1. A method for graphing network traffic for a communication network, comprising: defining a plurality of application categories; gathering traffic data from at least one network element of said communication network, wherein said gathering comprises gathering records relating to a plurality of flows and a plurality of bytes or packets, wherein said plurality of flows and said plurality of bytes or packets are used to calculate a composite volume, wherein said composite volume is determined by multiplying a number of said plurality of flows by a number of said plurality of bytes or packets, and wherein said composite volume is calculated in accordance with: 
 Composite Volume= K a ×( s flows+ d flows)×( s bytes+ d bytes) where sflow represents a number of connection for sources, where dflow represents a number of connection for destinations, where sbytes represents a number of bytes for a source and where dbytes represents a number of bytes for a destination and K a is a scaling factor for an application “a”; determining an expected traffic value for at least one of said plurality of application categories; and plotting by a processor said traffic data associated with each of said plurality of application categories as a band in a composite river-chart graph, where said expected traffic value for at least one of said plurality of application categories is also plotted in said composite river-chart graph.