong answers provided by Amazon QuickSight Q - Amazon QuickSight
  4. Following best practices to enable end user to use NL querying -Best practices for enabling business users to answer questions about data using natural language in Amazon QuickSight | AWS Business Intelligence Blog

Hope this Helps!