Build a Basic View to Explore Your Data

Content:

1) Connect to your data

2) Data pane
3) Build the view
4) Drill into the data
5) Filter the view to focus your exploration
6) Use the Marks card to add depth to your analysis

We will use the Sample - Superstore data source to walk through how to
create basic views and explore data. It shows how your view of data in
Tableau evolves through your process of exploration.
Connect to your data

The first step is to connect to the data you want to explore. This example
shows how to connect to Sample - Superstore data in Tableau Desktop.

1. Open Tableau. On the start page, under Connect, click Microsoft

Excel. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the Sample -
Superstore Excel file on your computer. Go to /Documents/My
Tableau Repository/Datasources/version number/[language].
Select Sample - Superstore, and then click Open.

2. After you connect to the Excel data, the Data Source page shows
the sheets or tables in your data. Drag the "Orders" table to
the canvas to start exploring that data.

3. Click the sheet tab to go to the new worksheet and begin your
analysis.
Data pane

In the worksheet, the columns from your data source are shown as fields
on the left side in the Data pane. The Data pane contains a variety of
fields organized by table. For each table or folder in a data source,
dimension fields appear above the gray line and measure fields appear
below the gray line. Dimension fields typically hold categorical data such
as product types and dates, while measure fields hold numeric data such
as sales and profit. Sometimes a table or folder will contain only
dimensions, or only measures to start with.
If you have more than one data source in a workbook, click the data
source connection name in the Data pane to select it for use.

If you have related dimension fields, sometimes you might want to

group them in a folder, or as a hierarchy. For example, in this data
source, Country, State, City, and Postal Code are grouped into a
hierarchy named Location. You can drill down into a hierarchy by
clicking the + sign in a field, or drill back up by clicking the - sign in
a field.

Build the view

A view is a visualization or viz that you create in Tableau. A viz could

be a chart, a graph, a map, a plot, or even a text table.

Before you start building a view, consider the question or questions

you're hoping to answer with data. Every view that you build in Tableau
should start with a question. What do you want to know?

Every time you drag a field into the view or onto a shelf, you're asking a
question about the data. The question varies depending on the field you
choose, where you place it, and the order in which you add it to the
view.

For every question you ask, the view changes to represent the answer
visually with marks represented by shapes, text, hierarchies, table
structures, axes, color.

Different ways to start building a view

When you build a view, you add fields from the Data pane. You can do
this in different ways.

For example:

• Drag fields from the Data pane and drop them onto the cards and
shelves that are part of every Tableau worksheet.
• Double-click one or more fields in the Data pane.
• Select one or more fields in the Data pane and then choose a chart
type from Show Me, which identifies the chart types that are
appropriate for the fields you selected.
• To start creating a tabular view, drop a field on the Drop field
here grid.

As you start exploring data in Tableau, you'll find there are many
ways to build a view. Tableau is extremely flexible, and also very
forgiving. As you build a view, if you ever take a path that isn't
answering your question, you can always undo to a previous point
in your exploration.

o To undo or redo, click undo or redo on the toolbar.

You can undo all the way back to the last time you opened the
workbook. You can undo or redo an unlimited number of times.
Build a view from scratch

These steps show how to build a basic view that shows year-by-year
profit.

1. From the Dimensions area in the Data pane, drag the Order
Date field to the Columns shelf. You might need to expand the
Order hierarchy to see Order Date.

When you drag a field over a shelf, a plus sign indicates that the
shelf can accept the field.
The resulting table has four columns and one row. Each column
header represents a member of the Order Date field (the default
date level is YEAR). Each cell contains an “Abc” label, which
indicates that the current mark type for this view is text.

Notice that the field is colored blue, which indicates that

it's discrete.

The default date level is determined by the highest level that

contains more than one distinct value (for example, multiple years
and multiple months). That means that if [Order Date] contained
data for only one year but had multiple months, the default level
would be month. You can change the date level using the field
menu.
 If you're wondering why there are two sets of date levels (from
Year down to Day), the first set of options uses date parts and the
second set of options uses date values.

Tip: To hide the title on the sheet, select the drop-down to the right
of the title (Sheet 1), and select Hide Title.

2. From the Data pane, drag the Profit field to the Rows shelf.
The Profit field is colored green on the Rows shelf, indicating that
it's continuous. Also, the field name changes to SUM(Profit).
That’s because measures are automatically aggregated when you
add them to the view, and the default aggregation for this measure
is SUM.

Tableau transforms the table into a line chart and creates a vertical
axis (along the left side) for the measure.

A line chart is a great way to compare data over time and identify
trends effectively.
This line chart shows profit over time. Each point along the line
shows the sum of profit for the corresponding year.

The next step is to drill a little deeper into the time dimension.
Drill into the data

This step shows how you can modify the view to show quarters in
addition to years. As you drill down into the hierarchy, the view
changes to become a nested table.

You can show [Order Date] by quarters using either of the

following methods:

o Click the plus button on the left side of the

field YEAR(Order Date) field on Columns.

o Drag the Order Date field (again) from the Data pane and
drop it on the Columns shelf to the right of Year(Order
Date).

The new dimension divides the view into separate panes for each
year. Each pane, in turn, has columns for quarters. This view is
called a nested table because it displays multiple headers, with
quarters nested within years. The word "headers" is a little
misleading in this example because the year headers are displayed
at the top of the chart, while the quarter headers are displayed at
the bottom.
Increase the level of detail with small multiples

This step shows how you can modify the nested table view to add
customer segment. It creates what we call a small multiples view.

Drag the Segment dimension from the Data pane, and then drop it
just to the left of SUM(Profit) on Rows.

The field is added to the Rows shelf and row headers are created.
Each header represents a member of the Segment field.

Optionally, you can achieve the same result by

dropping Segment just to the left of the Profit axis in the view
(shown in the image below). Tableau often supports multiple ways
to add fields to the view.
Note: Tableau doesn't allow you to place a dimension to the right
of a measure on either the Rows or Columns shelves because that
visual structure doesn't make sense in the view.

The new dimension divides the view into 12 panes, one for each
combination of year and segment. This view is a more complex
example of a nested table. Any view that contains this sort of grid
of individual charts is referred to as a small multiples view.
This could be the right amount of granularity for the view. Another
option at this point would be to filter some of the data out of the
view to simplify it.
Filter the view to focus your exploration

This section shows how you can focus your exploration by only
showing a subset of the data, such as modifying the view to show
only data for orders in 2018 and 2019.

o Drag the Order Date measure from the Data pane and drop
it on the Filters shelf.

o In the Filter Field dialog box, choose the date level you want
to filter on—Years. Then click Next.

o In the next pane, clear any two years that you do not want to
include in the view.

o When you are finished, click OK.

The view updates to only show data rows where Order Date is
2018 or 2019. Tableau can now allocate more space to the data that
interests you.

Next, you'll increase the detail in your data exploration by

dragging a field to the Color property on the Marks card.
Use the Marks card to add depth to your analysis

This step shows how you can modify the view to color the marks
based on the region.

o Drag the Region dimension from the Data pane and drop it
on Color.

Placing a dimension on Color separates the marks according

to the members in the dimension, and assigns a unique color
to each member. The color legend displays each member
name and its associated color.

Each pane now has four lines, one for each region. The viz is
now showing profit data summarized the Region level of
detail.
The view now shows profit for each customer segment and
region for 2018 and 2019.