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 (12 chapters)
8
8. Deeper Analysis – Trends, Clustering, Distributions, and Forecasting

Data densification


Data densification is a broad term which indicates that missing values or records are filled in. Sometimes, specific terms, such as domain padding (filling in missing dates or bin values) or domain completion (filling in missing intersections of dimensional values), are used to specify the type of densification, but here we'll simply use the term data densification.

Note

Data with missing values (such as data that doesn't have a record for every single date or only contains records for products that have been ordered as opposed to all products in the inventory) is referred to as sparse data.

Understanding when Tableau uses data densification and how you can turn it on or turn it off is important as you move toward mastering Tableau. There will be times when Tableau will engage data densification and you don't want it; you'll need to recognize it and understand the options to turn it off. At other times, you'll want to leverage data densification to solve certain types of...