Book Image

Learning Tableau 2019 - Third Edition

By : Joshua N. Milligan
Book Image

Learning Tableau 2019 - Third Edition

By: Joshua N. Milligan

Overview of this book

Tableau is the gold standard of business intelligence and visual analytics tools in every industry. It enables rapid data visualization and interpretation with charts, graphs, dashboards, and much more. Updated with the latest features of Tableau, this book takes you from the foundations of the Tableau 2019 paradigm through to advanced topics. This third edition of the bestselling guide by Tableau Zen Master, Joshua Milligan, will help you come to grips with updated features, such as set actions and transparent views. Beginning with installation, you'll create your first visualizations with Tableau and then explore practical examples and advanced techniques. You'll create bar charts, tree maps, scatterplots, time series, and a variety of other visualizations. Next, you'll discover techniques to overcome challenges presented by data structure and quality and engage in effective data storytelling and decision making with business critical information. Finally, you'll be introduced to Tableau Prep, and learn how to use it to integrate and shape data for analysis. By the end of this book, you will be equipped to leverage the powerful features of Tableau 2019 for decision making.

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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Tableau Foundations
Section 1: Tableau Foundations
2
Taking Off with Tableau
Taking Off with Tableau
The cycle of analytics
Connecting to data
Foundations for building visualizations
Visualizing data
Putting everything together in a dashboard
Summary
3
Working with Data in Tableau
Working with Data in Tableau
The Tableau paradigm
Connecting to data
Managing data source metadata
Working with extracts instead of live connections
Tableau file types
Joins and blends
Filtering data
Summary
4
Venturing on to Advanced Visualizations
Venturing on to Advanced Visualizations
Comparing values
Visualizing dates and times
Relating parts of the data to the whole
Visualizing distributions
Visualizing multiple axes to compare different measures
Summary
5
Section 2: Leveraging the Full Power of Tableau
Section 2: Leveraging the Full Power of Tableau
6
Starting an Adventure with Calculations
Starting an Adventure with Calculations
Introduction to calculations
Row-level calculations
Aggregate-level calculations
Level of detail calculations
Parameters
Practical examples of calculations and parameters
Ad hoc calculations
Performance considerations
Summary
7
Diving Deep with Table Calculations
Diving Deep with Table Calculations
An overview of Table Calculations
Quick Table Calculations
Relative versus fixed
Custom Table Calculations
Practical examples
Data densification
Summary
8
Making Visualizations That Look Great and Work Well
Making Visualizations That Look Great and Work Well
Visualization considerations
Leveraging formatting in Tableau
Adding value to visualizations
Summary
9
Telling a Data Story with Dashboards
Telling a Data Story with Dashboards
Key concepts for dashboards
Designing dashboards in Tableau
Dashboard example – is least profitable always unprofitable?
Designing for different displays and devices
How actions work
Dashboard example – regional scorecard
Stories
Summary
10
Digging Deeper - Trends, Clustering, Distributions, and Forecasting
Digging Deeper - Trends, Clustering, Distributions, and Forecasting
Trends
Clustering
Distributions
Forecasting
Summary
11
Section 3: Data Prep and Structuring
Section 3: Data Prep and Structuring
12
Cleaning and Structuring Messy Data
Cleaning and Structuring Messy Data
Structuring data for Tableau
Dealing with data structure issues
Overview of advanced fixes for data problems
Summary
13
Introducing Tableau Prep
Introducing Tableau Prep
Getting prepped to explore Tableau Prep
Understanding the Tableau Prep Builder Interface
Flowing with the fundamental paradigm
Summary
14
Section 4: Advanced Techniques and Sharing with Others
Section 4: Advanced Techniques and Sharing with Others
15
Advanced Visualizations, Techniques, Tips, and Tricks
Advanced Visualizations, Techniques, Tips, and Tricks
Advanced visualizations
Sheet swapping and dynamic dashboards
Mapping techniques
Using background images
Animation
Transparency
Summary
16
Sharing Your Data Story
Sharing Your Data Story
Presenting, printing, and exporting
Sharing with users of Tableau Desktop or Tableau Reader
Sharing with users of Tableau Server, Tableau Online, and Tableau Public
Summary
17
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
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How actions work

In Tableau, an action is a user initiated event that triggers a response from Tableau. You've seen a few examples of actions being used in dashboards already. We'll now consider some details of how actions work in Tableau.

Tableau supports five kinds of actions:

  • Filter actions: The user's action causes one or more filters to be applied to one or more views.
  • Highlight actions: The user's action causes specific marks and headers to be highlighted in one or more views.
  • URL actions: The user's action causes a specific URL to be opened (either in a browser, a new tab, or in an embedded web object).
  • Set actions: The user's action defines a set. Sets may be used in calculations, filters, and on shelves to define visual attributes of marks. This opens a lot of possibilities to allow for complex and creative interactions.
  • Parameter actions...
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