bar chart with multiple data sets

[smgomez]

I need a bar chart with a number of items by quarter in each topic area with that number split by severity level. My permissions do not allow me to attach anything, so I will attempt to explain.
say my topic is fruit. I have 10 peaches, 8 are bruised 2 are ripe. I have 6 apples, 3 are ripe 3 are rotten. I want a bar to show all ten peaches with 8 shaded for bruised and 2 shaded for ripe, etc.

 

[Asala42]

On the surface it sounds like you want to test out stacked bar charts. Perhaps data set up like this:

Fruit Types in ColA (Apple, Peach, etc listed down the rows in ColA)
Ripe counts in ColB
Bruised counts in ColC
Rotten counts in ColD
Optional
Total Fruit in ColE

A default stacked bar chart for the first 3 columns of data, with A as the x-axis, would auto assign colors to each Ripeness category since they are each their own series.

If you want to add total fruit values on the top of the bars, you could add the Total column into the chart via copy/paste, then change it's properties to follow a secondary Y-Axis, then correct the axis-scales to match.