Summary: The Sankey diagram in Alta's Data Explorer shows how volume flows from one measure to the next — for example, how emails sent turn into replies and meetings — with the width of each band showing how much moved between the two nodes. You build it by defining steps and linking each step to the measures or breakdown values that follow it.
Who this is for: Anyone who wants to see where volume goes (and where it drops off) across connected stages of a process — outreach funnels, pipeline movement, lead routing, and similar flows.
Before you start
You need a connected data source with a metric or model that has at least two measures you want to connect (e.g. Emails Sent and Replies).
If you're new to the Data Explorer, start with the chart builder basics (see Related below) — this article covers only what's specific to the Sankey.
Step 1 — Open the Data Explorer and pick Sankey
In the left sidebar, open Explore and click Data Explorer.
Choose your Data source (a metric or model).
In the Visualization dropdown, choose the Sankey diagram. The settings panel now shows a Flow section.
Step 2 — Add your first step
In the Flow section, under Steps, click the dashed Add step selector.
Pick a measure. This becomes your first node — the from box the flow starts at.
If a measure has variants (e.g. count vs. distinct), a secondary selector appears on the box so you can switch between them.
Step 3 — Link the step to what comes next
Under each step you'll see two link selectors:
+ to measure — connect the step to another measure. Use this for stage-to-stage flow, like Emails Sent → Replies. Each linked measure appears as a to node.
+ to breakdown — connect the step to a dimension instead. After picking the dimension, expand it and click the + button to choose which specific values to show. Each value you add becomes its own node, so you can split a step's outflow by owner, channel, status, or any other field. Alta suggests values from your actual data (boolean fields offer
true/false).
A step can have multiple links of both types, so one node can fan out into several destinations.
Step 4 — Chain steps into a full flow
Click Add step again to add the next stage. Measures you've already linked with to measure appear at the top of the picker under Suggested steps — pick one to turn that destination into a full step with links of its own.
Repeat until your flow covers every stage you care about. The chart re-runs automatically as you build.
Step 5 — Show dropoffs
A dropoff is the volume that entered a step but didn't continue along any of its links — the part of the band that "leaks out" of the flow.
Use the Toggle all dropoffs switch at the top of the Steps section to turn dropoffs on or off for every step at once.
To control a single step, click its box to open the series editor and use the Dropoff? toggle. The same editor has a Display name field for renaming the node on the chart.
Step 6 — Save it
Click Save in the toolbar, name the visualization, and pick a dashboard (or publish it to your account's marketplace) — the same Save Visualization dialog as every other Data Explorer chart.
Tips and common pitfalls
A link you added doesn't draw on the chart. A band only appears when rows in your data actually connect the two nodes — a link with a value of zero is hidden. Check that both measures can be true for the same records.
A breakdown link shows nothing. You picked the dimension but haven't added any values yet. Expand the breakdown and click + to add at least one value — only the values you explicitly add are drawn.
"No options available" in Add step. Every measure on the data source is already used as a step or suggested step. Switch to a model with more measures, or remove a step you don't need.
Bands look bigger than expected. When volume can reach the same destination through an intermediate step, Alta subtracts the indirect paths so each band shows only the direct flow — but overlapping definitions between measures can still inflate numbers. Prefer measures with clean stage definitions.
Numbers on nodes don't match your totals. Dropoff bands count toward a step's outflow. Toggle dropoffs off if you only want to compare flow between named nodes.
The toolbar's date filter and Filters apply to the whole diagram, and drill-down fields work here too — click a band to inspect the underlying records.
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