Visualization and Reporting are essential features in today’s data-driven world. Tableau is one of the leading and widely used BI tools in the industry. This blog post will discuss how to build dashboards on Tableau and perform various business transformations to analyze data.
In this article, you will be introduced to Tableau, its key features, and the steps required to carry out the creation of Dashboards in Tableau.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Tableau
Tableau is a widely used Business Intelligence tool in the current market. Its popularity is due to its capability of handling Big Data and is relatively simple to deploy, learn and use. Tableau generates insights from the raw data and creates a visual masterpiece for businesses to make data-driven decisions.
Official documentation regarding Tableau can be found here.
Image Source: https://intellipaat.com/mediaFiles/2015/11/tableau1.png
Key Features of Tableau
- Tableau Dashboard: Tableau dashboard has an intuitive dashboard with self-explaining wizards, allowing non-technical users to create visualization easily. Dimensions, charts are simple drag and drop on drawing space to perform analysis.
- Collaborative Sharing: Tableau allows users to collaborate with their peers for collaborative work or review. Users can also share to the cloud, which makes the dashboard accessible from anywhere.
- Data Sources in Tableau: Tableau has more than 200+ connectors that help users connect to external data sources like RDBMS, Cloud, spreadsheet, etc., securely. Tableau also provides several monitoring features such as data connectivity, auto-refresh, etc.
- Advanced Visualizations (Chart Types): Tableau has a vast collection of advanced visualization techniques. Some of them are:
Advanced methods to visualize data:
- Area Chart
- Bar Chart
- Box-and-whisker Plots
- Bubble Cloud
- Bullet Graph
- Cartogram
- Dot Distribution Map
- Heat Map
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Pre-Requisites
- Tableau Desktop or any related Tableau subscription to use.
- Basic understanding of Data and Visualization.
- Tableau sheets were created to be used in Dashboard.
Sharing Tableau Dashboards
There are various methods to share a Tableau dashboard for consumption after you’ve finished creating it.
Packaged Workbooks
You may package a worksheet for offline sharing if you prepared a dashboard with Tableau Desktop. Navigate to File in the top navigation and select “Export Packaged Workbook…” to package a workbook. The data will be packaged together with instructions on how to visualize it. Anyone using Tableau Desktop or Tableau Reader may open the file and interact with your visualizations. Since packed workbooks do not automatically update, the data within them is only as up-to-date as the last update.
Tableau Public
Any dashboard created in Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public can be shared with the public over the web. This isn’t a good idea for sensitive business data, but if you can make your data public, it’s a great way to get your dashboard in front of as many people as possible. Navigate to “Server,” hover over “Tableau Public,” and select “Save to Tableau Public As…” to publish a dashboard from Tableau Desktop to Tableau Public.
Tableau Server
Tableau Server allows you to share your workbooks privately in the cloud. Tableau Server is the most scalable Tableau solution for sharing business-related workbooks, but it requires incremental licenses for you and your end-users. Publishing to Tableau Server is similar to publishing to Tableau Public, but you’ll have more options, such as where to publish the workbook within Tableau Server, who has access to view and interact with it, and whether or not you want the data in the workbook to change. Navigate to “Server” in the top navigation and select “Publish Workbook…” to publish a workbook to Tableau Server.
Understanding Tableau Dashboards
Tableau Dashboards are the collection of different views or visualization where each view showcases a different kind of data at the same time. It allows users to get a holistic view of all the data on one screen. Creating dashboards is just about dragging views from the sheets section to the visualization area.
Creating or designing a dashboard is not only about putting visualization elements that are offered by Tableau. A dashboard should have the most relevant data that is suitable for quick consumption of information by a user. Tableau provides a lot of mechanisms for interactivity including tooltips and filters, Making use of them without cluttering the viewable area will lead to a pleasant dashboard experience.
Here’s a quick rundown of all the Tableau Dashboard choices available on the left navigation:
Dashboard and Layout Tabs
You’ll be working on the Tableau Dashboard tab by default, which allows you to customize most parts of the dashboard. You may customize the dimensions and placement of individual dashboard components using the layout tab. On the Layout tab, all sizes are in pixels.
Device Preview Button
The Device Preview button lets you see how the dashboard will look on various devices, and you can even save alternative versions of the dashboard so that it looks different depending on the device.
Size
This is where you can specify the dashboard’s height and width in pixels. There are numerous default size options available, or you can specify a custom size. If you select the Automatic option, the dashboard automatically adjusts the individual components of the dashboard to fit all available space on the screen it is being displayed on. While this option appears to be a good fit on the surface, keep in mind that it is not genuinely “responsive,” and the display can be unreliable.
Sheets
Individual worksheets in your workbook that can be uploaded to the dashboard are listed here. The workbook has three sheets: Map, Trends, and Bar Chart, which were used to produce the example shown above. It’s a good idea to give the worksheets descriptive titles so that they’re easy to find, but you can also obtain a thumbnail preview of the worksheet by hovering over the name in the left menu.
Objects
- Horizontal: Adds a horizontal layout container to which you can add more elements.
- Vertical: Adds a vertical layout container to which you can add more elements.
- Text: This command launches a small word processor in which you can type and format any text you like.
- Image: Adds an image from your PC to the dashboard as an image.
- Web Page: Adds a link to a web page to the dashboard (requires an Internet connection to display the web page).
- Blank: Fills the dashboard with blank space, which might be useful when dashboard elements are too close together in a tiled arrangement.
Tiled
When dashboard items are tiled, they take up all of the available space in each tile. You can control the exact size and location of dashboard items while they are floating. Each of these layouts has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and the one you choose is primarily determined by your individual use case. The automatic resizing that comes with a tiled layout is preferred by most Tableau users; we prefer the predictability and precision that comes with floating items.
What One Can Do With Tableau Dashboard?
The following things are listed below that one can use in Tableau Dashboard:
- Self-Reliant: Tableau Dashboard does not require any complex setups and is easily customizable so that users can fit all the features and visualizations needed for Data Analysis.
- Centralized Data: Users can customize Tableau Dashboard to view all the data in a centralized form because Tableau follows the concept of centralized data.
- Visual Discovery: Users can use Tableau Dashboards to explore and analyze data by adding different types of charts, trends, graphs, etc. All the features are available via drag and drop.
- Data Analytics: Tableau Dashboards simplify data and allow users to easily understand data and analyze it at a faster pace.
Purpose of Creating a Dashboard in Tableau Desktop
Dashboards make it easier for users to view all the progress, visualizations, and information on one page or screen have a glance at all the data without navigating to other tabs or screens. Dashboards adjust charts as objects on the screen, and these objects are placed as Tiled objects with the help of the easy drag and drop feature. The dashboard can be sized based on the following options: Automatic, Exactly, Range, Pre-sets.
Pros and Cons of Tableau Dashboard
The advantages and disadvantages of Tableau Dashboards are listed below:
Pros
- Mobile Support
- Multiple Annotations
- Multimedia
- Filters
- Responsive Dashboard
- Descriptive Texts
- Easy Implementation
Cons
- Static and Single valued parameters
- Limited Data Processing
- Expensive
- No custom visual imports
- Limited Column Table
Limitations Of the Tableau Dashboard
If the developer’s resolution is different from the end-users then it disturbs the screen resolution of the Tableau dashboard. Tableau Dashboards are not responsive. If you refresh the data on the chart, then the whole chart also gets refreshed, and you need to re-run the flow to get to the previous place on the chart or axis.
Procedure for Creating Dashboard in Tableau
Creating a dashboard in Tableau is a straightforward process. In this post, we will be discussing the step-by-step process to create a dashboard.
Tableau Dashboard Step 1: Click On New Dashboard Button
- At the bottom of the Tableau Desktop, click on the new Dashboard button –
Image Source: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/Img/web_author_new_dashboard_icon.png
- Click on Dashboard on the menu bar and select a new dashboard
- Change the name of the Dashboard as per requirement.
Tableau Dashboard Step 2: Add Sheet to Dashboard
- From the left pane, drag the sheet to include in the dashboard.
Image Source: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/Img/dashboard_create.png
- Select the sheet or create your data to create a dashboard.
Tableau Dashboard Step 3: Add Another Sheet
- Add the second sheet to your Dashboard.
- You can also swap the sheet by clicking on the swap sheet button.
Image Source: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/Img/dashboard_swap_sheets.png
- You can add as many sheets as you want to add in Dashboard and any order.
Tableau Dashboard Step 4: Customize Dashboard by Adding Interactions
- Tableau provides a lot of options to customize the Dashboard.
- You can use filters, shapes, colours, graphs, etc., to customize the Dashboard.
Image Source: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/Img/action_dashboards4_web.png
- Tableau provides layout containers to help you to group the objects.
- Add texts object to give more informations and headers and other metrics
- Add images or web pages to link more information about specific targets.
- Add Navigation objects to provide navigation from one Dashboard to another and use Blank objects to adjust the spacings.
Image Source: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/Img/dashboard_object_drag1.png
Tableau Dashboard Step 5: View the Dashboard
Once you customize the Dashboard, press F7 to view Dashboard in full screen mode.
Tableau Dashboard Step 6: Share Dashboard
Tableau allows users to share dashboards among peers and colleagues to review and collaborate together for work.
That’s it, your dashboard is now ready to use.
Best Tableau Dashboard Examples
There are 4 categories of Tableau Dashboard that are listed below:
Sales Analytics Tableau Dashboard
E-Commerce Sales Dashboard
E-Commerce Sales Dashboard allows users to view the revenue of different categories, and with each category of product, they can also find revenue for each product. It shows the price of the product against the revenue gained over it. It is an essential dashboard for because pricing change in the E-Commerce industry.
Regional Sales dashboard
It helps companies keep track of all the sales from different regions. This dashboard lets you drill down deeper into the data and identify which product from which region is generating maximum sales. It shows the trend of sales in all regions as a snapshot.
Executive Sales Dashboard
Executive Sales Dashboard provides summary details of all the activities. It provides a snapshot of total Sales, profit, shipping, costs, etc. The dashboard is also capable to provide you with details on the supply chain. The average basket size helps executives to set the target for the next expansion.
Marketing Analytics Tableau Dashboard
Marketing Funnel Dashboard
Marketing Funnel Dashboards provide useful information on all the active Marting Campaigns and how well they are performing in terms of revenue, reach, conversion, etc.
Social Media Tracking Dashboard
Every Digital Marketer must have Social Media Tracking Dashboard that allows them to track how well their paid Ads are performing on social media platforms. The dashboard shows the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in multiple social media services – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc on one single page.
Customer Service Tableau Dashboard
Helpdesk Ticketing Dashboard
It provides information on all key performance indicators that a helpdesk management team generally considers. This dashboard delivers information on how well the helpdesk is handling the tickets from customers. Total Open Tickets, Closed Tickets, Average Response Times, Tickets per particular status types, etc are displayed in a clean format.
Helpdesk Team Performance Dashboard
This dashboard is mainly used by managers to monitor the performance of the team and keep track of all the progress of tasks assigned. It provides information on the calls attended by individual members and provides the distribution of incoming and outgoing calls.
Financial Analytics Tableau Dashboard
Profit and Loss Dashboard
Profit and Loss Dashboard showcases information on Revenue, Earnings Before Tax, Earnings After Tax, Cost of doing Sales, etc. It also updates the information in real-time or regular intervals and shows historical data.
Employee Expense Analysis Dashboard
It provides details about the top items for which employees are raising expense requests. It helps companies to set a budget for the employees and how to allocate funds for employees. It shows the top categories of items over the past weeks.
Accounts Receivable Analysis Dashboard
This dashboard is valuable for financial controllers who are responsible for tracking unpaid invoices and their impact on the bottom line. It provides information on the average number of days to settle invoices.
Conclusion
This blog post discussed how you could combine various sheets into a single Dashboard to get an analytical view from the data. However, if you’re looking for a more straightforward solution, we recommend using Hevo Data – a no-code data pipeline that can connect multiple sources in an instant. Integrating and analyzing data from a huge set of diverse sources can be challenging, this is where Hevo comes into the picture.
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Vishal has a passion towards the data realm and applies analytical thinking and a problem-solving approach to untangle the intricacies of data integration and analysis. He delivers in-depth researched content ideal for solving problems pertaining to modern data stack.