Today it was time for our first foray into Tableau Desktop as DS 39! In an afternoon Tableau Time session led by Carl Allchin we were (formally) introduced into the working environment of Tableau. This commenced with an explanation of the Tableau platform as a whole and its included tools before focusing on Tableau desktop.
The aim of today's session was to obtain a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the software. This included getting to grips with the different terminology, which is necessary to learn now so that it becomes second nature to us when teaching clients in the future. The key takeaway at this stage was an understanding of the distinction between discrete and continuous fields in our data. Discrete fields are generally referred to as dimensions (blue in Tableau), and continuous fields as measures (green).
Once we had a handle on the terminology, we looked to understand the general desktop workflow. This consisted of the workflow steps (connect, analyse, share) as well as learning the names and components of the Data and Analytics Panes within Tableau Desktop. We could now start filtering our data!
Data filtering is a process in which the data shown is narrowed down to focus on the most relevant information. In Tableau we can filter both dimensions and measures, but our options for filtering change.
When filtering a dimension we have four options:
- General: Select members of the dimensions that you can select for inclusion or exclusion from your data
- Wildcard: Set up a wildcard rule for the inclusion or exclusion of members matching the rule
- Condition: Filter values based on specific conditions
- Top: Filter by the top N fields when N is specified
We also have four options when filtering a measure:
- Range of Values: Include all values within the specified range
- At Least: Include all values above a specified value
- At Most: Include all values below a specific value
- Special: Set filter for null or non-null values
This simple yet powerful concept and the tools attached to it are of the very first steps that we're taking to becoming excellent data analysts and consultants. I'm looking forward to learning more about Tableau and its complex features!