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Additional Filtering Topics

Context filters trim the dataset before other filters are applied. They are best for filters that significantly reduce the data size, around 10% or less. Applying filters to worksheets allows filters to apply across multiple views or dashboards simultaneously. The field used for filtering impacts results; filtering on dimensions like customers maintains filters when views are changed, unlike filtering on measures. Filters are applied in a fixed order, with context filters first, then dimension filters before measure filters. Inefficient filtering is a common performance issue, so considerations like cascading filters and indexed fields can improve speed.

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38 views

Additional Filtering Topics

Context filters trim the dataset before other filters are applied. They are best for filters that significantly reduce the data size, around 10% or less. Applying filters to worksheets allows filters to apply across multiple views or dashboards simultaneously. The field used for filtering impacts results; filtering on dimensions like customers maintains filters when views are changed, unlike filtering on measures. Filters are applied in a fixed order, with context filters first, then dimension filters before measure filters. Inefficient filtering is a common performance issue, so considerations like cascading filters and indexed fields can improve speed.

Uploaded by

samyuktha_subramania
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Free Training Transcript:

Additional Filtering Topics


Welcome to this video on additional filtering topics. You can download the Exercise
workbook to follow along in your own copy of Tableau.

Filtering in Tableau is incredibly powerful, but with that it can get complicated. This video
assumes a basic understanding of filtering as laid out in the previous videos and goes
beyond into some deeper concepts.

Context Filters
First is Context Filters. One thing to note about the filter shelf is that the filters are
computed independently of each other. If a given filter will trim the dataset down, it may
be worth Adding to Context. A Context Filter will be computed first, then all other filters
will run only on its results.

For example, if we knew that we only wanted to look at products within the Machines
sub-category, we may want to make that a context filter by right clicking and selecting
“Add to Context”. The filter is now grey, and any subsequent filters will only be on
machine products. Context filters are generally best to use when they’ll return a
significantly smaller set of results, the guideline is about a tenth or less of the original
data. Context filters ideally shouldn’t be something that would change frequently, so let’s
hide this interactive filter.

Apply to Worksheets
When a pill is placed on the filter shelf, by default that filter applies only to the current
worksheet. If it makes sense to have the filter applied more broadly, we can change the
scope by clicking the pill’s dropdown chosing, “Apply to Worksheets” and applying
the filter to “All using related data sources”, “All using this data source”, or “Selected
worksheets”.

This can be especially useful on a Dashboard, where a filter that is relevant to multiple
views can be set to apply to all or some of them simultaneously. By default, the
interactive filter only applies to the view it was brought out with. But if we go to the
menu and say “apply to worksheets” > “All using this data source”. Now all the views
filter.

And not just the views on the dashboard. Let’s build a new sheet. We’ll double click
Sales and double click Category. In the view, note that we only have one Category. But
fortunately, we get this visual indication here that a filter has been applied. This icon

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lets you know there’s a filter on the data connection, so we can backtrack and hunt it
down if that’s not what we want. Another solution would be to say “Apply to worksheets”
“selected worksheets” and target just the ones we want to have filter. It’s important to
note that taking an “applied to all” filter off the filter shelf removes it from all views, not
just the one we’re looking at, so be careful when using this option.

Which Field to Filter On


Because we have the power to control exactly what is filtered on and how, it’s important
to understand how filtering is performed. Let’s say we wanted to run a promotion for
customers who purchased more than $10,000 in sales.

A straightforward way to do that might be to build a view of customers by sales, like we


have here, and filter for Sales, sum is at least $10,000. It looks right. But this summary
filter of sales >$10,000 is dependent on the structure of the view. If we modify the view,
we risk altering how the filter is applied. Here, we have 12 rows, indicating 12 customers
eligible for our promotion. But if we break it out by Category on color, suddenly we’re
down to 6 rows. Why? The 6 customers filtered out didn’t have over 10,000 in sales in a
single category, even if they may have been eligible overall. Tableau ran each mark past
the filter – and there’s a mark per customer per category in this view.

Alternatively, we could bring Customers to the filter shelf and use the condition tab to
say we only want customers who have sales greater than 10 000. We have the same initial
12 rows, and if we again break it out by Category we still have 12 rows. No customers
were filtered out like they were last time. Here, Tableau ran Customers by their sum of
sales through the filter, then any who had more than $10,000 were put into the view,
regardless of how the Categories split up those sales. Knowing how we set up our filter
will impact how we can manipulate the view and maintain the filter as we designed it.

Filter Order of Operations


What order filters are put onto the filter shelf has no impact on the query sent to the data
source, filters are grouped together into the WHERE clause of the query. However, filters
ARE applied in a fixed order of operations.

Filters created during the Extract process limit what data is brought into the extract
itself. Then, Data Source filters are applied, limiting what is made available in Tableau.
Once the data is in Tableau, Context Filters are applied first and all subsequent filters are
run against their temporary table of results. Filters involving FIXED LOD expressions are

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evaluated next. Then filters on dimensions (like ship mode). Then INCLUDE or EXCLUDE
LOD filters. Then filters on measures (like shipping cost). And finally Table Calculation
filters, which are applied last (because these are performed only on the data in the view).

Performance and Filter Queries


Inefficient filtering is one of the most common causes of poorly performing workbooks
and dashboards. For detailed information, see the related materials below this video.

Some things to consider about filtering and its impact on performance: Context filters
are slow to create or change due to the temporary table being created behind the scenes,
but once they are in place they can increase performance since further queries are only
run off a subset the subset of data as opposed to the entire data set. Cascading interactive
filters can help narrow down the list of options, like here, we only see states that are
in the country we selected. However, when a filter requires Tableau to find all potential
field values, this requires a complex query that can take time to evaluate. Here, using a
wildcard may be more performant. The presence and maintenance of indexes in the data
source can dramatically improve filtering performance.

Conclusion
Thank you for watching this additional filtering topics video. We invite you to continue
with the Free Training videos to learn more about using Tableau.

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