Tableau Desktop Fundamentals

Hierarchies

Allow users to define custom levels of detail and create drill-down functionality. Dates create automatic hierarchies but you can create custom hierarchies as well.

Secondary Sources (Orange Check)

Any other sources that a field is pulled from.

Unions

Appends two or more tables to form a new combined table. Used to stack rows from tables with the same columns & data types.

Latitude/Longitude

Geospatial coordinate fields generated when using geographic based fields in Tableau.

Churn

The number of consumers who stop using a product or service, divided by the average number of consumers of that product or service. Can also be applied to employees, also called turnover.

Logical Tables

These store information about their corresponding physical tables, including table names, column names, and data types, and schema objects associated with the table columns.

Physical Tables

These store the actual data.

DATETRUNC

Truncates the date field to the defined date interval and returns the new date.

Histogram Chart

Understand the distribution of your data. (ie. Number of customers by company size, student performance on an exam, frequency of a product defect.)

Area Maps

Use for rates rather than totals. use sensible base geography. (ie. Rates of internet-usage in certain geographies, house prices in different neighborhoods.)

Symbol Maps

Use for totals rather than rates. Small differences will be hard to see. (ie. Number of customers in different geographies).

Custom Territories

Used in the mapping workspace to allow users to dynamically select or consolidate geographic areas using traditional Tableau grouping functionality.

Multi-Axis Charts

Used to combine multiple measures into a single analytic view. Provides comparative metrics of different value types in the same field.

Highlight Tables

Used to compare categorical data using color.

Heatmaps

Used to compare categorical data using mark shape, size, and color. Structured like a highlight table, but with color callouts and size differences.

Crosstabs (Text Tables)

Used to display numerical values in a columnar format. Easy to create and instantly recognizable.

Histogram

Used to show the distribution of values for a given measure. An easy way to profile a measure and can be created with automated bin creation. (ex. Age distribution among Japanese citizens)

Scatter Plot

Used to visualize relationships between variables. Easy to read and construct, and have the lowest error rate of any data visualization form.

Box Plots

Used to visualize the distribution and statistical characteristics of a numerical field, including the min/max, median, and 1st and 3rd quartiles.

Aggregation Mix Error

Using aggregated and non-aggregated fields within the same calculation will cause this. Calculations don't count as aggregations.

R-Squared

Value that explains how the variance of one variable explains the variance of another, ranging from 0-1 (closer to 1 = more accurate).

Line Chart

View trends in data over time. (ie. Stock price change over a five year period or website page views per month)

Pre-Attentive Attributes

Visual cues humans process automatically with sensory memory (colors, size, groups and orientations of objects, etc.) that can be noticed and interpreted quickly and without special effort.

Blending

Visualizes the data from separate sources within the same view via blended fields. Good for quickly combining multiple sources at the sheet level.

Dimension (Qualitative Field)

Column in a data set that describes or categorizes data, tells you what, when or who, and slices the quantitative data (applying it to different categories [ie. "How many new hires at Invictus (measure/numerical) were African Americans (dimension/qualitative)?"])

Field

Column in a data set/table

Geospatial Data

Comes in two forms: geographic fields and spatial files.

Bullet Graphs

Commonly used for comparing actual values against targets or ranges. Alternative for gauge charts. Shows clean delineation between actual and target values.

Control Charts

Commonly used to monitor manufacturing or business processes to ensure they're in a state of control (within limits). Tableau can generate them using "reference bands."

Treemaps

Commonly used to visualize hierarchical data or parts of a whole. Can display many dimensional measures at the same time. Proper labeling is needed, and a simple set of diverging color values.

Bar Chart

Compare data across categories. (ie. Volume of shirts in different sizes or percent of spending by department)

Table Calculations

Computations that are applied to the values within a view, and computed in Tableau rather than in the data source (like other calculation types).

Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions

Computations that support aggregation at dimensionalities other than the view-level.

Literal Expressions

Constant values, which can be represented as numbers, strings, dates, etc.

Discrete Fields

Contain a finite set of distinct values (year, category, country, etc.). They add a new header to a view.

Continuous Fields

Contain an infinite range of values (age, temperature, profit, etc.). Add a new axis to a view.

ZN

Converts NULL values to 0, if not NULL returns a value.

Table-Scoped LOD Calcuations

Created by adding curly brackets ({}) around a field. (ie. {min([Order Date])} ), instead of a fixed LOD ( ie. {FIXED : min([Order Date])} ).

Set

Custom fields that define a subset of data based on some conditions. Can be Constant or Computed, and can be made more dynamic using set actions.

Background Images

Custom visual layers that can be placed behind your coordinate-based data points.

Measure Values & Names

Fields that are created to contain all continuous values and measure names.

CASE

Finds and returns values based on each corresponding WHEN condition. (ex. CASE [Parameter] WHEN Value1 THEN Result1 WHEN Value2 THEN Result2 ELSE Value3 END

Row Level Aggregation

Performed at the lowest level/grain of the data set (no aggregation defined).

P-Value

Probability of obtaining results as extreme as the observed results, ranging from 0-1 (closer to 0 = more accurate). A value of <0.05 is a common standard for model accuracy and means that your trend line is a strong predictor for future data points.

Discrete Date Filters

Provide similar options to regular discrete fields, but can also be aggregated with COUNT, COUNTD, MIN, MAX, or ATTRIBUTE.

Marks Card

Provides users with the ability to control the context and detail of the marks in the view;; including Color, Size, Label, Detail, Tooltip, Shape, and Line. Color can be applied to both dimensions and measures. Size is applied to measures.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Quantifiable measures of performance used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of performance.

Fields

Raw or calculated columns used for dimensional or aggregated values.

Logical Layer

Represents the canvas for creating relationships between tables.

Physical Layer

Represents the canvas for creating unions & joins between tables.

Count of Table

Represents the number of records in a given table via count columns. Formerly called Number of Records.

DATENAME

Returns a part of the given date as a string, with units defined by the date interval.

TODAY/NOW

Returns the current date or current date and time.

DAY/WEEK/MONTH/YEAR

Returns the integer value of the Day, Week, Month, or Year of a given date field.

Aggregate

Rolls up the level of granularity based on visible dimensions (or a specified date field) and is commonly used to reduce data size.

Good Visualizations for Qualitative Data

Shape, grouping, color hue, etc.

Gantt Chart

Show duration over time. (ie. Project timeline, duration of a machine's use, availability of players on a team.)

Treemap

Show hierarchical data as a proportion of a whole. (ie. Storage usage across computer machines comparing fiscal budgets between years.)

Box-and-Whisker Chart

Show the distribution of a set of data. (ie. understanding your data at a glance, seeing how data is skewed towards one end, identifying outliers in your data.)

Heat Map

Show the relationship between two factors. (ie. Segment analysis of target market, or sales leads by individual rep.)

Highlight Table

Shows detailed information on heat maps. (ie. percent of a market for different segments or sales numbers in a region.)

Level of Detail Element

Specified LOD types (ie. INCLUDE, EXCLUDE, and FIXED)

Regression Models

Statistical modeling technique used to estimate trends/relationships between variables.

DATEDIFF

Takes the difference between teh defined Start Date and End Date, expressed in units of the date interval.

Marks

Term used to describe the visual representation of the data (ie. bar, pie chart, trend, etc.). Clicking on the mark gets you more specific details about the data it represents.

Tableau Data Types

Text or String Values Discrete Date and Time Field Discrete Date Field Geographic Field Continuous Numeric Value (#) Calculated Field (=#)

Common Mapping Issues

Abbreviations of locations, duplicate cities in different states or countries, not saving locations as the "String" data type, etc.

DATEADD

Adds a defined increment to the date referenced, defined by the interval specified in the calculation.

User-Defined Aggregation

Aggregated at the level of detail explicitly defined in the LOD expression(s).

Dynamic Aggregation

Aggregated at the level of detail in the view.

Exclude LOD

Calculated at a coarser/higher grain than the view. These calculations are impacted by filters/dimensions in the view.

Fixed LOD

Calculated at a finer/coarser grain than the view. these calculations are not impacted by filters/dimensions in the view unless specifically called out or in context.

Include LOD

Calculated at a finer/lower grain than the view. These calculations are impacted by filters/dimensions in the view.

Aggregate Expression

Calculation to be performed at the grain defined. (ie. SUM([Sales])

Mark Types: Automatic

Default. Tableau is choosing the best visual based on your field types and their position on rows and columns.

Addressing Fields

Defines the direction in which a calculation is evaluated (i.e. down, across, across then down.)

Dimension Declaration

Defines the grain at which the data is aggregated. (ie. [State])

Partitioning Fields

Defines the level or group at which table calcs are evaluated (i.e. cells, tables, panes).

Context Filters

Dimensional filters that supersede their normal order of operations. Measures and other aggregated fields can't be placed in context filters.

Parameters

Dynamic driving fields that can materially impact calculations, filters, etc. (ex. [Metric Selector]). Workbook variables such as a number, string, or date which can replace a constant value in a calculation, filter, or reference line. Can be created from the filter drop down or from an existing field.

Forecasting Algorithms

Evaluate patterns in historical data to project potential future data points. Several drag and drop forecast tools can be found in Tableau's analytics pane.

Bullet Chart

Evaluate performance of a metric against a goal. (ie. Sales quota assessment, performance spectrum (great/good/poor).

ELSEIF

Evaluates multiple logical tests; if true the THEN result is shown, otherwise the ELSE result is shown. Basically allows you to use several IF statements with different parameters (ex. IF [blank] THEN [blank] ELSEIF [blank] THEN [blank] ELSE [blank])

Analytics Pane

Includes drag and drop analytics tools: reference lines, totals, forecasts, clusters, and box plots. Found on the left side of the screen. Reference lines can be used at the Table, Pane, or Cell level.

Scatterplot Chart

Investigate relationships between quantitative values. (ie. Male versus female likelihood of having lung cancer at different ages, or technology early adopters' and laggards' purchase patterns of smart phones.). Correlation between two measures.

Good Visualizations for Quantitative Data

Length, position, size, color hue, etc.

Relationships

Leverages related fields between tables to create contextually-appropriate joins on the fly. Good for all-around use cases and optimal performance.

Primary Source (Blue Check)

Main data source in a workbook. Dimensions are based on the Primary Source. Any dimensions that don't exist in the primary table will not be available in the list.

Joins

Merges multiple tables based on a join clause to create a new fixed table. Used to add new columns across row structure.

Operators

Much like Excel and programming, these are numeric or logical symbols used in calculations. (ex. +, -, *, , %, ==, =, >, <, >=, <=, !=, <>, ^, AND, OR, NOT, ().

Measures (Quantitative Field)

Numerical data, provides the measurement for qualitative category, and can be used in calculations.

Functions

Numerical, string, type, date, logical, aggregate, user, table calculation, or spatial calculation functions. (ex. SUM, AVG, COUNTD, COUNT, etc.)