Book Image

Tableau Cookbook - Recipes for Data Visualization

By : Shweta Sankhe-Savale
Book Image

Tableau Cookbook - Recipes for Data Visualization

By: Shweta Sankhe-Savale

Overview of this book

Data is everywhere and everything is data! Visualization of data allows us to bring out the underlying trends and patterns inherent in the data and gain insights that enable faster and smarter decision making. Tableau is one of the fastest growing and industry leading Business Intelligence platforms that empowers business users to easily visualize their data and discover insights at the speed of thought. Tableau is a self-service BI platform designed to make data visualization and analysis as intuitive as possible. Creating visualizations with simple drag-and-drop, you can be up and running on Tableau in no time. Starting from the fundamentals such as getting familiarized with Tableau Desktop, connecting to common data sources and building standard charts; you will walk through the nitty gritty of Tableau such as creating dynamic analytics with parameters, blended data sources, and advanced calculations. You will also learn to group members into higher levels, sort the data in a specific order & filter out the unnecessary information. You will then create calculations in Tableau & understand the flexibility & power they have and go on to building story-boards and share your insights with others. Whether you are just getting started or whether you need a quick reference on a “how-to” question, This book is the perfect companion for you
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Tableau Cookbook – Recipes for Data Visualization
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Understanding and using the forecasting functionality


There may be several circumstances where we need to read historical data and to extrapolate this historical data to get an approximate idea of what to expect in the future. These forecasted values can help us in, say, budget planning or even redefining our current strategies.

The forecasting functionality in Tableau uses an built-in statistical model that enables us to estimate future values by extrapolating historical data while also taking trend and seasonality into consideration. Among the various models that are available for forecasting, Tableau uses the exponential smoothing model.

An important point to remember is that there are plenty of external factors that govern the actual data and hence the forecast will give us an approximate idea of what to expect in future. The accuracy of this forecast however will depend on the quality of the historical data.

Getting ready

In order to enable the forecasting functionality in Tableau, let...