Tableau for Business Users: Learn to Automate and Simplify Dashboards for Better Decision Making

Description

Learn Tableau by working through concrete examples and issues that you are likely to face in your day-to-day work. Author Shankar Arul starts by teaching you the fundamentals of data analytics before moving on to the core concepts of Tableau. You will learn how to create calculated fields, and about the currently available calculation functionalities in Tableau, including Basic Expressions, Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions, and Table Calculations. As the book progresses, you’ll be walked through comparisons and trend calculations using tables. A concluding chapter on dashboarding will show you how to build actionable dashboards to communicate analysis and visualizations. You’ll also see how Tableau can complement and communicate with Excel. After completing this book, you will be ready to tackle the challenges of data analytics using Tableau without getting bogged down by the technicalities of the tool. What Will You Learn Master the core concepts of Tableau Automate and simplify dashboards to help business users Understand the basics of data visualization techniques Leverage powerful features such as parameters, table calculations, level of detail expressions, and more  Who is This book For Business analysts, data analysts, as well as financial analysts. Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Testimonial Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Why Visualize Data? 1.1 Who This Book Is For 1.2 How Is This Book Different? 1.3 How to Contact Us 1.4 Summary Chapter 2: Installation and Setup 2.1 Data Sources Required for the Exercises in the Book 2.2 Summary Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Data 3.1 Data Sources 3.2 Data Preparation 3.3 Converting Business Questions to the Language of Data 3.4 Summary Chapter 4: The Crux of Tableau 4.1 Dimensions, Measures, and Aggregations 4.2 Columns and Rows Shelves 4.3 Marks Card 4.3.1 Color Block 4.3.2 Size Block 4.3.3 Label Block 4.3.4 Detail Block 4.3.5 Tooltip Block 4.3.6 Angle and Path Blocks 4.4 Filters 4.5 Putting It All Together 4.6 Show Me 4.7 Sheets, Dashboards and Stories 4.8 Summary Chapter 5: Calculations 5.1 Calculated Fields 5.2 Row Level, Aggregation, and Disaggregation 5.3 Bringing in More Data 5.3.1 From Excel/CSV 5.3.2 From MySQL 5.4 The Importance of Cardinality: A Practical Example 5.5 Data Modeling 5.6 Summary Chapter 6: Tables and Table Calculations 6.1 Table Totals 6.2 Table Calculations 6.2.1 Table and Pane Down and Across 6.2.2 Down Then Across and Across Then Down 6.2.3 Shortcut to Reading Table Calculations in English 6.2.4 Formulation of Table Calculations 6.2.5 Comparing YoY, WoW, and MoM 6.3 Sorting 6.3.1 Nested Sort 6.3.2 Rank Sort 6.3.3 Sorting in Blended Data 6.4 Summary Chapter 7: Advanced Tips 7.1 Dynamic Inputs Parameters 7.2 Top 10/20/50 Filters 7.3 Dual Axis 7.4 Shapes and Icons 7.5 Level of Detail (LOD) Calculations 7.5.1 FIXED LOD 7.5.2 INCLUDE LOD 7.5.3 EXCLUDE LOD 7.6 Reference Lines and Forecasts 7.6.1 Reference Lines Using Parameters 7.6.2 Reference Lines Using Secondary Data 7.6.3 Forecast and Trend Lines 7.7 Order of Operations 7.8 Summary Chapter 8: Dashboards 8.1 Dashboards: A 10,000 ft View 8.2 Fit and Layout 8.3 Filters and Interactions 8.3.1 Customizing Filters 8.3.2 Discrete vs. Continuous Filters 8.3.3 Filter Domain 8.4 Summary Index