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Create data-driven groups in Tableau with data blending (VLookup)

Similar to VLookup functionality in Excel, you can use a second data source to dynamically create a new group in a separate Tableau data source. Just follow along with this example to create one.

1. Open the Tableau included sample data source, Sample – Superstore Sales (Excel)

2. Map Sales by State: CTRL-Click on State and then on Sales. Click Show Me and select Symbol Maps. A map will appear.

3. Suppose you would like to label each state by region and/or filter by region. If you already have a text file, Excel spreadsheet or database table with region data, you can use this for an Excel VLookup type of functionality. The example

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Everyday analytics, “The Accidental Analyst”

This is it, the book that Tableau Software was so enthusiastic about that they bought a prepublication copy for each attendee of their annual Customer Conference last Fall. Now, you can pick up your own copy of “The Accidental Analyst“, available in May of 2012.

It isn’t just Tableau that is excited to see this book released, Stephen Few also had great things to say about it. Here is Stephen’s quote from the back cover, “This is a wonderful book, filled with practical advice. Business people who are struggling to make sense of their data will find it accessible and directly applicable to their work—a great resource for building analytical prowess.”

If you already pre-ordered a copy of the book, you will need to place your order again. Please visit this page again soon for the link to purchase it. The previous links and order information have been superceded by this version.

Want to hear more about the book?

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Rapid Graphs with Tableau Software 7 now available on Amazon, Kindle and Nook

Buy the Kindle version at Amazon, just $9.97! (free preview)

Buy Nook book at Barnes & Noble, just $9.97! (free preview)

Buy the print version at Amazon

International shipping alternative to Amazon

Still using Tableau 6? Yes! You can buy the 6 version!

Tired of boring spreadsheets and data overload from confusing graphs? Master the art of rapid graphs with Tableau! Tableau is designed with one goal in mind, to give you the power to quickly explore and understand your data so that you can make informed decisions in a wide variety of real-world situations. After learning Tableau, you will be able to communicate your findings with audience-friendly graphs and tables.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a common saying that is more relevant today

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Tableau customer profile, Eystein from Norway, Banking & Insurance

Customer
Eystein from Norway

Favorite quote speaking with him
“Make it simple and fast, my IT team was cheering on Tableau after trying it and QlikView. They really hoped we would pick Tableau and I am very happy we did.”

Situation
Eystein recently took over a BI team that wanted to accelerate use of data across every area of the bank and subsidiaries. The bank and subsidiaries are heavy users of SAS Enterprise Guide, SAS Web Report Studio and SAS Enterprise Miner.

They have a variety of data sources and data marts throughout the business. There is also a centralized Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) effort that is making headway, but has a long list of items ahead of them. In the meantime, SAS users are rapidly creating new data pulls that Eystein would like to use in Tableau. He realizes that the EDW team will never be able to have all the data that is needed by the business, so SAS is a good platform to prep the data for widespread analysis in Tableau.

Status

They recently evaluated fast analytic tools from

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Quick and dirty analysis with Tableau 6 (in thirteen lucky steps)

Let’s face it: in the daily world of work, you often are asked to provide an answer to a new problem in less than a day. Of course, your boss tends to forget about the other three project deadlines you are currently facing, so you really have only 10 or 20 minutes to squeeze in a quick and dirty analysis.

If this sounds familiar to you, this cheat sheet includes thirteen flexible steps that can take you from being clueless to looking smart in just a few minutes, with a little help from Tableau. Hopefully you’ll be able to obtain enough information to come up with ideas for an e-mail update or talking points for the unexpected meeting that is looming large over your day, showing your boss and colleagues that you can deliver great results in time to be useful.

So, if you’re already a user of Tableau, this cheat sheet will guide you to do the analysis. Even if you are totally new to Tableau, you can see the possibilities of what you can accomplish in a short amount of time, once you get started.

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1 What question will you examine?

Okay, in reality this step might take hours or even days! But let’s assume you have your question, and if it is complex, break it down into several, simpler questions.

2 Grab the closest, readily available dataset that is relevant

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Quick tutorial on reference lines, bands and distributions – enhance your graph insights!

The following article features Tableau 6

Reference lines, bands or distributions may be added to your views to emphasize particular values or areas that may be useful in interpreting your data. In particular, when comparing multiple groups or categories of data, reference lines and bands provide immediate feedback on the overall differences between the groups.

Reference lines

Reference lines are vertical or horizontal lines displayed on your view that mark requested values such as average, median, minimum, maximum, sum, total and constants (such as a line that separates the data points as being above or below a target). They can be added on any continuous axis.

1) Open the Sample – Coffee Chain (Access) data source included by default with Tableau 6

2) Place Sales on the Columns shelf and change the aggregate to Average.

3) Place Product on the Rows shelf,
State and Date on the Level of Detail shelf
and format Date to ‘MMMM YYYY’.

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