Tableau Your Data: Fast And Easy Visual Analysis With Tableau Software,2Ed by Daniel G. Murray, Wiley India

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Wiley India Tableau Your Data: Fast And Easy Visual Analysis With Tableau Software,2Ed by Daniel G. Murray

Tableau Your Data! shows you how to build dynamic, best of breed visualizations using the Tableau Software toolset. This comprehensive guide covers the core feature set for data analytics, and provides clear step-by-step guidance toward best practices and advanced techniques that go way beyond the user manual. You'll learn how Tableau is different from traditional business information analysis tools, and how to navigate your way around the Tableau 9.0 desktop before delving into functions and calculations, as well as sharing with the Tableau Server. Analyze data more effectively with Tableau Desktop About the Author Dan Murray founded the Tableau/BI practice at InterWorks in 2009 and the practice has grown to nineteen full-time consultants. InterWorks, Inc. is Tableau's largest and most trusted professional services partner with extensive experience helping clients learn and deploy Tableau Software. Dan was selected to write this book by Tableau Software, reflecting his and InterWorks leading position in consulting and training on the Tableau suite of products. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Part I Desktop 1 Creating Visual Analytics with Tableau Desktop The Shortcomings of Traditional Information Analysis The Business Case for Visual Analysis Three Kinds of Data That Exist in Every Entity How Visual Analytics Improves Decision Making Turning Data into Information with Visual Analytics Analysis as a Creative Process Tableau's Desktop Tools Tableau Desktop Personal Edition Professional Edition Tableau File Types Tableau Reader Tableau Online Help Introducing the Tableau Desktop Workspace New Workspace Design Using the Start Page Controls Effectively The Start Page The Tableau Desktop Workspace 2 Connecting to Your Data What You Will Learn in This Chapter How to Connect to Your Data Connecting to Desktop Sources Understanding the Data Source Page What Are Generated Values? Knowing When to Use a Direct Connection or a Data Extract Using Tableau's File Types Effectively Dealing with Data Shaping and Data Quality The Data Interpreter 3 Building Your First Visualization Fast and Easy Analysis via Show Me New Features How Show Me Works The Analytics Pane Sorting Data in Tableau Enhancing View with Filters, Sets, Groups and Hierarchies How Tableau Uses Date Fields 4 Creating Calculations to Enhance Data What Is Aggregation? Dimension versus Attribute What Are Calculated Fields and Table Calculations? How Do Calculated Fields Work? Creating Calculated Fields with the Calculation Editor Performing Ad Hoc Calculations How Do Table Calculations Work? A Word on Calculations and Cubes Using the Calculation Editor to Build Calculated Fields Ad Hoc Calculated Fields Building Formulas Using Table Calculations Adding Flexibility to Calculations with Parameters Why You Should Learn Level of Detail Expressions 5 Using Maps to Improve Insight New Map Features Creating a Standard Map View How Tableau Geocodes Your Data Searching for Items in Maps Typical Map Errors and How to Deal with Them Plotting Your Own Locations on a Map Replacing Tableau's Standard Maps Using Custom Background Images to Plot Spatial Data Notes 6 Developing an Ad Hoc Analysis Environment Data Discovery as a Creative Process Preparing Your Team for Success Qualities of a Good Data Analyst Doing Effective Discovery Work What IT Can Do to Help Spreading Discovery to Information Consumers Generating New Data with Forecasts Providing Self-Service Ad Hoc Analysis with Parameters What Are Parameters? How Can Parameters Be Used? Basic Parameter Controls Advanced Parameter Controls Editing Views in Tableau Server 7 Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers Saving Time and Improving Formatting Double-Click Fields to Build Faster Reduce Clicks Using the Right Mouse Button Drag Quick Copy Fields with Control-Drag Replace Fields by Dropping the New Field on Top Right-Click to Edit or Format Anything Editing or Removing Titles from Axis Headings Quicken Your Presentation Page Views A Faster Way to Access Field Menu Options Zooming the Formula Dialog Box Drag a Field into the Formula Dialog box Swap Data in Pane and Reference Line Fields Improving Appearance to Convey Meaning More Precisely Changing the Appearance of Dates Formatting Tooltip Content Change the Order of Color Expressed in Charts Exposing a Header in a One-Column Text Table Unpacking a Packaged Workbook File Make a Parameterized Axis Label Using Continuous Quick Filters for Ranges of Values Create Your Own Custom Date Hierarchy Concatenating to Make Custom Fields Using Legends to Build Highlight Actions Formatting Null Value Results When to Use Floating Objects in Dashboards Combined Axis Shading in a Scatter Plot Creating Folders to Hold Fields Customizing Shapes, Colors, Fonts, and Images Customizing Shapes Customizing Colors Customizing Fonts Customizing Images in Dashboards Advanced Chart Types Bar-in-Bar Chart Pareto Charts Sparklines Bullet Graphs 8 Bringing It All Together with Dashboards How Dashboards Facilitate Analysis and Understanding How Tableau Improves the Dashboard-Building Process The Wrong Way to Build a Dashboard The Right Way to Build a Dashboard Best Practices for Dashboard Building Size the Dashboard to Fit the Worst-Case Available Space Employ Four-Pane Dashboard Designs Use Actions to Filter Instead of Quick Filters Build Cascading Dashboard Designs to Improve Load Speeds Limit the Use of Color to One Primary Color Scheme Use Small Instructions Near the Work to Make Navigation Obvious Filter Information Presented in Crosstabs to Provide Relevant Details-on-Demand Remove All Non-Data-Ink Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Dashboards Work to Achieve Dashboard Load Times of Less Than Ten Seconds Building Your First Advanced Dashboard Introducing the Dashboard Worksheet Position the Worksheet Objects in the Dashboard Workspace Using Layout Containers to Position Objects Positioning the Select Year Text Table and Legends Inserting and Moving Text Objects Positioning and Fitting the Dashboard Objects Ensure That Each Worksheet Object Fits Its Entire View Create More Descriptive Titles for Each Data Pane Improving the Bullet Graph and Sparkline Charts Improving the Text Tables and Scatter Plot Using Actions to Create Advanced Dashboard Navigation Using the Select Year Text Table to Filter the Main Dashboard Adding a Column Heading to Select Year Adding Dynamic Title Content Auto-Generating Highlight Actions from Legends Understanding the Action Dialog Box Embedding a Live Website in a Dashboard Assemble Dashboard 2 Adding Details on Demand with Tooltips Enhancing Tooltips and Titles Adding a Read Me Dashboard Bonus: Adding a Floating Dashboard Object Finishing the Titles in the Main Dashboard Sharing Your Dashboard with Tableau Reader Security Considerations for Publishing via Tableau Reader Using the Tableau Performance Recorder to Improve Load Speed Sharing Dashboards with Tableau Online or Tableau Server 9 Designing for Mobile The Physics of Mobile Consumption Security Considerations for Mobile Consumption Offline Access Typical Mobile Usage Patterns Just-In-Time Use Mobile Design Implications Design Best Practices for Mobile Consumption Design Implications Related to Screen Resolution Best Practices for Mobile Design Design for a Specific Orientation Consider the Limits of Finger Navigation Reduce the Number of Worksheets Being Displayed A Tablet Dashboard Example Mobile Authoring and Editing A Note on Project Elastic 10 Conveying Your Findings with Stories Turning Analysis into Insight Building a Story The Story Workspace A Story Example Formatting Story Points Sharing Your Story Point Deck Part II Server 11 Installing Tableau Server What's New in Version 9? Reasons to Deploy Tableau Server Data Governance Efficiency Flexibility Licensing Options for Tableau Server and Tableau Online Determining Your Hardware and Software Needs New Feature: Persistent Query Cache Determining What Kind of Server License to Purchase Tableau Server's Architecture Sizing the Server Hardware A Scale-Up Scenario A Scale-Out Scenario Environmental Factors That Can Affect Performance Network Performance Browser Resource Contention Configuring Tableau Server for the First Time General Setup Menu Tab General: Run as User, User Authentication and Active Directory General: Gateway Port Number General: Open Port in Windows Firewall General: Include Sample Data and Users Data Connection Tab Alerts and Subscriptions Server Processes Security Options External Secure Sockets Layer SAML--Security Assertion Markup Language Kerberos--A Ticket-Based Security Protocol Managing Ownership Through Hierarchy Workbooks and Views User Project Group Site Permissions Permissions for Web Edit, Save and Download Providing Data Security with User Filters Applying a User Filter to a Data Source Creating a Hybrid Filter from the Data Source What Is the Data Server? When and How to Deploy Server on Multiple Physical Boxes Deploying Tableau Server in High Availability Environments Three-Node Cluster Four-Node Cluster Leveraging Existing Security with Trusted Authentication Deploying Tableau Server in Multi-national Environments Tableau Server Performance Recorder Show Events Filter Timeline Gantt Chart Events Sorted by Time Query Text Performance-Tuning Tactics Query Execution Geocoding Connecting to the Data Source Layout Computations Generating Extract Blending Data Server Rendering Managing Tableau Server in the Cloud What Does It Mean to Be in the Cloud? Tableau's Cloud-Based Versions of Server Putting Tableau Server in the Cloud Monitoring Activity on Tableau Server Status Section Analysis Section Log Files Section Rebuilt Search Index Section Editing Server Settings and Monitoring Licensing Server Settings General Page Server Setting License Page Partner Add-On Toolkits 12 Managing Tableau Server Managing Published Dashboards in Tableau Server Project Name Tags Views to Share Options Edit Navigating Tableau Server Organizing Reports for Consumption Adding Tags to Workbooks Creating a Favorite Options for Securing Reports The Application Layer Defining Custom Roles A Permission-Setting Example Improve Efficiency with the Data Server Publishing a Data Source Consuming Information in Tableau Server Finding Information Authoring and Editing Reports via Server What Is Required to Author Reports on the Web? Server Design and Usage Considerations Related to Web and Tablet Authoring Differences Between Desktop and Web or Tablet Authoring Saving and Exporting via the Web-Tablet Environment Export Save and Save As Recommendations for Implementing Web/Tablet Authoring Sharing Connections, Data Models, and Data Extracts Offering a Common Data Library Sharing Data Models Embedding Tableau Reports Securely on the Web When to Embed a Dashboard When Your Reports Are a Piece of a Larger SaaS Offering Providing a More Robust Environment How to Embed a Dashboard Further Control Using Passed Parameters Tips and Tricks for Embedding Dashboards Using Trusted Ticket Authentication as an Alternative Single Sign-On Method Using Subscriptions to Deliver Reports via Email Creating Subscription Schedules 13 Automating Tableau Server Tableau Server's APIs What Do Tabcmd and Tabadmin Do? Installing the Command-Line Tools Setting the Windows Path What Kind of Tasks Can Tabcmd Do? Learning to Leverage Tabcmd Manually Entering and Running a Script in Tabcmd Running Tabcmd Scripts via Batch Files The Steps Required to Create Batch Processing Scripts Using Windows Scheduler to Fully Automate Scripts Common Use Cases for Tabcmd Automating Extracts with the Extract API Data Extract API Using the Extract API with Python Data Extract Command-Line Utility REST API Initial Transactions Part III Case Studies 14 Ensuring a Successful Tableau Deployment Deploying Tableau--Lessons Learned Effective Use of Consultants Your Team's Current Knowledge The Data Landscape The Tableau User Group at Cigna Taking Care of Vizness Resourcing Cadence Format Topics Effectiveness and Attendance Tracking Participation Success Part IV Appendixes A Tableau's Product Ecosystem B Supported Data Source Connections C Keyboard Shortcuts D Recommended Hardware Configurations E Understanding Tableau Functions F Companion Website Glossary Index