Pareto chart tool


A pareto chart is used to display categories of data in descending order of frequency.

Bars show the total number in each category and are ordered from highest to lowest. An overlaid line shows the cumulative percentage of the total.

Pareto charts can be used to identify and then focus improvement work on the most significant categories. For example, you could use a pareto chart to identify the highest ranked reason for delayed transfers of care reason and what percentage of the total this reason represents. The chart below shows that ‘e) awaiting care package in own home is the highest ranked reason. The orange dashed line shows that this reason accounts for 21% of total delayed days for the period selected. 

Example of a pareto chart

With this tool you can:

  • record your data on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, and it will be automatically plotted on a pareto chart
  • understand what your biggest concern should be
  • decide where to focus improvement projects

Pareto chart XLSM, 44.1 KB

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