Most organizations store the data they generate during their daily operations. Analyzing this data to extract crucial information is becoming an important part of the decision-making process. Tableau is a perfect tool to leverage Business Intelligence and perform an in-depth and insightful analysis of this data. New users can take advantage of the Sample datasets provided by Tableau to experiment and experience various operations and functionality offered by the platform. Tableau Superstore Dataset is one such sample dataset that can be used to try out functionally pertaining to the analysis of Sales data of a business.
In this article, you will learn about Tableau Superstore Dataset, steps to connect Tableau to the sample dataset, and various methods to interact with the elements of the dataset and visualize them in the workspace. You will learn about procedures to create a Geographical Map view and set up a Sales Dashboard using this sample dataset.
Table of Contents
What is Tableau?
A Tableau is a tool that is used for applications related to Business Intelligence and Data Visualization. This can help you extract important insights by analyzing the data and providing objective measurements to support and help in strategic decision-making for a business.
The platform supports an easy-to-learn user interface and additional functionalities to collaborate with other employees in the organization. The user can get data from multiple sources and perform analyses on the aggregated data. Tableau is helping industries to reduce the analysis time and provides functionalities while ensuring flexibility, security, and reliability.
Official documentation of Tableau can be found here.
Key Features of Tableau
- Multiple Integrations: It houses support for numerous integrations and connectors for increased functionality and compatibility with various data sources.
- Easy User Interface: It hosts an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn user interface to perform complex data transformations without programming know-how.
- Real-Time Dashboards: It has the ability to create and host interactive real-time dashboards highlighting KPIs and data visualizations.
- Gather Insights: It helps users convert their queries and questions into visualizations and objective metrics.
- Multi-Platform Accessibility: It has a provision to access dashboards and reports on multiple devices such as mobile, web, and desktop.
- Visual Customisations: There is a huge selection of visual customizations and templates that users can utilize to highlight and analyze critical business data.
What is Tableau Superstore Dataset?
Tableau Superstore Dataset is a sample Dataset provided by Tableau for new users to learn and experiment with different offerings and functionalities available in Tableau. The vast dataset provides a base to interact with Dashboard, drill down into the specifics of Data handling and provide samples for performing Data transformations.
The sample Dataset includes data for the Sales of multiple products sold by a company along with subsequent information related to geography, Product categories, and subcategories, sales, and profits, segmentation amongst the consumers, etc. This sample Dataset presents a common use case for Tableau, in which the users are interested in gathering useful insights from the Sales data in order to improve the Marketing and Sales strategies. New users can learn about various operations and elements in Tableau using this sample Dataset and following the numerous tutorials available online.
How to Connect with Sample Tableau Superstore Dataset?
Step 1: You can start by opening up a new instance of Tableau or toggling the start page by clicking on the Tableau icon.
Step 2: You are required to make a selection under the Connect pane. This can be used to connect to databases other than the sample dataset such as Excel files, PDF files, CSV files, etc., or connect to the external live connections to the Databases.
Step 3: Reach out to Sample Workbooks to connect to the Sample Datasets and resources provided by Tableau.
Step 4: Under the Saved Data Sources, click on the Sample- Superstore to access the sample dataset. The first window with the workspace area will look as follows:
How to Interact with the Workspace Elements in Tableau Superstore Dataset?
After the Workspace for Tableau Superstore Dataset opens up, you can view various attributes included in the Dataset, such as Location information, Product Category information, Profits, Discounts, Sales, Profit Ratio, Region, Quantity, etc. Now you can start interacting with this data by first creating a Chart View to visualize various attributes.
Tableau Superstore Dataset Part 1: Building a View
Step 1: You can start by dragging the attribute of your choice to the columns shelf in the workspace area to represent it on the X-axis on the charts.
Step 2: You can proceed to add the attribute of your choice to the rows shelf on the workspace by dragging it from the left pane to represent it on the Y-axis on the charts.
Step 3: This will create a Line Chart as depicted above, you can modify the details of the chart by changing the setting in the Marks area on the left side of the workspace.
Tableau Superstore Dataset Part 2: Refining the View
Since you have created your first Chart view using the YEAR and Sales attributes in the dataset, you can further refine this view by including other data and giving more context to the visualized information.
Step 1: You can start by adding additional dimensions and metrics to the Columns Shelf of the workplace. For example, you can include both YEAR and Category attributes in the Columns Shelf to categorize the visualized data further.
Step 2: You can also add attributes from the left pane to the View by just Double-clicking on the attribute. Tableau automatically makes the assumption of showcasing that data in either Columns or Rows Shelf. This procedure will help you get the right amount of detail in your Data Visualization.
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Understanding Filters using Tableau Superstore Dataset
Filter and Colours can be a useful way to include and exclude crucial information in Big Datasets. For example, showcasing Sales of different products with different colors, including data from a certain location to check for customer trends, etc.
Step 1: You can start by right-clicking on an attribute on the left pane and selecting Show Filter.
Step 2: This will showcase the options of various filters on the right side of the workspace and showcase above. You can use the checkboxes to implement your desired filters on the dataset.
Step 3: Colours can be added to the visualization by dragging the desired attribute to the Color option in the Marks Card. The desired colors can be selected by clicking on the colors option and the effects will be implemented like the one shown below.
Creating Geographical Map View using Tableau Superstore Dataset
The Tableau Superstore Dataset provides information pertaining to the Region and Location of the Sales including Country, State, City, and Postal Code. With the Sample Dataset, new users can learn about using the Geographical Map View feature offered in Tableau which can help in visualizing the Geographical data, region-wise and analyzing the data in a granular manner.
Step 1: You are required to start by creating a New Worksheet for the Map View. Firstly, click on the New Worksheet icon at the bottom of the workspace.
Step 2: For this sample dataset you can double click on the State attribute and it will automatically be mapped onto the workspace. The Latitude and Longitude conversion from the State attribute will automatically be performed by Tableau. The points will be mapped as shown below:
Step 3: You can drag other attributes such as Region to the Filters shelf to implement desired filters. For example, choosing a specific region will zoom the map into that region and showcase more granular data.
Step 4: You can also introduce various colors and gradients to make the visualizations more attractive and pleasing to look at. You can drag the Sales attribute to Colours on the Marks shelf to differentiate different regions with varying Sales performance.
How to Set Up Sales Dashboard using Tableau Superstore Dataset?
Dashboards are required to showcase the visualized data in an organized manner. They help highlight important information pertaining to a certain theme or objective. Dashboards allow interactive data visualizations to be shared between employees and management. Users can leverage the Tableau Superstore Dataset to create such Dashboards and learn to organize the visual elements in a helpful manner.
Step 1: You are firstly required to click on the New Dashboard button.
Image Source
Step 2: You can select various Worksheets, Views, and visualizations that you may have created in the other Worksheets. For this example, you can choose and drag “Sales in South” and “Profit Map” to the empty dashboard. The Dashboard will start displaying the data as follows:
Step 3: Unnecessary information can be removed from the Dashboard by right-clicking on the Column area of the desired View and removing the check-box on the “Show Header” option.
Step 4: You can implement filters on the data to highlight the required information. For this example, you can click on the Drop Down arrow on the “Year of the Order Date” filer and proceed by selecting “Single Value” (Slider).
The created Dashboard will look as follows:
More information regarding setting up Tableau Dashboards can be found here.
Conclusion
In this article, you were introduced to Tableau and its key features. You learned about Tableau Superstore Dataset which is a sample Dataset provided by Tableau, steps to connect Tableau to the sample Dataset, and various methods to interact with the elements of the Dataset and visualize them in the workspace. You also learned about procedures to create a Geographical Map View to get a more granular view of the data and set up a Sales Dashboard using this sample Dataset for the interactive visualization with other members of the company.
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Abhishek is a data analysis enthusiast with a passion for data, software architecture, and writing technical content. He has experience writing articles on diverse topics such as data integration and infrastructure.