This Daisy Chart shows the number of transactions over three months in a restaurant, where some of the staff have been less than diligent in their data entry.

The technique has also been applied with great success to legal and other document databases.

Note the following about the chart :-

1. The technique is very simple and can be applied to a large number of time-based databases in companies, organisation and industries, from Finance to Project Management.

2. A definite weekly pattern is obvious, as more meals are sold at the weekends.

3. The histograms show the Number of Transactions. They could equally well show the Total Receipts. Or Both!

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1. What happended on the 18th and 19th of April? Inspection showed that all of the 19th's entries were placed on the 18th. Not too serious for this company and easily corrected.

2. But perhaps not such an easy correction for the data of the 11th to the 13th of May. The chart shows a similar weekly pattern around the dates, so it is likely that the trransactions have been missed. What this a simple error or deliberate fraud?

3. A possible answer is that although this chart relates to the 2nd Quarter or 1998, there are entries for the 13th of July. (See the larger version of the chart to confirm!)

This example has been setup to be printed as portrait.

It is recommended that the example is redrawn with the chart size set to Printer Portrait and High Resolution before it is actually printed.

This layout of a histogram was first suggested by Florence Nightingale to explain the problems of the Crimea.