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

Joins and blends


Joining tables and blending data sources are two different ways to link related data together in Tableau. Joins are performed to link tables of data together on a row-by-row basis. Blends are performed to link together multiple data sources at an aggregate level.

Joining tables

Most databases have multiple tables of data that are related in some way. Additionally, Tableau 10 even allows you to join together tables of data across various data connections for many data sources. As we'll see, Tableau makes it easy to join together tables of data relatively easy.

For example, consider tables such as the following:

The primary table is the Hospital Visit table which has a record for every visit of a patient to the hospital and includes details, such as admission type (inpatient, outpatient, ER). It also contains key fields that link a visit to a Primary Physician, Patient, and Discharge Details.

When you connect to the database in Tableau, you'll see the tables listed on the left...