Book Image

Tableau Prep Cookbook

By : Hendrik Kleine
Book Image

Tableau Prep Cookbook

By: Hendrik Kleine

Overview of this book

Tableau Prep is a tool in the Tableau software suite, created specifically to develop data pipelines. This book will describe, in detail, a variety of scenarios that you can apply in your environment for developing, publishing, and maintaining complex Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) data pipelines. The book starts by showing you how to set up Tableau Prep Builder. You’ll learn how to obtain data from various data sources, including files, databases, and Tableau Extracts. Next, the book demonstrates how to perform data cleaning and data aggregation in Tableau Prep Builder. You’ll also gain an understanding of Tableau Prep Builder and how you can leverage it to create data pipelines that prepare your data for downstream analytics processes, including reporting and dashboard creation in Tableau. As part of a Tableau Prep flow, you’ll also explore how to use R and Python to implement data science components inside a data pipeline. In the final chapter, you’ll apply the knowledge you’ve gained to build two use cases from scratch, including a data flow for a retail store to prepare a robust dataset using multiple disparate sources and a data flow for a call center to perform ad hoc data analysis. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to create, run, and publish Tableau Prep flows and implement solutions to common problems in data pipelines.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Tableau Prep

Tableau Prep Builder is an exciting new platform to develop data pipelines to transform your data for reporting and analytics purposes.

In this chapter, you will come to understand how we think about data preparation from the perspective of Tableau Prep Builder. You will learn about the different use cases you may employ Tableau Prep for, be it ad hoc data analysis, creating a dataset for a BI tool, or specifically for Tableau Desktop.

In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

  • Installing Tableau Prep Builder
  • Checking out the user interface
  • Using Tableau Prep for ad hoc data analysis
  • Preparing data for generic BI tools
  • Preparing data for Tableau Desktop ad hoc analysis