Contents

Connecting to Data Sources Common Charts

Data Relationship Dual Axis Chart
Types of Filters Donut Chart
Filter Conditions Histogram
Groups and Hierarchies Waterfall Chart
Sets and Combined Sets Lollipop Chart
Generated Fields
Bar In Bar Chart
File Types
Pareto Chart
Data Blending
Dumbbell Chart
Calculated Field
Bump Chart
Table Calculations
Funnel Chart
Level of Detail (LOD) expressions
Butterfly Chart
Parameters
Bins Bollinger Chart
Clusters Actions
Pages Trend Lines and Forecasting
• Tableau is a Business Intelligence tool for visually analyzing the data.
• Users can create and distribute an interactive and shareable dashboard, which
depict the trends, variations, and density of the data in the form of graphs and
charts.
• You can use Tableau's drag and drop interface to visualize any data, explore
different views, and even combine multiple databases easily.
• It does not require any complex scripting.
• Tableau can connect to files, relational and Big Data sources to acquire and
process data.
• The software allows data blending and real-time collaboration, which makes it
very unique.
• It helps in simplifying raw data into the very easily understandable format
• It even allows a non-technical user to create a customized dashboard.
 Tableau Product Suite

Tableau Desktop: Tableau Desktop has a rich feature set and allows you to code
and customize reports. Right from creating the charts, reports, to blending them all
together to form a dashboard, all the necessary work is created in Tableau Desktop.

Tableau Public: It is Tableau version specially build for the cost-effective users. By
the word "Public," it means that the workbooks created cannot be saved locally, in
turn, it should be saved to the Tableau's public cloud which can be viewed and
accessed by anyone.

Tableau Server: The software is specifically used to share the workbooks,

visualizations that are created in the Tableau Desktop application across the
organization.

Tableau Online: As the name suggests, it is an online sharing tool of Tableau. Its
functionalities are similar to Tableau Server

Tableau Reader: Tableau Reader is a free tool which allows you to view the
workbooks and visualizations created using Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public
 Connecting to Data Sources

Tableau can connect to various types of data sources. It can connect to text files,
excel files, PDF files, etc. It can also connect to various databases. Tableau has the
capability to connect to servers and web connectors. There are two types of
connections –
Live: The workbook is connected live to the data source . Any update in the data
source will update the workbook with the data automatically.
Data Extract: Data is extracted and saved as a ”.tde” file. The workbook runs on the
“.tde” file. If there is any update in the data, we need to update the “.tde” file and then
run the workbook.
 Data Relationship

A relational Database/Excel file consists of multiple Tables/sheets. These multiple

tables/sheets can be connected to each other in Tableau. This connection is
established by 'Join' or 'Union' feature present in Tableau.

Joins: It can join up to 32 tables in a data source. The joining condition can be given
based on the primary key. One or more joining conditions can be specified to join the
tables.
Inner Join Left Join Right Join Outer Join
It joins all the A left join is used to A right join is used An Outer join is
common records join all the records to join all the used to join all the
between two tables from a left table and records from a right records from both
common records table and common left and right table.
from the right table. records from left
table.

Union: Union is used to append the data from two or more tables. In most of the
cases, tables with same headers are appending together using union function.
Joining conditions are not required while union two or more tables.
 Join Union

Replacing Data Source

In some cases, data sources need to be replaced with updated file. Tableau
has a data source replacing feature which can replace data sources. This
feature does not affect the already built visualizations using the old data
source. It is important to keep or replace all the used dimensions and
measures while replacing the data source.

Sort data:
Data in a visualization can be sorted by data source order, alphabetically, with
respect to any dimension or measure or manually as well.
 Types of Filters

The filters can be applied in a worksheet to restrict the number of records present in a
dataset –

Extract Data source Context Fixed LOD

Dimension Measure Table calculation Include & Exclude

Extract Filters: Extract filters are used to filter the extracted data from data source.
This filter is utilized only if the user extracts the data from data source.

Data Source Filter: A data source filter is used to filter the data in data source level.
It can restrict the records present in the data set. Data source filter works on both live
and extracts connection.

Context Filter: A Context filter is an independent filter that can create a separate
dataset out of the original data set and compute the selections made in the
worksheet.
Other filters that can be applied in the sheet will be dependent on the context filter.

Priority of filters –
Extract Filters > Data Source filters > Context filter > Fixed LOD filter > Dimension
filter > Include & Exclude LOD filter > Measure filter > Table calculation filter
 Filter conditions

Use Case 1: Select from List

You can include or exclude the members present in the field using this option.

Use Case 2: Custom Value List

A custom value list allows the user to type the member name and filter the field
accordingly.

Use Case 3: Use all

Use case 4: Wildcard

Wildcard option is used to filter the fields based on given wildcard match. Users can
type the character and filter the field based on the match.

Use Case 5: Filter on Condition

This option is used to filter the data set by giving several conditions. There are two
options – By field and by formula

Use Case 6: Top or bottom filters

This option is used to select top or bottom 'n' number of records. There are two
options – By field and by formula
 Groups and Hierarchies

Group is used to combine members present in a field. Aggregated values of two or

more categories in a dimension can be obtained using groups.

Hierarchies can be building in Tableau to visualize the data in granular level.

Dimensions which are linked but vary in the level of granularity can be combined to
form a hierarchy.
 Sets and Combined Sets

Set is a custom filed used to hold the subset of data based on some condition. A set
can be created by selecting members from the list or By writing custom Condition or
Selecting Top or Bottom few records based on Measure value so on. It acts as a
separated field or dimension

The Combined Sets in Tableau are handy to compare two existing sets for further
analysis. Comparing is similar to joins. Two sets can be combined only if they are
created on the same dimension or measure.
 Generated Fields

Tableau generates some fields which can be visible in the data pane-

Number of Records:
Number of records shows the count of records present in the data set.

Longitude and Latitude:

Longitude and Latitude (generated) fields are associated with the geographical detail
present in the data. These fields can be used to build maps in Tableau.

Measure Names:
A measure name consists of all the names of the measure present in a data set.

Measure Values:
All the measure values present in a data set are kept together in the field called
measure values.
Measure names and Measure values can be used to see the aggregation of all
measure present in a data set.
 File Types

File Extension Purpose

.twb It contains information on each sheet and dashboard
that is present in a workbook. It contains the data
source connection information. Only local data is not
available
.twbx Similar to .twb file with the addition of the local data that
is used in the analysis
.tds The details of the connection used to create the tableau
report are stored in this file
.tdsx similar to the .tds file with the addition of data along with
the connection details.
.tde This file contains the data used in a .twb file in a highly
compressed columnar data format. This helps in storage
optimization.
.tps This file stores the color preference used across all the
workbooks.
 Data Blending

Data Blending is a very powerful feature in Tableau. It is used when there is related
data in multiple data sources, which you want to analyze together in a single view. It
is used to join two data sources having related data with a different level of
granularity. Primary dataset left joins on the secondary dataset.

Sales for Sub categories for Consumer segment versus total sales for sub categories
 Calculated Field

Calculated fields can be used to create new dimensions, or new measures. They
can also be used with any data type, a multitude of functions and aggregations, as
well as logical operators, making the calculated results virtually limitless.
 Table Calculations

These are the calculations which are applied to the values in the entire table on a
single measure. For example, calculating a running total of sales.

Running sum of profit Moving average of sales monthly

 Level of Detail (LOD) expressions

FIXED LOD: This expression computes values using the specified dimensions without
reference to any other dimensions in the view.
{ FIXED [State] : sum(Sales) }
INCLUDE LOD: This level of detail expressions compute values using the
specified dimensions in addition to whatever dimensions are in the view.
AVG{ INCLUDE [City] : sum(Profit) }

EXCLUDE LOD: These levels of detail expressions subtract dimensions from

the view level of detail.
{ EXCLUDE [City] : sum(Profit) }
 Parameters

Tableau Parameters plays a significant role in creating Dynamic reports. They can be
used on filters, sets, calculate fields.
 Bins

Tableau Bins are useful to create a Range of data. They can be created both for
dimensions and measures. Used for histograms
 Clusters

Clustering in Tableau is dividing a data set into segments or clusters having relevant
data values. It helps us conduct a comparative analysis of data in Tableau. In
Tableau, K-means clustering algorithm is used. Clusters created by tableau can be
converted into a dimension so that it can be used in other visualizations
 Pages

The Pages shelf lets you break a view into a series of pages so you can better
analyze how a specific field affects the rest of the data in a view.
 Common Charts

Bar Chart

Stacked Bar Chart

Line Chart

Cross Tab
Pie Chart

Scatter plot
Area Chart

Bubble Chart
Map

Tree map
Bullet Chart

Box plot
 Advanced Charts
Dual Axis Chart

• Select one attribute and two metrics.

• Click on the second metric and select dual axis
• Synchronize the axis for better comparison of the two metrics
 Donut Chart

• Create a calculate field Zero with input 0.

• Pull twice into columns shelf, select graph as pie and convert into dual axis
• Make them of different sizes and colour the smaller circle white.
• Pull the required attribute and metrics in the bigger circle

I have considered the sales for Category and segment level

 Histogram

• Create a bin with any of the measure and edit the bin size
• Pull the created bin field as a column and pull count of any related field as a row

I have considered number of items in an order as a measure to create bins of size 2

and taken distinct count of Order ID as row. This chart gives the count of orders falling
into respective bins.
 Waterfall Chart

• Consider running total of one of the measures as a row.

• Take a date time attribute as a column
• Select Gantt Bar chart and take negative of the chosen measure in the size shelf

I have considered the running sum of profit weekly.

 Lollipop Chart

• Consider one attribute and one metric. Select the metric twice.
• Choose bar graph for the first metric and circle chart for duplicate metric
• Select dual axis
 Bar In Bar Chart

• Consider two metrics to be compared and one attribute.

• Select Bar graph for both metrics and choose dual axis.
• Synchronize the axis and change the size of the bar of one of the metric

I have compared the total sales and consumer segment sales monthly
 Pareto Chart

Here we want to see what percentage of customers give 80% of the sales.
• Consider count distinct of Customer Name in columns and sales in rows.
• Create a table calculation on sales to get the running total and a secondary
calculation to get the percentage of running total. Compute using Customer Name
• Create a table calculation on “distinct count of customer” to get the running total
and a secondary calculation to get the percentage of running total. Compute using
Customer Name.
• Convert graph into dual axis. Consider “Reference line” from analytics pane and
select constant value of “0.8” for “% of total running sales”.
 Dumbbell Chart

The difference in sales between two years for sub categories

• Consider sub category in rows and sales twice in columns
• For the sales metric 1 choose circle mark and for sales metric 2 choose line mark.
• Put the “year” attribute on the path field for sales metric 2 and select the third path
in the options.
 Bump Chart

Comparing two dimensions using a measure.

• Consider sub category in columns and Ship mode in colour shelf
• Create a rank function (Index()) and put in rows
• Edit table calculation for rank – select specific dimensions, at the level of ship mode
and sort by profit.
 Funnel Chart

Sales & Profit by region as a funnel visualization

• Consider Profit in rows and region in colour shelf.
• Choose Sales on size shelf and all the fields on text shelf.
 Butterfly Chart

Comparing two metrics with one attribute.

• Create a „zero axis‟ calculated field. Consider negative of consumer sales and
zero axis in columns. Merge to get dual axis.
• Consider State in rows. Choose Corporate sales and zero axis in columns and
merge them to get dual axis.
• Choose bar graph for both sales metric and „text‟ type for both zero axis. Put state
in text for both zero axis. Edit the axis for both zero axis to get the state in centre
 Bollinger Chart

To study the variance of a measure in a given time period

• Create parameter „Standard deviations‟ ranging 1-3 and „Lookback period‟ ranging
1-50. Create calculated field “moving avg=WINDOW_AVG(SUM([Profit]),-
[Lookback Period],0)” and “Standard dev=WINDOW_STDEV(SUM([Profit]),-
[Lookback Period],0)” .
• Create field “lower bollinger band/upper bollinger band =[moving avg]+/-[standard
dev]*[standard dev]”. Drag Week to columns and „measure value‟ to rows. Consider
Sum(profit),moving avg, lower and upper bollinger band fields in measure value.
 Actions

Tableau action is a dashboard action which is an interactive element on a Tableau

dashboard that is driven from within the worksheet. It gives the dashboard
interactivity. There are 5 types:
• Filter
• Highlighter
• URL
• Go to sheet
• Set

Improve Performance

Tableau dashboards can get slow when you have multiple data sources and huge
amount of data. Some steps to optimize dashboards -
• Use extract over live connection
• Filter the data at the data source level itself
• Hide unused fields
• Reduce filter usage, use context filters
• Remove unnecessary calculations and sheets
 Trend Lines and Forecasting

Trend lines are used to predict the continuation of a certain trend of a variable. It also
helps to identify the correlation between two variables by observing the trend in both
of them simultaneously. Tableau provides Linear, Logarithmic, Exponential, and
Polynomial models.

Forecasting is about predicting the future value of a measure. Tableau uses the
model known as exponential smoothing.

We can show reference lines and bands also in Tableau both constant and dynamic.