Tableau Flashcards
Why do I need Tableau? What value does Tableau deliver?
Tableau lets your users explore the data and ask questions that lead to business answers and insights that drive the business. Tableau is fast, easy to use, and flexible, allowing all data workers to work independently without the help of report writers or DBAs.
What about performance?
Tableau has no limitations with regards to performance, speed, or size. With Tableau, you can choose to connect directly to your live data or load it into our fast data engine. If you already have a snappy database, tableau will use it for the majority of processing and only bring the results to your desktop. If your data isn’t so fast, business users can load it into our fast data engine and have speed of thought responses.
How hard is it to learn? How long does it take to learn Tableau?
Tableau is designed for the data worker, not just for technical DBAs and report writers. Most of the basic features in Tableau can be learned in an hour or so. Just like with any application, there are many more advanced features that may not be apparent the first time Tableau is used. We have all of our free training and support documents available for free online, so most of our users can be up and running within a matter of hours. New users are supported with both live and on-demand training, support (web, email), Tableau examples and packaged workbooks online, tips and tricks, etc. Also, Tableau has the “ShowMe” feature which enables users to select the fields they want to analyze and have Tableau draw the best fit view based on visualization best practices, so this helps people get up and running very quickly.
Who is this for?
Any data worker. Tableau is not tailored toward any vertical or functional area. It’s like asking who can use Excel. Tableau is meant for anyone who needs to explore or ask questions of their data, regardless of technical or analytical background.
We have a BI standard. How is Tableau Different?
Tableau approaches the objectives of BI from a fundamentally different perspective. Instead of having the tools and power centralized in IT, Tableau allows the business professionals to directly interact with their data to answer their questions. This provides freedom for both parties: IT is free to focus on critical tasks and projects without constant interruption from the business users; The business professionals are free to ask any question of the data at any time, or even pursue new data and new questions without the need for deep planning and projects with IT. The end results is a more agile, more responsive business that can make better decisions, faster.
How many visualizations or chart types?
Don’t show ‘Show me’! Tableau provides an unlimited variety of displays that are a combination of various tools. Users can combine these tools in new ways to arrive at new types of visualizations that best suit their needs. In addition, Tableau provides quick access to many of the most common types of displays including line charts, bar charts, scatter plots, pie charts, area charts, small multiples, Gantt charts, heat maps, highlight tables and cross-tabs. You can even combine together different types of charts to arrive at entirely new visualizations.
I can’t connect to my data, what’s wrong?
What error message are you getting? If it says they need to download the drivers, then kindly suggest they download the drivers. If it is some other error: Our support department can get you set up in no time. Please contact them with your error and they will get back to you shortly (or, for bonus points, create the case in Salesforce for them!)
What databases can you connect to? (be able to list them all)
Best answer – open the connect to data dialog and show them the extensive list. Tableau can connect to file based data such as access and excel as well as relational databases like SQL Server and Oracle and cubes such Essbase and Analysis Services. Tableau can connect to Hadoop through our Cloudera Hadoop Hive connector. For other databases, you can use the ODBC driver. You can also paste data directly into Tableau. Ask them what type of data they have. It makes it easier to say, “oh yes, we connect natively to your environment.”
What is ODBC?
The objective of the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard itself is that it provides a uniform way for products to connect to databases. ODBC drivers are supplied by your database vendor and vary in quality and completeness. Tableau will detect the capabilities of your ODBC driver and match functionality as best we can. When using the ODBC connection, it is often recommended to use it to create Tableau Extracts, rather than running interactive sessions to the data source.
Can I connect to SAP?
Tableau can only connect to the supported databases. If your data is in another format, you must first get it into a supported format by extracting the data or linking to it from another database. Tableau has been looking into developing support for SAP BW and SAP HANA. However, until this is released, you should continue accessing that data as you do today, which typically means extracting it to Excel.
My excel data doesn’t work with Tableau. What do I do?
KB article written on this topic found here: http://www.tableausoftware.com/community/support/kb/preparing-excel-files-analysis Remove or exclude introductory and other unnecessary textMake sure each row contains only one piece of dataHeaders: Limit headers to a single row, add missing headersMissing data: Fill blank cells and delete blank rowsClean up aggregated and descriptive dataUse Tableau’s Reshaper Plug-in found here: http://www.tableausoftware.com/forum/using-excel-crosstab-data-source
What is the difference between ‘Connect Live’ and importing all or some of my data?
Connecting Live leaves all the data in the source database. Tableau will dynamically query the database to retrieve analytic results. This is great for fast, or rapidly changing databases.Importing data into the Fast Data Engine optimizes the data, dramatically improving performance when connected to large amounts of data or file based data sets. The extract is static and will need to be refreshed as new data is available, however this can be automated through Tableau Server.Additionally, you can set up incremental extracts which will only bring in the new data since the last refresh, rather than refreshing the entire extract. For example, you can schedule an incremental extract refresh for every fifteen minutes, and a full refresh during non-peak business hours.
What is the maximum number of rows Tableau can use?
Tableau can connect to unlimited amounts of data. In fact our customers use Tableau as the front end to some of the largest databases in the world – Billions of rows of data. How many rows of data do you have? If you are using a live connection to your giant database, we only retrieve the data needed to answer your question. For example, you have 100 million rows of data and want to find the monthly sales trend for the last 2 years – Tableau only retrieves 24 rows of data. Ok, the daily sales trend for the last 3 years – about 1,000 rows go to Tableau.If you are using the Fast Data Engine, then you can still effectively use 100’s of millions of rows – even on a laptop with limited memory.
What does ‘architecture aware fast data engine’ mean?
Unlike typical ‘in memory’ databases, Tableau’s fast data engine is not constrained by the amount of RAM on the machine. Tableau only pre-loads the columns used in the analysis and it can even load just part of a column. The ‘architecture aware’ part means that it automatically adapts to the characteristics of your system, even when those characteristics (ie available memory) are dynamic.
Can I join data from 2 different data sources? (be able to demo)
Yes. Make two data connections and add field from each to the worksheet. Tableau calls this Data Blending because it joins the results together rather than forcing you to integrate the detailed data.
Can I connect to multiple databases at once?
Absolutely! You can have each sheet connected to a different type of data and visually combine them in a dashboard. Or you can combine them in a single sheet using data blending.
Can I augment my data with data I found on a website?
Yes. Select the tabular data that you found on an informative website and paste into a Tableau workbook.
How do cubes differ from relational databases in Tableau?
Cubes Gain:Hierarchical FiltersDrill Up/Down per MemberCalculated Members (write your own MDX)Default MembersTotal Using (set the total to use a different calc than the original field)Relational Gain:Robust Calculations – even on dimensionsGroupsAggregations (in a cube these are pre-defined)Fast Data EngineRelative Date FilterRow Level Filters
I’m trying to blend my cube with my relational data but it is not working.
Cubes cannot be secondary datasources. However, you can connect to a cube as a primary and then another non-cube as a secondary.
How many employees do you have?
Almost 600, but we are rapidly growing every quarter.
Can I install Tableau on two machines? (for one user?)
Yes, each named user can install tableau on two machines for their own use. Read the EULA for more details and limitations
If I have multiple users, I guess I want Tableau Server?
That depends. Tableau Desktop is the Authoring Tool, and Tableau Server is the recommended report consumption tool. If your multiple users are all looking at doing their own rapid-fire analytics, then they would all need Tableau Desktop licenses. Alternatively, if you have many users that would only consume reports created by those power users, then Tableau Server licenses would be necessary for those users.
How do I order?
That’s easy. Either order directly from our webstore on www.tableausoftware.com or call your salesperson at 206-633-3400.
What is the difference between a measure and a dimension?
A measure is something that we want to calculate such as the total sales. A dimension is categorical data that we would use to break down that measure into smaller components such as sales for each region (region being a dimension that contains east, west etc)
What about calculations? (be able to demo table calcs and create a calc)
Tableau has lots of powerful calculations. You can create simple calculations like you would in Excel or very powerful calculations that you would only dream of in Excel. For example, on this trend chart, I can simply click on my measure to display year over year growth.
How do I do Medians? (be able to demo on superstore)
Simply change the aggregation to ‘Median’ on supported databases. If your database doesn’t support medians, you can either create an extract and tableau will upgrade it for you, or use a reference line to calculate the median of the results displayed.
Can I drill down? Can I create a hierarchy? (be able to demo)
How do you mean drill down? Yes, just drag one field onto another. Repeat as necessary.
What about templates?
We’ve already created one today without any additional effort. The entire process of our analysis has been captured by Tableau and we can reapply to new sets of data. We simply point Tableau at the new data by editing the connection or by choosing to replace the data source. As long as the fields in the analysis have the same names, Tableau will automatically swap the connection. If not, it is very simple to drag and drop to replace fields on each shelf. Voila!
How do I get a line and a bar on the same chart? (be able to demo)
Simply drag the second measure to the right side of the Viz, then right click on it and change the mark type.
How do I share my results with others?
Tableau is all about sharing. One of the most effective ways of sharing analysis is to provide interactivity. With a few clicks, you can publish your analysis to the Tableau Server so that users can log into any web browsers and get up to the minute results, high interactivity, and secure access, all with nothing to download. Or you can save your workbook as a packaged workbook and send it to anyone. They can use the free Tableau Reader to open it and interact with your results. You can also simply right click on your sheet and copy and paste the image into power-point, an email etc. Additionally you can publish the entire workbook as a PDF and distribute it as you see fit. As you can see, Tableau tries to make it as easy as possible for your results to be leveraged throughout your organization.
Can I build pivot tables? Or crosstabs?
Absolutely. Not only can you build one quickly via drag and drop, but any sheet can be quickly converted to a cross-tab with a click (choose duplicate as cross-tab or Show Me!)
How can I sort my data? Be prepared to give a short demo on sorting (at least 4 different places to sort)
Drag and drop membersDrag and drop in LegendsOne click sort iconsIn the viewIn the menuRight click on any dimension for computed sort
How do I get a map in Tableau? Can I see addresses?
Simply double click on one of your fields that has a blue globe next to it. You can even use a filled map mark type. For specific mapping needs like street addresses, custom sales territories, or international zip codes you can import custom geo-coding if you have the latitude and longitude coordinates in your data.
How do I change my numbers to format in percent?
Best Practice: Right click on a field in the Data Window and choose ‘Field PropertiesNumber Format’. Set the option to ‘Percentage’. On a sheet, Right click on a tablet or number and choose ‘Format’. Typically you would choose the ‘Pane’ tab in the Format window and change the default number type (near the top) to percentage. Notice that the formatting changes instantly as you make selections.
Summing my measure does not make sense. How do I get the average?
On any measure, right click and select the aggregation of choice. If you always want a field to have a different aggregation, you can change the default aggregation from the data window. Right-click and select ‘Field Properties Aggregation’
How do I add a goal or target to my chart?
Right click on your axis and create a reference line at the value of your choosing. You can even use parameters to dynamically set a target. If you have a field that contains the goal or target, then use a bullet chart (show me is best). If you have a spreadsheet that contains the targets, then use data blending first, followed by bullet.
Can I add a regression or trend line?
Right click on the view to enable Trend Lines. If they are not viable for the type of view, then Tableau will not display them. If it doesn’t work on a date axis, changing it to a continuous date will work.
Can I create Histograms?
Yes. We even have a Show Me option for this. Select a single measure and click Show Me Alternatives and select the histogram at the end. You can even dynamically set the bin size with parameters. Additionally, you can just show the raw distribution of measures when bins are not necessary. Use the same field twice –show as a Dimension on columns and ‘Count’ on Rows.
Does it run on a Mac?
Apple uses Tableau. They run it on Parallels or Bootcamp (most customers already have these products). Most commonly people on Macs will be using Tableau Server. Tableau Server is accessible from a Mac using Safari, IE, Chrome or Firefox.
Can packaged workbooks be password protected for data security?
If security is important then distributing files is not your best bet. Instead, the Tableau server provides multi-level security to protect your data and your analysis. Would you like to see a demo?
What support/resources are available to me during my trial?
Tableau provides Free training. You have automatically been enrolled in the next two training courses, Introductory and Advanced training. Additionally you can attend additional training On Demand by visiting our website. There are over a dozen hours of training courses that cover our complete product line.You get free support during your trial. You can use our knowledge base on the website and if that doesn’t answer your question, you can contact support@tableausoftware.com and they will be glad to assist you with any issues you might have.Additionally, you can contact me at any time and I’ll help you if I can, or route you to the best resource to answer your questions.
Which web browsers are supported for Server?
Tableau supports standard web browsers such as Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox , Safari, and Chrome.
Can we embed Tableau into another application?
Yes. Just click the share button and copy and paste.Tableau provides a web part for SharePoint or you can simply add the appropriate URL to any web application you might have. It is really nice because not only can you embed the picture, but you can also make it completely interactive just like on the Tableau Server! For example, users can mouse-over for more detail or change filters or drill down etc right in the embedded view. For some great examples of what you can do visit our blogs at http://www.tableausoftware.com/community/blog
What is THE difference between Reader and Tableau Server?
Tableau Server provides live connections to the database, where Reader is a static extract that you will need to manually refresh and resend to end users as data changes.Tableau Server has robust, multi-tier security. Reader does not have any security.With Tableau Server there is nothing to install or maintain on user’s machines. Tableau Server is a collaboration platform for authors and consumers of analysis
Does Tableau work on an iPad or other mobile devices?
Tableau Server is automatically mobile aware and touch optimized with no extra coding or dual authoring. You can publish once, and view anywhere.We also have an optimized App for the iPad.
If I copy the image to PPT, does it update automatically?
No. Tableau Server provides a great way to deliver interactive – On-Demand analysis to the masses. If you want to embed the interactive Server views in PPT, you can do this via a free 3rd party app called LiveWeb.
Can I change the lines to have patterns? My boss is color blind.
No. The best practice is to label the lines by putting the same field on both the color and label shelves and changing the color palette to gray or ideally our “color blind” color palette.
How do I share these results with others? (What are all my sharing options?)
This question is best followed with another question asking more about their specific scenario and requirements.Save the file and share it with other Tableau usersRight click on a view and copy the image or cross-tab and pasteFile Print, Export the image, cross-tab or PDF and distribute.Share it with Tableau Reader so users can interactPublish it to the Tableau Server so people can run it on demandUse the ‘Share’ button in Server to generate a URL or HTML to paste in e-mail, CMS’s such as SharePoint, or Blogs
Is Tableau a BI platform or an Analytics tool?
Yes. Tableau can be both, choose wisely how you position this with customers. Tableau provides rich functionality for ad hoc reporting, analytics, dashboarding and visualization. All the content created in Tableau can be easily shared via interactive graphical displays in a web browser. Due to the fast, easy nature of Tableau, companies can achieve quick ROIs with anything from a small deployment to an enterprise roll-out
Is Tableau 64 bit?
Yes, the Tableau data engine is 64 bit (or 32 bit if you only have a 32 bit machine). Tableau’s User Interface and the VizQL engine are 32 bit – but they only contain the result set caches, not the raw data so they uses a relatively small amount of RAM.
Does Tableau do 3D Charts?
3D charts provide very eye catching visuals however, they typically hinder or skew the analysis being presented. For example, when dealing with volume or surface area such as a pie chart, a 3D chart can make certain slices seem bigger than they actually are. Because of these problems and they face that they don’t improve the story of the data, pundits do not consider 3D charts to be a best practice visual.
Can I integrate Tableau with other applications?
Yes, Tableau provides both the ability to embed tableau visuals inside applications as well as to call other applications through URLs
Who defines the measures and dimensions?
For relational – Tableau determines this automatically. By default, all numeric fields (that are not keys in the database) are measures, everything else is a dimension. The names of the fields are simply the names of the columns in the database. To change their placement, just drag and drop.For Cubes – These are explicitly defined by the author of the cube.
Can I convert a measure to a dimension? Can I convert a dimension to a measure?
Yes. Drag a measure to the dimension pane.For Dimensions, either drag it to the measures pane if you are trying to count the dimension, or change its data type to number if it is the wrong type (right click and choose Data Type) and drag to the measures pane.
What is a cube? Does Tableau support Cubes?
It’s a ‘multi-dimensional’ way to store data. The main benefit over relational databases used to be performance – typically a value is already calculated and stored for every combination of dimensions. Another benefit is increased structure such as hierarchies and predefined relationships.Tableau can connect to cubes generated by Microsoft Analysis Services or Oracle Essbase (Hyperion)
What’s the difference between using the generic ODBC connection to connect to my data and the connections listed in the ‘connect to data’ dialog window? Are there drawbacks / benefits that I should be aware of?
The connections listed in the ‘connect to data’ dialog window are optimized and tuned by Tableau to assure performance and full functionality of the Tableau feature set. ODBC connections will rely on the driver (likely provided by your database vendor) and may have limited support for the SQL standard. The result is that performance and functionality in Tableau may be degraded.
How do I join together sheets from two excel workbooks?
This is a trick question – but common. Tableau can only join sheets that are in a single workbook. You can use the ‘Edit Move or Copy Sheet’ command in Excel to get all the sheets into a single workbook.Data Blending will also work, but in many cases this will provide limited capabilities. If possible, joins are preferred.
Is Data Blending within a single database the same as using Multiple Tables in the connection dialog?
No, joins (in the multiple tables’ scenario) happen in the database with the raw data as part of one universal query. Blends happen in Tableau with the already summarized (aggregated) data. This means that Data Blending sends a separate query to each database. These queries aggregate the data to the same level of detail – regardless of the level of detail of the raw data. Then the results of the separate queries are blended together by Tableau.
Does Tableau always import the data?
No, this is actually a big differentiator between us and some of our competitors.You have the option to use Tableau’s fast data engine or maintain a live connection to your database, all without any scripting. If your data is already fast, or changes very often, then a direct connection is probably best.
Is any functionality in Tableau dependent on having my data in the data engine?
No. Blending, calculations, table calculations, parameters, actions and all analytics are the same. However, some data sources will get extra capabilities when imported into the data engine (e.g. excel files will be upgraded to have count distinct and median)
What is a packaged workbook?
Packaged workbooks collect all the files related to the workbook and compress them into a single file. This package can then be delivered to other Tableau users without having to separately include data, images and other files referenced by the workbook.
Does packaging automatically save all the data?
No. If your data is on a server, Tableau will not automatically extract the data. The reason is that the database could be zillions of records which is impractical to pull down to the local machine (time and size come to mind). If you want to include data from the server (for example to share with Tableau Reader) you must first extract each data connection separately.
How do I schedule an extract to be refreshed?
Extracts can only be scheduled when using the Tableau Server. During the publish process, choose ‘Schedules & Passwords…’ on the publish dialog. Choose a schedule and then ‘Publish’. If the button is not available, then you are either not currently using an extract (so go create one) or the administrator of the Tableau Server has not enabled this functionality.Schedules are created and managed on the server by a system administrator.
Name at least 8 ways that Tableau makes dates shiny. Be able to demo all of these.
(relative date filtering, hierarchy, reorder hierarchy, choose any level of the hierarchy, different parts on different shelves, continuous dates, discrete and continuous, fiscal year, continuous dates vs. discrete dates and their respective hierarchies…)
How do I make a monthly trend line span 2 years?
Use the new Continuous Date Hierarchy
How do I display ranks or line numbers?
Create a calculated field: index(). Convert it to ‘discrete’ and add it to your sheet. Right click on the field pill to change its indexing behavior (calculate using….)
When should I use ‘Add to Context’?
The basic recommendation is to use a context filter when a) the filter doesn’t change often; and b) when the data will be reduced to less than 1/10th the number of records. A context filter creates a temp table that contains just the records that match the filter. All subsequent interactions are run against the small subset of data which greatly improves performance.Note: The ‘context’ is created as a temporary table on the database. It is rare, but some users might not have permission to create temp tables. In that case Tableau will extract the data that matches the filter.
Are my calculations written back to the database?
No. Tableau is a very safe environment – it never changes your data. The calculations are computed on the fly based on the current values in the database
Are calculations performed locally in Tableau?
Tableau pushes most calculations back to the database. All aggregations are performed on the database (which includes the data engine). Table Calculations, most reference lines, and some types of filters are performed locally.
I want the top ‘n’ products for each region. How do I do this?
Add a quick filter for region and set it to ‘Single Value List’. Then add the Region filter to the context and add a top ‘n’ filter for products. The reason you need the context is that the top n filter is applied before any other filters are applied. Setting the context means that the top filter is applied after the data has been limited to the single product.Note: ‘Top’ filters are dynamic – they are computed when the query is run. This means that if the data changes, the top n list might also change.For more complex scenarios, you can create a calculated field: index() and then filter this to the top 10.
I want to filter out all unprofitable records?
Regardless of the view you have, drag Profit from the measure pane to the filter shelf. When prompted, choose the disaggregated field “# All values” (i.e. there is no aggregation). Drag the slider to 0 or type in 0. Do not use the ‘Show Quick Filter’ option on the field, this will use its default aggregation. The whole point of this question is that Tableau can filter either the raw data or the aggregate data – very powerful.
Does Tableau do small multiples? What are small multiples?
Yes. These are very powerful visuals for comparison. This is what enables true multi-dimensional analysis. It is basically a cross-tab of charts or visuals. Small multiples are a big improvement over the common 3d bar chart. They allow us to see multiple dimensions simultaneously, without obscuring, skewing or hiding any of the data. Tableau’s direct interaction model makes this even better so users can reorganize the output effortlessly or drill down all the way to the raw data.Excel 2010 – default 3d chart. Try to compare heights.
How do I change my numbers to format in percent?
Best Practice: Right click on a field in the Data Window and choose ‘Field PropertiesNumber Format’. Set the option to ‘Percentage’. On a sheet, Right click on a tablet or number and choose ‘Format’. Typically you would choose the ‘Pane’ tab in the Format window and change the default number type (near the top) to percentage. Notice that the formatting changes instantly as you make selections.
Can I format according to my corporate standard?
Yes. Once you have the formatting as you see fit, you can copy and paste the formatting between sheets – even into new workbooks. Right click on the sheet tab to ‘Copy Formatting’, then multi select the sheets and right click to ‘Paste Formatting’
What are my formatting options?
The formatting options are quite vast and can be explored by using the format menu. It includes field level formatting, row and column formatting, sheet formatting. You can change fonts, borders, shading, colors, totals and much more.
Can I drill down?
Yes, but start with a question like “How do you mean?” Drilling down/into data means different things to different people. Determine what they’re looking for BEFORE you discuss these:Right click on anything to view the raw data. Or you can drill anywhere you want by adding more fields to your analysis. Furthermore, if you want to enable other users to drill to a specific view or set of details, you can use an action to link sheets. What is even more powerful is the user can filter a secondary sheet by hovering, selecting or right clicking on an element in the primary sheet. This gives the user a rich experience with their guided analysis. This approach is far superior to traditional drill down. The sheet that you drill to can be structured to properly display the new level of detail. For example, the user might drill from map to a trend line to see the history. This would be hard or impossible to properly display by just adding time to the existing view.If all you need are hierarchies, then yes. Simply create the hierarchy by dropping the fields on top of each other on the data window. You can select the plus signs it the two locations indicated to drill down to the next level of the hierarchy.
Can I put a field in more than one hierarchy?
Yes. Right click on the field and ‘duplicate’. Then add it to another hierarchy.
Can I apply a filter to all my sheets? To my entire dashboard?
Yes. Right click on the filter and choose ‘Make Global’. On a quick filter, use the pull-down to ‘Make Global’. This applies the filter to any worksheet that uses the same data source.Additionally, by setting up ‘Actions’ a sheet can be used to filter other sheets on the dashboard. This provides 2 benefits: the filter can be scoped to work on just the dashboard and it can work across multiple data sources.
I don’t want to summarize my data – I want to see all of it. Is this possible?
Yes. (uncheck AnalysisAggregate Data) This is very important as there are few tools that can do both aggregation and plot the raw data.Furthermore, reference lines can be used to show other summaries of the data while still displaying all details.
How do I get the count of customers per Region?
Getting a count is as simple as right clicking on the dimension and choosing the aggregation. However, the ‘Count’ aggregation counts the number of times there is any entry in the customer field. Hence, if the same customer has purchased twice, they will be counted twice. In this example, the prospect most likely wants the number of unique customers or the ‘Count (Distinct)’. In real databases this is simply an aggregation option. In file based data (Excel, Access, text files) you will first need to create an extract to enable the distinct count.
In a web browser, looking at a viz, can I change the measurement that is displayed, e.g. change from “sales” to “profit” in the web browser?
Yes. Using “interactive” parameters, you can allow the web user to select their desired parameter. The calc looks like this:case [SelectYourMeasure]when “Sales” then SUM([Sales])when “Profit” then SUM([Profit])endOr an IF statement, or, any number of different approaches.
There are three ways of creating Sets in Tableau. Demonstrate them and describe the differences between each.
- Right click on two or more dimensions in the schema viewer and choose “Create Set…”. This will create a set containing the complete cross product of the selected dimensions. The resulting set cannot be edited.2. Right click on a single dimension in the schema viewer and choose “Create Set…”. This brings up a dialogue that allows you to select members, apply filters to the list of members (e.g. only salesmen with sales of over $1m) and restrict the list to the top members filtered by a field or an expression.3. Select some marks in a view, right click and choose “Create Set…”. This will create a set containing the complete set of dimension tuples in the selected marks. The resulting set cannot be edited.
I want to find the click through rate. It is clicks divided by impressions. How do I do this?
Calculations requiring division should include the aggregation. For example:Sum([Clicks])/Sum([Impressions])This gives the proper weighted average no matter how the data is filtered, sliced or diced.For example, in the table below, the first calculation is written as:[Clicks]/[Impressions]It gives the proper answer for every row of data, but needs an aggregation for the totals – in this case I used average. The second calculation is Sum([Clicks])/Sum([Impressions]) and already has the aggregation defined. We can see the importance of performing the division on the totals (results) rather than on each row. The inaccurate calculation gave a total click thru rate of over 5% where the real click thru rate is only 1/10th of a percent.
Does Tableau do What-if Analysis?
Yes. A Parameter can be created to provide the user input. For example: What if sales increased by 20% or some other value.
I want to find the average of my monthly sales.
This sounds like a simple question, but read it carefully. The user wants to sum the sales for each month and then find the average of those sales. Tableau can do this with either a summarized extract or reference lines.
Can I filter the results of a Table Calculation?
Yes. Simply double click on the field or right click and choose filter. This filtering happens in Tableau and not at the database which enables more complex filtering scenarios.
All my counties are in the wrong place. Can I fix this?
Yes! Many states have counties of the same name – for example 31 states have a Washington county. First solution is to add the state field to the Level of Detail shelf. Now Tableau knows where to put each county. Additionally, if you are working in a single state, you can tell Tableau your default location by choosing “MapEdit Locations…”
Can I use my own maps?
Yes, you can either direct Tableau to a WMS (Web Map Service) of your choosing, or add a background image of your choosing.
Can I use my own geographic fields (Addresses, airports)?
Yes. If your data already has lat and lon just use that. If you have the lat/lon for your specific data in a separate location, you can use connect to it and use data blending or import the custom geo-coding.
I don’t have lat/long for my (addresses, cities, postal codes). How do I add them to Tableau?
You will need to first geo-code your data. Geocoding is the process of associating geographic coordinate (latitude and longitude values) to geographic information such as state names or zip codes. Many websites offer this information free of charge, or in some cases for a fee.
Why do my global filters not work for these sheets but actions do? (aka How do I make global filters apply to all sheets?)
Global Filters are only global to the data source – not the workbook. So all sheets must use the same primary datasource for the Global Filter to be applied. Filter actions can be used to apply filters across various sheets. Filter actions can be set using a sheet as a filter and by adding a dimension by itself on a sheet you can set up a filter action that will look comparable to a multi-select quick filter.
How do I make Global Filters apply to just one dashboard?
Global Filters are designed to work across all sheets using the same data source. In order to have different filters on different dashboards, you need multiple data sources. Simply:duplicate the data source (DataData ConnectionDuplicate)re-create your specific sheets using the new data sourceset up a new global filter
How do I change the order of tabs, names of tabs in Tableau Server? How can I hide some of my tabs in Server?
Simple change the order, names or visibility of the sheets in Tableau Desktop and then republish the workbook.
How fast is Tableau Server?
Tableau Server is a high performance system that is architected to deliver highly interactive views to the user. You can distribute Tableau Server across many computers letting the users benefit from the multi-threading, parallel processing and state of the art data caching.
How scalable is Tableau Server? (How many users can it handle)
It is highly scalable. Tableau Public is running on a Tableau Server. It serves tens of thousands of unique users a day.When talking about Tableau Server, get a sense for how many clients they are expecting. If the number is small, do not even bring up the Core pricing model as it will confuse things. Once you have qualified that the customer is looking at a sizeable Tableau Server implementation (e.g. hundreds of users or more), then discuss the two pricing models; Named User and Core. Keep in mind there are advantages and disadvantages to each.A simple way to explain the two licensing options to a customer is:With Named User you have a fixed number of users, but can add unlimited hardware to serve those users.With Core Licensing you have a fixed amount of hardware, but you can add unlimited Users.Or the same thing except in parallel:With Named User you have a fixed number of users, but can add unlimited hardware to serve those users.With Core Licensing you have an unlimited number of users, but can add a fixed amount of hardware to server those users.Tableau Server has effectively scaled to several hundred concurrent users. With typical usage ratios or 1 concurrent user for every 10 licenses users, this means that Tableau Server can potentially support implementations of 1000’s of users. Don’t promise this to customers as the actual performance varies greatly with the following factors:Performance of server machineOther applications on the serverDatabase performanceComplexity of views and dashboardsActual user interactionNetwork speeds
Can I use Tableau Server to deliver a report to the public?
Yes. For ‘anonymous’ access this requires ‘core’ based licensing with the ‘guest user’ enabled. If they still want to secure the views (hence no longer ‘the public’) then they can choose named user or core based licensing. Tableau also supports SSL connections. Understand that if the customer focuses on delivering public content then it’s likely that Digital may be a better fit. Qualifying questions by sales/presales are crucial.
What are the requirements for Tableau Server? What else do I need to install? Does it run on Linux?
Tableau Server runs on Windows Server 2003, 2008 or 2008 R2. It is a complete package that has no pre-requisites or additional components outside of drivers for your databases (often these are included with the OS).
What are the requirements for the web client?
Tableau has no installs and no required components (no flash, no active X, no Java). It is purely HTML and JavaScript that runs in IE (Internet Explorer), Firefox, Chrome or Safari.
Does it use Active Directory (Windows Authentication)?
Yes. Tableau server can use either Active Directory or remain independent.
Can I embed it in my portal?
Yes. It is very simple to do. Just use the ‘Share’ button on any view and paste the contents into your portal or CMS system. You can also integrate it with SharePoint, either as a web page player or a web part.
Can I save my changes to a view (my filters, drill downs, sorts etc)?
Yes. Simply click the save button and the next time you visit that view your changes will automatically be applied. Additionally, you can share your specific view of the data with others.
