The Blog

Ideas, inspiration, creativity & understanding

At The Data School we believe that sharing knowledge and expertise is key to driving innovation and growth in the data community. Posts cover all topics across the Tableau, Alteryx and PowerBI communities.

We make blogging a cornerstone of each consultant's time at The Data School with the aim to solidify their own learning while giving back to the community. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in the ever-evolving world of data analysis. So, explore our blog today and join the conversation!

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Mon 03 Feb 2025 | Annie Casey
building a data pipeline start to finish
This blog will detail the various steps our data travels through in this example data pipeline and will additionally highlight which steps can be automated using Kestra to simplify and automate our data pipeline from start to finish
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Thu 23 Jan 2025 | Cecily Santiago
How To: Create a Music Player in a Tableau Dashboard
Recently, I worked on Mike Monsoon's Progress Journal, a project management/album progress tracker dashboard for the musician Mike Monsoon, who releases his music on SoundCloud
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Mon 27 Jan 2025 | Annie Casey
Snowflake Notebooks: SQL/Python made easy
Snowflake now has notebooks! I first taught myself the basics of python using Jupyter Notebooks which made it easy to run sections of code at a time and see the output for each step
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Fri 17 Jan 2025 | Annie Casey
Extract / Load : Airbyte / S3 / Snowflake
Here's an example of what tools you can use to extract and load data. Let's say you have events data from your Amplitude account, tracking events on your website, and you want to extract and load that data into a table in snowflake
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Fri 10 Jan 2025 | Annie Casey
Git Command Cheat Sheet
Here's a handy Git Command Cheat Sheet disclaimer: There's A LOT more commands to know but this is what we've utilized this week in data engineering! Git init * Initializes a local folder to be used with git (creates .git file) Ex
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Fri 10 Jan 2025 | Mel Niere
NYC’s First Registered Data Analyst Apprenticeship
Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 8, 2025 Media Contact: Mel Niere Marketing Manager mel@theinformationlab
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Wed 27 Nov 2024 | Le Luu
Parsing JSON and Flattening Data in Snowflake
In the previous blogs, I introduced how to retrieve data from API and parse JSON in Tableau using TabPy (Part 1, Part 2) or using the JSON Parse tool in Alteryx (blog)
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Mon 18 Nov 2024 | Le Luu
Exploring VizQL Data Service: A First Look at the Developer Preview
In the previous blogs, I shared how to extract data from API and parse JSON directly in Tableau Desktop. In those blogs, I talked about what is API, and JSON structure, and how to parse data from simple and complex JSON structures in Tableau Desktop. You can read it here (part 1, part 2)
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Tue 19 Nov 2024 | Salome Grasland
SVG to PNG Conversion with Wand and ImageMagick in Python
When working with vector graphics, SVG files are often the format of choice. However, situations arise where you need rasterized versions of these files, such as PNGs, for compatibility or performance reasons
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Fri 15 Nov 2024 | Kate Crawford
No-Code Solutions for Embedding Tableau in Salesforce
What are Salesforce Lightning Apps? Salesforce is an app-based platform that has several no-Code solutions for adding web components to its interface. This works similar to web objects on a Tableau Dashboard. There are two kinds of Salesforce apps: Classic and Lightning
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Tue 12 Nov 2024 | Cecily Santiago
Insight Out: Understanding Tableau's Admin Insights
Recently, I worked on a project for a client using Tableau's Admin Insights. The documentation provided by Tableau is sparse, so I had to experiment and investigate in order to understand the data sources I was working with
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Thu 07 Nov 2024 | Le Luu
JSON Parse Tool in Alteryx 2024.2
At the end of October 2024, Alteryx Designer updated the latest version to 2024.2. If you haven't updated it yet, click on this link to download and update Alteryx Designer to the latest version. Many of the updated features in this latest version are very helpful in preparing data
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Tue 05 Nov 2024 | Salome Grasland
Creating Buttons in Tableau to Control Dynamic Zone Visibility
Enhance your Tableau dashboards with interactive buttons to toggle between views using Dynamic Zone Visibility and custom shapes. Dynamic Zone Visibility introduced in Tableau 2022.3, allows you to show or hide dashboard elements based on user interactions
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Mon 04 Nov 2024 | Le Luu
Extracting Data from API and Parse JSON in Tableau Desktop - Part 2
In the first part, I introduced what is API and its process. I also walked through some main points about the JSON structure, extracting data from API in Python, and in Tableau Desktop with TabPy. However, the JSON structure in the first blog is simple. In Fig
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Thu 31 Oct 2024 | Le Luu
Extracting Data from API and Parse JSON in Tableau Desktop - Part 1
API stands for Application Programming Interface. According to the Postman page, API is a set of protocols where different software components communicate and transfer data. The client will send the request when they need to get the data
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Fri 13 Sep 2024 | Kate Crawford
Put Good In, Get Good Out: How to use Tableau Prep for Tableau Pulse
Tableau Pulse insights are enhanced by AI. But, is your data ready for Tableau AI? In this post, I’ll share tips and Tableau Prep steps for Tableau Pulse Metrics. What is Tableau Pulse? Tableau Pulse is a data interface available on Tableau Cloud
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Fri 18 Oct 2024 | Salome Grasland
Handling Quarter-Over-Quarter Calculations in Tableau
Check out the dashboard here. The Problem: Selecting Q1 and Getting an Undefined Difference Quarter-over-quarter comparisons are crucial for understanding business trends, but they can sometimes present challenges, especially when dealing with the first quarter (Q1) of a timeline
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Thu 26 Sep 2024 | Brenda Chavez
Tableau Thursday Tutorial: Dynamic Top N Filter
This tutorial uses Tableau's sample dataset, Superstore. For instructions on how to access this dataset, please see this guide. In Tableau, creating a dynamic "Top N" filter allows users to control how many top items (e.g., customers, products, categories) they want to display on a dashboard
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Wed 09 Oct 2024 | Vivian Ng
Can I Axis You a Question?
Can I axis you a question? How do you make an axis dynamic? We’re moving away from the Once More Unto the HIPAA Breach dashboard (HIPAA breach reviz) now, to other topics pertaining to other dashboards
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Mon 07 Oct 2024 | Le Luu
Extracting Words and Count Their Frequency from Sentences in Tableau Prep
As a data analyst, I usually work on the numeric data. However, the text data can also give me some insight. Specifically, most companies that sell products, want to hear feedback and reviews from the customer. The text data from the feedback and reviews are very helpful, and insightful
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Thu 03 Oct 2024 | Le Luu
Build a Batch Macro to Translate a Text Column
In some global projects, the user could come from many countries worldwide. Or the data owner must collect the data from everywhere in the world but the result should be in one consistent language. The language could be a barrier
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Thu 26 Sep 2024 | Le Luu
Optimizing SQL Performance - Part 2
In the previous blog, I shared some tips to improve the performance in SQL following the order of execution. I stopped at the GROUP BY clause. If you haven't read my first part, you can read it here. In this blog, I continue to share some tips from the HAVING clause until the end
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Mon 23 Sep 2024 | Liz Boika
Dynamic Zone Visibility
Pre- and Post- V 2022.3 Often, one will find themselves trying to cram a lot of information into not a lot of space. Maybe the client really wants every single chart in one dashboard. Maybe you are limited to a very small resolution. Rejoice! Tableau has heard your cries, and offered a solution
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Sun 22 Sep 2024 | Le Luu
Translating Values to Many Languages in Tableau Desktop
As a Tableau user, I usually set the default language for Tableau Desktop as English. However, in some cases, if a user works for a global company, many users worldwide can use the dashboard. The language could be a barrier for the user to interact or get insights from the dashboard
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Mon 09 Sep 2024 | Le Luu
Optimizing the SQL Performance - Part 1
In the previous blog, I compared the difference in the order of writing SQL queries and the order of execution in SQL (link). Acknowledge the execution order in SQL is significant and helpful because the user will know how the SQL queries execute in the system which they can't see
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Thu 12 Sep 2024 | Kate Crawford
Alteryx: 11 Steps to Create an Iterative Macro for Pagination
There are four Macro types in Alteryx. This post introduces the Iterative Macro, which loops through a flow based on a condition. What is Pagination? Pagination is when you page through a website or API service to retrieve data
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Wed 11 Sep 2024 | Vivian Ng
The (High)lights Are On, But Nobody’s Home
Today, I’ll be talking about how to highlight all your marks in a visualization (also known as removing unwanted highlighting or disabling Tableau’s default highlighting). Before I describe the process, let me explain what I mean by Tableau’s default highlighting
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Wed 04 Sep 2024 | Le Luu
3 Ways to Apply Python Script in Tableau Desktop
Tableau users usually apply built-in functions to calculate, filter, and retrieve data. However, in some complicated problems, the built-in function in Tableau may not be useful in solving the problem. We can consider using the Python script through TabPy to solve the problem
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Thu 08 Feb 2024 | Liz Boika
Authentic Empathy at Work
Getting What You Want and Being Nice While Doing It Isn't it just the worst when people refuse to listen to you? Stubbornness is a very common trait across age, gender, race, culture..
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Fri 30 Aug 2024 | Le Luu
Order of Writing SQL queries and Order of Execution in SQL
In Tableau, there is a table of the order of operations that tells the users the execution order in Tableau. The users will decide when to apply the filter based on that table
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