Book Image

The Tableau Workshop

By : Sumit Gupta, Sylvester Pinto, Shweta Sankhe-Savale, JC Gillet, Kenneth Michael Cherven
Book Image

The Tableau Workshop

By: Sumit Gupta, Sylvester Pinto, Shweta Sankhe-Savale, JC Gillet, Kenneth Michael Cherven

Overview of this book

Learning Tableau has never been easier, thanks to this practical introduction to storytelling with data. The Tableau Workshop breaks down the analytical process into five steps: data preparation, data exploration, data analysis, interactivity, and distribution of dashboards. Each stage is addressed with a clear walkthrough of the key tools and techniques you'll need, as well as engaging real-world examples, meaningful data, and practical exercises to give you valuable hands-on experience. As you work through the book, you'll learn Tableau step by step, studying how to clean, shape, and combine data, as well as how to choose the most suitable charts for any given scenario. You'll load data from various sources and formats, perform data engineering to create new data that delivers deeper insights, and create interactive dashboards that engage end-users. All concepts are introduced with clear, simple explanations and demonstrated through realistic example scenarios. You'll simulate real-world data science projects with use cases such as traffic violations, urban populations, coffee store sales, and air travel delays. By the end of this Tableau book, you'll have the skills and knowledge to confidently present analytical results and make data-driven decisions.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
Preface

Filters: The Heart and Soul of Tableau

If you want to differentiate yourself from a casual Tableau developer, understanding the order of operations and the order in which Tableau manipulates and filters data is critical. In other words, to be a true expert in Tableau, you need to be able to determine when and where data was filtered and pinpoint the reason when the view doesn't produce the data you expect.

Think of the order of operations as the query pipeline. The order in which Tableau filters data is critical and Tableau follows a sequential order, as shown in the following chart.

Figure 11.17: Tableau table of operations

When you create business dashboards in Tableau, you will have multiple filters, table calculations, and calculated fields to work with. As is the case with most programs, execution follows a set order/operation priority. The order of operations is just that. In the chart above, Extract Filters has the highest priority, followed...