FREQUENTLY

ASKED

QUESTIONS :
TABLEAU

part 2
FAQ
51) What is the difference between Heat map and Tree map?

Tree Map:
It represents the data hierarchically and shows them as a set of nested rectangles.
It is used for comparing the categories with colours, size, and it can also be used for
illustrating the hierarchical data and part to whole relationships.

Colours and size of rectangles are respective to the values of the data points .

Heat Map:

It represents the data graphically which uses multiple colours to represent

different values.

It is used for comparing the categories based on colour and size. And also it is great
in spotting the patterns based on the density of the information.
When their values are higher or density of records, the data will represent in dark
colour.

52) What are the different data types in Tableau?

String: Character Sequence. Enclosed in '', (Tableau', 'World')

Number (Whole): Integers, (9)

Number (decimal): Floating values, (123.45)

Boolean: They are logical values, (TRUE, FALSE)

Date: Date, ("01/01/2020")

Date & Time: Date and Time, (01 January 2020 07:55:00 AM)

Geographic Values: Geographical Values, (India, Italy, Canada)

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FAQ
53) What is the Line Chart?

Line chart is a popular type of diagrammatic way for visualizing the data, it connects the
individual data points to view the data. We can easily visualize the series of values, we
can see trends over time or predict future values. Horizontal axis holds the category to
which it belongs and vertical axis hold the values.

54) What is a Stacked Bar chart?

Stacked Bar Chart, composed of multiple bars stacked horizontally, one below the
other. The length of the bar depends on the value in the data point. Stacked bar chart
make the work easier, they will help us to know the changes in all variables presented,
side by side. We can watch the changes in their total and forecast future values.

55) What is a Column chart?

Ans: A column chat visualizes the data as a set of rectangle columns, as their lengths are
proportional to values when they represent the data. The horizontal axis shows the
category to which they belong to, and the vertical axis shows the values.

56) What is the Bar Chart in Tableau?

Bar chart visualize the data as set of rectangle bars, as their values are proportional to
lengths when they represent the data. The vertical axis shows the category to which
they belong to and horizontal axis shows the values. So, the bar chart is a vertical
version of the Column chart.

57) What is a Stacked Column Chart?

Stacked Column Chart, composed of multiple bars stacked vertically, one on another.
The length of the bar depends on the value in the data point. A stacked column chart is
the best one to know the changes in all variables. This type of charts should be checked
when a number of series is higher than two.

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58) What is an Area Chart?

Area chart is nothing but line chat, the area between x-axis and lines will be color or
patterns. These charts are typically used to represent accumulated totals over time and
are the conventional way to display stacked lines.

59) How to download Tableau Public?

Step 1: Go to public.tableau.com and enter your e-mail address and click “ Download
the App “.
Step 2: After downloading the file, run the file and follow the prompts to install the
Tableau.
Step 3: Now, you can see Tableau shortcut on your desktop.
Step 4: Double click on the icon, to load tableau public. Now you see the screen as
below.

60) What is Context Filter and show the steps on how to create the
Context Filter Tableau?

Context Filters are applied to the data rows before any other filters. They are limited to
views, but they can be applied on selected sheets. They define Aggregation and
Disaggregation of data in Tableau

Step 1: Drag the subcategory dimensions to the row shelf and the measure sales to the
column shelf. Now choose the horizontal bar chart as chart type and again drag the sub
category dimensions to the filter shelf. Then we will get the following chart.

Step 2: Right-click on the Sub-Category field in the filter shelf and go the Top fourth tab.
Choose the option field, from the next drop-down and choose the option Top 10 by
Sales Sum as shown in the following screenshot.

Step 3: Drag the dimension Category to the filter shelf. Give right-click on the general
tab to edit and under that choose Furniture from the list. As you can see the result
shows three subcategories of products.

Step 4: Right-click the Category: Furniture filter and select the option Add to Context.
This produces the final result, which shows the subcategory of products from the
category Furniture which are among workearly.gr
the top 10 subcategories across all the products.
FAQ
61) What is VIZQL in Tableau?

VIZQL is Visual Inquiry Language. It is a combination of VIZ and SQL. It is similar to SQL
language. But instead of SQL commands, VIZQL language converts data queries into
visual images.

62) Explain the disaggregation and aggregation of data in Tableau?

Aggregation → The process of summarizing the data and viewing a single numeric value
is called aggregation. Example – sum/avg of salary for each employee

Disaggregation → The process of viewing each transaction for analyzing all the
measures both dependently and independently. Example – individual salary
transactions for each employee.

63) What is the difference between Traditional BI Tools and Tableau?

Traditional BI

BI Architecture has hardware limitations.

It does not support in-memory, multi-thread, and multi-core
computing.
It has a predefined view of data.
We should need a good knowledge of BI and skills.
Data security is provided.

Tableau

Tableau does not have dependencies.

It supports the memory when used the advanced technologies.
It uses predictive analysis for various business operations.
It is easy working and understanding without the knowledge of BI and the skills.
Data security is not provided for public, whereas in the professional version.

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FAQ
64) How to create a calculated field in Tableau?

Step 1: Select Analysis -> drop down will open -> Select create calculated field

Step 2: Calculation Editor Box will open, give the name to the calculated field.

Step 3: Enter a formula in the calculation editor.

Example: Sum(Profits)/Sum(Sales). (Calculation Editor validates the formula)

Step 4: Click, Ok.

Now, the new calculated field added to the data pane.

65) State some reasons for the low performance of Tableau? Explain
in detail.

Filters : filters need to create an extra query and if it used in large numbers and
inefficiently then they can reduce the performance. So, it is advised to use filters
whenever it is mandatory
Live connection: Tableau extract works much better in comparison with live
connection.
Data sources: a wrong query to a wrong data source can reduce performance. Also
data source’s performance can also affect Tableau’s performance.

66) State some ways to improve the performance of Tableau.

Use an Extract to make workbooks run faster.

Reduce the scope of data to decrease the volume of data.
Reduce the number of marks on the view to avoid information overload.
Try to use integers or Booleans in calculations as they are much faster than strings.
Hide unused fields .
Use Context filters.
Reduce filter usage and use some alternative way to achieve same result.
Use indexing in tables and use same fields for filtering.
Remove unnecessary calculations and sheets.
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67) Tell me different ways to use parameters in Tableau

Filters
calculated fields
actions
measure-swaps
changing views
auto updates

68) Can we see SQL generated by Tableau Desktop?

Tableau Desktop Log files are placed in C:UsersMy DocumentsMy Tableau Repository. In
case of live connection to any data source, check the log file “log.txt” and
“tabprotosrv.txt” files. In case of extract connection to any data source, check the
“tdeserver.txt” file which has detailed information about queries.

69) If the owner of the published workbooks license expires, then

can other users see those workbooks?

If the owner of published workbooks license expires then his/her role will change to
“Unlicensed”. He/She cannot access those workbooks, but others can. Only site admin
can change the ownership of those workbooks.

70) Can we create cascading filters without using context filters?

Cascading filters means filter2 values are dependent on filter1 value. For Example, filter1
is country and if we select “India” for filter1, filter2 values should show all Indian states.
This feature we can achieve by using the option “Only Relevant Values”.

71) How can we display top and bottom 5 of records in a single

Tableau view?

To achieve this, we need to create 2 views

View1 which contains top 5 records

View2 which contains bottom 5 records
View3 which is a join of View1 and View2

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FAQ
72) State few charts which we should not use with valid reasons.

3D Charts: Visual representation of numbers in 3D charts will be skewed and it

makes difficult to compare and analyze.

Pie Charts: Pie charts are not that much accurate as bar charts. In Pie charts, we
have areas and angles to compare instead of length in a bar chart. Areas and angles
cannot be analyzed with ease.

Donut Charts: This is same as Pie chart, but here, we have a hole in the middle to
make it look like a donut. Due to that hole, we need to compare arc length with other
arcs to analyze the values. Comparing arcs length is also a difficult task for our eyes.

73) How do you optimize the performance of the dashboard?

Minimize the number of fields.

Minimize the number of records.
Reduce the marks (data points) in your view( remove unneeded dimensions).
Reduce the number of filters.
Use an include filter.
Use a continuous data filter.
Use action filters and parameters.
Reduce the number of nested calculations.
Remove custom SQL.
Clean up your workbooks.

74) How to use group in calculations field?

Option 1:

We can create the group by using the calculated field.

Step 1: Select Analysis-> click the calculated field

Step 2: Enter the field name (a dialogue box will appear)

Step 3: Enter the calculation -> Click Ok.

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FAQ
Option 2:

Create a set from the group, and use the set in the calculated field.

Step 1: Right click on the Data Pane and then select Create Set.

Step 2: Create a set dialogue box will open,

-Enter the field name.
-Select the group, on the general tab.

Step 3: Click Ok.

75) If I delete a workbook from tableau public and there are links to
other blogs and other web locations. What happens to them?

Tableau public is like a repository, if you delete anything in the Tableau public the data
will be lost, even if links are in other locations and blogs. We cannot access those links.

76) Mention whether you can create relational joins in Tableau

without creating a new table?

Yes, we can create relational joins in Tableau without creating a new table

77) When publishing workbooks on Tableau online, sometimes an

error about needing to extract appears. Why does it happen
occasionally?

It happens when the user is trying to publish the workbook which is connected to the
internal or local server that means the company’s network.

78) What is the benefit of Tableau extract file over the live
connection?

Extract file can be used without any connections and you can build your own
visualisation without connecting to the database.
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FAQ
79) Can we download views or workbooks from the server? If yes, in
which data formats?

We can download views or workbooks from the server. But, data formats available to us
depend on the permissions granted by site administrators or content owners.

Image: .png format

Data: .csv file.

We can also download selected sheets into PDF format, but while generating PDF, web
page objects won’t be included.

80) Can we place an excel file in a shared location and use it to

develop a report and refresh it in regular intervals?

Yes, we can place excel file in a shared location and we can use it to develop a report,
but for better performance, we need to extract the file.

81) Design a view in a map such that if a user selects any state the
cities under that state have to show profit and sales.

If you want to show profit and sales of each and every city under the state in the same
worksheet, then follow a few steps.

The data which you want to display under the state, it must be in the same worksheet.

Double click on the state filed.

Drag the city and drop it under the state(Mark Card).
Drag the Sales and drop into the size.
Drag the Profit and drop into the colour.
Click on the size legend and increase the size (75%).
Give a right click on State filed and select show filter.
Select the state and check whether you got the required view or not.

In the View, Size indicates the Sales, and Color indicates the profit of the respective
state(which you have selected).

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FAQ
82) Can you get values from two different sources as a single input
into parameter?

Tableau, currently not supporting the multi-valued parameters. As Tableau parameters

are not dynamic, we cannot filter the list of values at runtime.

83) Categorize dimensions in Tableau.

There are 9 various categories:

Slowly ever-changing Dimension: Value of the dimension changes over an amount of

time for slowly ever-changing dimensions.

Chop-chop ever-changing Dimension: Value in the dimension is rapidly changing for

chop-chop ever-changing dimensions.

Unchanged Dimension: Values are constant for unchanged dimension.

Shrunken Dimension: Set of 1 dimension is termed as Shrunken Dimension.

Junk Dimension: Junk values or unrelated dimensions are termed as Junk Dimension.

Conformed Dimension: If any dimension is provided by various business areas, then

such a dimension is termed as Conformed Dimension.

Degenerated Dimension: Degenerated dimensions have primary keys only without

any matter info.

Role enjoying Dimension: If one dimension is employed in multiple roles, then they
are termed as Role enjoying Dimensions.

Inferred Dimension: Empty dimensions are called inferred dimensions. They are
usually used in ETL.

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