Book Image

Learning Tableau 10 - Second Edition

Book Image

Learning Tableau 10 - Second Edition

Overview of this book

Tableau has for some time been one of the most popular Business Intelligence and data visualization tools available. Why? Because, quite simply, it’s a tool that’s responsive to the needs of modern businesses. But it’s most effective when you know how to get what you want from it – it might make your business intelligent, but it isn’t going to make you intelligent… We’ll make sure you’re well prepared to take full advantage of Tableau 10’s new features. Whether you’re an experienced data analyst that wants to explore 2016’s new Tableau, or you’re a beginner that wants to expand their skillset and bring a more professional and sharper approach to their organization, we’ve got you covered. Beginning with the fundamentals, such as data preparation, you’ll soon learn how to build and customize your own data visualizations and dashboards, essential for high-level visibility and effective data storytelling. You’ll also find out how to so trend analysis and forecasting using clustering and distribution models to inform your analytics. But it’s not just about you – when it comes to data it’s all about availability and access. That’s why we’ll show you how to share your Tableau visualizations. It’s only once insights are shared and communicated that you – and your organization – will start making smarter and informed decisions. And really, that’s exactly what this guide is for.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Learning Tableau 10 Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Summary


Calculations open up amazing possibilities in Tableau. You are no longer confined to the fields in the source data. With calculations, you can extend the data by adding new dimensions and measures, fix bad or poorly, formatted data, enhance the user experience with parameters for user input and calculations that enhance the visualizations, and you can achieve flexibility that makes data blending work in situations where the data might have made it difficult or impossible otherwise.

The key to using calculated fields is an understanding of the three levels of calculations in Tableau. The Row Level calculations are performed for every row of source data. These calculated fields can be used as dimensions or they can be further aggregated as measures. Aggregate Level calculations are performed at the level of detail defined by the dimensions present in a view. They are especially helpful, and even necessary, when you must first aggregate components of the calculation before performing...