Table Calculations are a family of functions in Tableau Desktop which allow users to reference data at the aggregated, data point (mark) level. They are a powerful but often misunderstood component of the Tableau ecosphere.
Some of the most common applications of Table Calculations include calculating Percent of Total, Percent Difference and Rank.
Unions are an incredibly powerful tool in our data prep stage when working in Tableau Desktop. But how do you know when to use a Union and when to use a Join?
The general rule of thumb is: when you want to add rows of data to your data source, use a union!
Users love filtering and sorting options in Tableau dashboards, right?
Odds are, you know you can use a parameter to change the top number of values displaying in a worksheet. However, did you know you can also use a parameter to change whether it's the Top 10 or Bottom 10 values displaying? Did you know that same parameter can control whether the sort order is ascending or descending? It's true!
In the past, swapping worksheets in a Tableau dashboard has been possible but frustrating. Using a parameter, we could swap out worksheets, but it was really difficult to also swap out any filters, parameters, or legends attached to those worksheets.
Now, with Tableau’s Dynamic Zone Visibility, that’s all changed! Dynamic Zone Visibility allows us to switch between multiple connected elements on a dashboard, from single worksheets, to multiple worksheets; from a certain set of parameters to another; or from one worksheet with its legends, filters, and parameters, to another.
Many organizations report against a fiscal calendar. If your organization's fiscal year doesn't start in January and you've tried to display values against fiscal periods in Tableau, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.
When fiscal date periods are being compared, it's usually Fiscal Years or Fiscal Quarters. Let's imagine you are asked to build a chart which compares business segment values from the current Fiscal Quarter to Date versus the same period last year. Where would you start?
A few weeks ago, we took a look at how to build donut charts in Tableau. Building a donut chart is similar to building many other views in Tableau. It’s simple to set up, but how do you get it looking really great?
This question comes up in my classes. Often, it’s the way we format our charts that has the biggest impact on our end users. So, while this week’s video pertains to donut charts, I hope that it holds some tips and tricks for adding layers of interest into our other views and charts too!
Visualizing time-series data is one of Tableau's best and defining features. Tableau provides a flexible method for visualizing dates so you can easily display chronological values and compare time periods.
However, with that flexibility comes a lot of a lot of options which can feel overwhelming and complex. For instance, why are there two different ways to visualize months and what's the difference? What does that mean if a date pill is green versus blue?
Parameters are a powerful tool in Tableau. They allow your end user to customize the view that they're seeing by selecting your pre-defined parameter values.
But where do we begin when using parameters? Well, the "Swap-A-Field" Parameter is the perfect place!
Tableau Prep is a powerful tool for cleaning, structuring and preparing data for analysis in Tableau Desktop. The Tableau Prep Builder software provides the ability to create data workflows which can be run manually. That's fine when data is updated infrequently, but it doesn't work well when data needs to be refreshed every day or every hour.
When you put a single measure on the color tab in your Tableau worksheet, you get a single color legend. That makes sense.
But sometimes it can be frustrating. For instance, what if two different segments of your business have significantly different Sales values?
How often do you build a Tableau dashboard and feel like it has too many filters? This happens to me all the time! You don't know what to do with them, right? Make two rows of filters? Ugh. Make a massive column? That's a lot of screen real estate. Add show/hide buttons so users can toggle a layout container on and off the page? That doesn't seem ideal either. What if someone doesn't realize they can show filters?
Donut Charts are a very visually-appealing chart type, used to show part-to-whole relationships. They’re simple and effective, and are a great tool to add to your dashboarding arsenal. While they’re not a built-in chart type in Tableau (unlike a bar chart, pie chart, or line graph), we can build them with a few extra steps!
Let's say you want to filter a Tableau worksheet to only contain data from the latest date in the data set. That's pretty simple if the latest date is consistently today or yesterday. You can just use a relative date filter! But what if the most recent date in the data set is less consistent?…
Getting the structure of our data correct for Tableau Desktop can make a huge difference. Tableau is pretty picky about the way it wants our data to be formatted. Generally, each column should be a new dimension or measure.
Joins in Tableau Desktop are one of the primary methods for combining multiple tables of data horizontally. One of the great things about joins are their flexibility! You can choose if you'd like to keep all data from both tables in your result set, or if you prefer to keep only matching records.
Tableau is a great tool for operationalizing time period comparisons. One of the classics is comparing quarters.
For example, you might want to know how this quarter compares to last quarter. That's a great way to compare values if your business isn't very seasonal. However, what if you sell sunscreen? You can bet that comparing fall to summer is always going to look like a bummer.
