Visual Analytics With Tableau

A four-color journey through a complete Tableau visualization
 
Tableau is a popular data visualization tool that's easy for individual desktop use as well as enterprise. Used by financial analysts, marketers, statisticians, business and sales leadership, and many other job roles to present data visually for easy understanding, it's no surprise that Tableau is an essential tool in our data-driven economy.
 
Visual Analytics with Tableau is a complete journey in Tableau visualization for a non-technical business user. You can start from zero, connect your first data, and get right into creating and publishing awesome visualizations and insightful dashboards.
 
* Learn the different types of charts you can create
 
* Use aggregation, calculated fields, and parameters
 
* Create insightful maps
 
* Share interactive dashboards
 
Geared toward beginners looking to get their feet wet with Tableau, this book makes it easy and approachable to get started right away.

List of contents

About the Author vii
 
About the Technical Editors ix
 
Credits xi
 
Acknowledgments xiii
 
Foreword by Nate Vogel xxi
 
Foreword by Sophie Sparkes xxiii
 
Introduction xxv
 
Chapter 1: Introduction and Getting Started with Tableau 1
 
The Advantages of a Modern Analytics Platform 2
 
My Personal Tableau Story 3
 
The Tableau Application Suite 4
 
Installing Tableau Desktop 5
 
System Requirements for Tableau Desktop 5
 
Downloading and Installing Tableau Desktop 6
 
Registering and Activating Tableau Desktop 6
 
Data Preparation 6
 
Crosstab Reports with Wide Tables 7
 
Preparing Your Data for Analysis 8
 
Long Tables Suitable for Analysis 8
 
The Sample Dataset 9
 
Finding the Dataset 9
 
Understanding the Data 10
 
Opening the Excel File Containing the Sample Dataset 11
 
The Tableau Workspace 13
 
The Menu Bar 15
 
The Data Pane 16
 
Working with Measures and Dimensions 17
 
Visualizing a First Measure 17
 
Breaking Down a Measure Based on a Dimension 17
 
Working with Marks 19
 
Working with Color 20
 
Adding More Information to Tooltips 21
 
Saving, Opening, and Sharing Your Workbooks 21
 
Saving Workbooks 21
 
Opening Workbooks 23
 
Sharing Workbooks with Tableau Reader 23
 
Chapter 2: Adding Data Sources in Tableau 25
 
Setting Up a Data Connector 26
 
Connecting to a File 27
 
Connecting to a Server 28
 
Connecting to a Cloud Service 30
 
Selecting Data Tables 31
 
Adding a Table to a Data Model 31
 
Joins 31
 
Unions 34
 
Specific Unions (Manual) 34
 
Wildcard Unions (Automatic) 35
 
Data Extracts and Live Connections 36
 
Live Connections 36
 
Untethered with a Data Extract 37
 
Data Protection and Data Governance 38
 
Editing the Model's Metadata 38
 
Data Types 40
 
Changing a Field's Data Type 41
 
Adding Hierarchies, Calculated Fields, and Table Calculations 41
 
Data Collection 42
 
Data Collection with IFTTT and Google Sheets 42
 
Website Analysis with Google Analytics 43
 
Checklist for Increasing Performance 46
 
General Advice for Performance Optimization 46
 
Performance Optimization with Files and Cloud Services 47
 
Performance Optimization with Database Servers 48
 
Chapter 3: Creating Data Visualizations 49
 
Chart Types 50
 
Ready, Set, Show Me 52
 
How Show Me Works 52
 
Scatter Plots 52
 
Bar Charts, Legends, Filters, and Hierarchies 53
 
Bar Charts 54
 
Hierarchies 54
 
Filters 55
 
Line Charts 57
 
Straight Lines 57
 
Adjusting the Time Dimension 58
 
Step Charts 59
 
Jump Lines 59
 
Continuous Date Fields 61
 
Highlight Tables 64
 
Step 1: Cross Tables 64
 
Step 2: Add Color 64
 
Step 3: Change the Mark Type 66
 
Heatmaps 67
 
Step 1: Build the Table 67
 
Step 2: Choose an Interesting Color Palette 68
 
Step 3: Change the Size of Marks 69
 
Bullet Charts 69
 
Step 1: Side-By-Side Bars 71
 
Step 2: Overlay the Measures 71
 
Cumulative Sums with Waterfall Charts 73
 
Step 1: Sorted Bar Chart 73
 
Step 2: Cumulative Sum and Gantt bars 74
 
Step 3: Calculate the Step Size 75
 
Reflection: The Anatomy of a Ta

About the author

Alexander Loth is a data scientist with over 10 years' experience in the Enterprise software space, focused primarily on Digital Transformation, Big Data, Machine Learning, and Business Analytics. Since 2015 he has been with Tableau Software as Digital Strategist in Frankfurt, Germany where he guides organizations to evolve their data-driven culture. Prior to Tableau, Alexander was a Data Scientist at CERN and worked as a consultant for Capgemini and in software engineering at SAP.

Summary

A four-color journey through a complete Tableau visualization

Tableau is a popular data visualization tool that's easy for individual desktop use as well as enterprise. Used by financial analysts, marketers, statisticians, business and sales leadership, and many other job roles to present data visually for easy understanding, it's no surprise that Tableau is an essential tool in our data-driven economy.

Visual Analytics with Tableau is a complete journey in Tableau visualization for a non-technical business user. You can start from zero, connect your first data, and get right into creating and publishing awesome visualizations and insightful dashboards.

* Learn the different types of charts you can create

* Use aggregation, calculated fields, and parameters

* Create insightful maps

* Share interactive dashboards

Geared toward beginners looking to get their feet wet with Tableau, this book makes it easy and approachable to get started right away.

Product details

• Authors: a Loth, Alexander Loth
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2019
• EAN: 9781119560203
• ISBN: 978-1-119-56020-3
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Mathematics > Probability theory, stochastic theory, mathematical statistics; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; Statistik, Datenanalyse, Visualisierung, Statistics, data analysis, Tableau Software