Book Image

Data Modeling with Tableau

By : Kirk Munroe
Book Image

Data Modeling with Tableau

By: Kirk Munroe

Overview of this book

Tableau is unlike most other BI platforms that have a single data modeling tool and enterprise data model (for example, LookML from Google’s Looker). That doesn’t mean Tableau doesn’t have enterprise data governance; it is both robust and highly flexible. This book will help you effectively use Tableau governance models to build a data-driven organization. Data Modeling with Tableau is an extensive guide, complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and hands-on exercises. As you progress through the chapters, you’ll learn the role that Tableau Prep Builder and Tableau Desktop each play in data modeling. You’ll also explore the components of Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud that make data modeling more robust, secure, and performant. Moreover, by extending data models for Ask and Explain Data, you’ll gain the knowledge required to extend analytics to more people in their organizations, leading to better data-driven decisions. Finally, this book will guide you through the entire Tableau stack and the techniques required to build the right level of governance into Tableau data models for the correct use cases. By the end of this Tableau book, you’ll have a firm understanding of how to leverage data modeling in Tableau to benefit your organization.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Data Modeling on the Tableau Platform
4
Part 2: Tableau Prep Builder for Data Modeling
9
Part 3: Tableau Desktop for Data Modeling
14
Part 4: Data Modeling with Tableau Server and Online

Building Data Models Using Relationships

In the previous chapter, we explored the various data connections that can be made from Tableau Desktop. We will now look at how to combine multiple data sources into a single data model. Tableau has a way of combining data sources at the logical layer through a feature called relationships. This chapter will explore relationships, how to create them, and how they work with different levels of aggregation between tables. This chapter will also explore creating unions between data sources in Tableau Desktop.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following topics:

  • Using relationships to combine tables at the logical layer
  • Understanding the difference between relationships and joins
  • Setting performance options for relationships
  • Creating unions in Tableau Desktop to add additional rows of data

Note

All the exercises and figures in this chapter will be described by using the Tableau Desktop client software...