SPC Bullet

A versatile bar visualization panel that works as a progress bar, bar gauge, or full bullet chart with qualitative background zones — with optional SPC (Statistical Process Control) mode to display process capability indices like Cpk, Ppk, and Sigma Level, computed directly from your time series data.

Why SPC Bullet?

Bullet charts communicate more information than a single gauge. In one compact bar you see the current value, the target, and the qualitative performance context — all without building separate panels or complex transformations.

• Progress bar — clean fill bar for completion percentages, utilization, or any 0–100% metric
• Bullet chart — qualitative background zones from Grafana thresholds show whether performance is acceptable at a glance
• Target marker — compare actual vs. goal with a secondary marker from any data field
• SPC metrics (optional) — display Mean, Std Dev, Cpk, Cp, Ppk, Pp, or Sigma Level computed from the full time series

Built for Grafana

• Native theming — automatically adapts to light and dark mode
• Standard field options — min, max, units, decimals, and field overrides work just like any other Grafana panel
• Threshold integration — fill color and background zones are driven by Grafana's built-in threshold editor
• Works with any data source — SQL databases, Prometheus, InfluxDB, CSV files, or any other Grafana data source

Features

Feature	Description
Progress bar mode	Simple filled bar with threshold-based color
Bullet chart mode	Filled bar with semi-transparent qualitative background zones from thresholds
Target marker	Secondary marker from a data field — 6 configurable shapes
Horizontal & vertical	Full support for both orientations
Value label	Numeric value displayed inside or outside the bar with configurable font size
Axis	Optional scale axis with smart tick formatting
SPC metrics (optional)	Mean, Std Dev, Cpk, Cp, Ppk, Pp, Sigma Level — computed from the full series
Specification limits	LSL and USL for capability and sigma level calculations
Multi-series support	One bullet per data series, stacked automatically

Use Cases

• Manufacturing KPIs — display Cpk or Ppk for each process parameter on a single dashboard page
• OEE dashboards — show availability, performance, and quality as bullet bars against targets
• Production progress — track shift output vs. daily target with a compact progress bar
• Quality scorecards — summarize process health across many parameters in a grid of bullets
• IT operations — monitor SLA compliance with clear red/yellow/green performance zones
• Laboratory — display capability indices against specification limits for each measured characteristic

Requirements

• Grafana 11.6.2 or later

Getting Started

1. Install the plugin from the Grafana Plugin Catalog
2. Add a new panel and select Bullet as the visualization
3. Connect a data source with numeric data
4. Set Min and Max in field configuration to define the bar scale
5. Add Thresholds for color zones and bullet background ranges
6. Optionally select a Target marker field and configure its shape
7. Optionally enable SPC > Metric (e.g., Cpk) to display a process capability metric

Panel Options

Bullet

Option	Description	Default
Bullet mode	Progress bar or Bullet (with background zones)	Bullet
Orientation	Horizontal or Vertical	Horizontal
Bar thickness	Bar width as % of available space	50%
Fill thickness	Fill bar height as % of bar thickness	100%

Value Label

Option	Description	Default
Show	Display the numeric value on the bar	On
Placement	Inside (right-aligned) or Outside (left-aligned)	Inside
Font size	Text size in pixels (8–48px)	14px

Axis

Option	Description	Default
Show	Display the scale axis with ticks	Off
Tick count	Number of axis ticks (2–20)	5

Target Marker

Option	Description	Default
Field name	Data field used as the marker value	(none)
Marker shape	Line, Circle, Diamond, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Square	Line
Marker size	Marker size in pixels (4–32px)	12px
Marker color	Marker color	semi-dark-orange

SPC (optional)

SPC mode is disabled by default. Set Metric to any value other than None to enable it.

Option	Description	Default
Metric	None, Mean, Std Dev, Cpk, Cp, Ppk, Pp, Sigma Level	None
LSL	Lower specification limit	0
USL	Upper specification limit	100

Documentation

For detailed documentation, configuration guides, and examples, see the full documentation.

Part of the KensoBI SPC Suite

SPC Bullet is part of a growing family of Statistical Process Control plugins for Grafana by Kenso Software:

SPC Chart Panel — Control charts for monitoring process stability over time. Supports XmR, Xbar-R, and Xbar-S charts with automatic calculation of control limits.

SPC Histogram Panel — Distribution analysis with histograms, bell curves, and a built-in statistics table showing Cp, Cpk, Pp, and Ppk.

SPC Box Plot Panel — Box-and-whisker plots with built-in SPC. Automatically groups measurements into subgroups, computes quartiles and outliers, and overlays Xf-Rf control limits to detect shifts in both process location and spread.

SPC Pareto Panel — Pareto charts for identifying the most significant factors contributing to defects or issues.

SPC CAD Panel — Brings 3D geometry into the picture, letting you bind the data from control charts and histograms to physical features on your parts.

SPC Characteristic Datasource — The datasource that powers the SPC CAD panel. Connects to your measurement database (PostgreSQL or MSSQL), lets you select features and characteristics through a point-and-click interface, and returns SPC statistics, time series measurements, and forecast data - no SQL required.

License

This software is distributed under the Kenso Software Commercial License. Use requires a valid commercial license. No open-source rights are granted.

Support

If you have any questions or feedback, you can:

• Contact support at https://kensobi.com/contact
• Join the KensoBI Discord for questions and discussion.