XS✔ ◾ Migrated rule - Data Layout - Do you avoid showing change as a …

…percentage? (#8264)

* Migrated rule

* Added category

* Auto-fix Markdown files

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categories/company-operations/rules-to-better-reporting-services.md

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ index:
 - show-data-and-chart-in-one
 - use-expressions-to-scale-charts
 - show-change-in-reports
+- avoid-showing-change-as-percentage
 
 ---
 

rules/avoid-showing-change-as-percentage/rule.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+type: rule
+archivedreason:
+title: Data Layout - Do you avoid showing change as a percentage?
+guid: 229d49cb-d31a-4577-8d4c-1473ba74e4a5
+uri: avoid-showing-change-as-percentage
+created: 2023-12-11T14:38:33.0000000Z
+authors: 
+  - title: Jeoffrey Fischer
+    url: https://ssw.com.au/people/jeoffrey-fischer
+related:
+- customization-do-you-know-which-version-of-sql-reporting-services-and-visual-studio-you-are-using
+redirects: []
+
+---
+
+When comparing two sets of data in a report (for example, sales this month compared to last), showing the change as a percentage is a bad idea.
+
+<!--endintro-->
+
+For example, if you made 1 sale last month and 2 this month, you have had a 100% increase. If for another product you made 1000 sales last month and 2000 this month, that is also a 100% increase, but you've sold 1000 of that product compared to 1 of the other product.
+
+For this reason, show the difference as an actual value, so you can compare all values easily. See the figures below for examples. To see how to create the negative/positive valued chart, see [Do you use expressions to show the correct scale on charts?](https://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterSQLReportingServices.aspx#maxminvalues)
+
+**Bad**   - Notice how the "change" column in the report doesn't accurately reflect the difference in downloads - 1 download last month and 2 downloads this month will yield a 100% increase - which looks impressive as a percentage but really isn't.
+
+::: bad  
+![Figure: Bad example - The percentage change column in this Reporting Services product downloads report is misleading](productdownloadgraph_rs2005_bad.gif)  
+:::
+
+**Good** - This works better just showing the difference between the two values over the 2 months.
+
+::: good  
+![Figure: Good example - The column works better as just a difference between the current and previous download totals](productdownloadgraph_rs2005_good.gif)
+:::