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

When to use Tableau Prep Builder versus Tableau Desktop for creating our data models

Tableau Prep Builder and Tableau Desktop are the two foundational components for data modeling on the Tableau platform. Each has a place and they overlap in functionality in many areas.

Tableau Prep Builder is the go-to product when you need to transform your data. It uniquely allows for cleaning data, particularly in cleaning up string fields. It has machine learning algorithms to fix dirty data. An example is a field coming from a source where people can type in values such as customer names. It also has features that allow for pivoting rows to columns, adding new rows, and outputting models to destinations beyond Tableau.

Tableau Desktop is the go-to product when you need live connections to your data and when you are combining data that is at different levels of aggregation. Tableau Desktop is also the only place, along with the corresponding web interface, where we can build hierarchies...