Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x

Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x

by Tristan Guillevin
Released September 2018
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781788838689

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Book description

Leverage the power of Tableau to get actionable business insights and make better business decisions

Key Features

  • Explore all the new features of Tableau 2018.x
  • Begin your Tableau journey by understanding its core functionalities
  • Apply advanced techniques such as data blending and parameters to make the best of Tableau

Book Description

Tableau is one of the leading business intelligence tools used worldwide, in organizations of every scale. In its latest release, Tableau 2018 promises richer and more useful features related to visual analytics, reporting, dashboarding, and a host of other data visualization aspects. Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x will get you up and running with these features.

The book starts with all the new functionalities of the different Tableau 2018 versions, along with concrete examples of how to use them. However, if you're new to Tableau, don't worry! The rest of the book will guide you through each major aspect of Tableau with examples. You'll learn how to connect to data, build a data source, visualize your data, build a dashboard, and share it online. In the final chapters, you'll also learn advanced techniques such as creating a cross-database join, data blending, and more.

By the end of the book, you will have a firm understanding of how to effectively use Tableau to create quick, cost-effective, and business-efficient business intelligence solutions.

What you will learn

  • Discover new functionalities such as density, extensions, and transparency introduced in Tableau 2018.x
  • Connect tables and make transformations such as pivoting the field and splitting columns
  • Build an efficient data source for your analysis
  • Design insightful data visualization using different mark types and properties
  • Build powerful dashboards and stories
  • Share your work and interact with Tableau Server
  • Use Tableau to explore your data and find new insights
  • Explore Tableau's advanced features and gear up for upcoming challenges

Who this book is for

If you're a beginner or an existing BI professional looking to get the most out of Tableau 2018's latest features, this book is for you. You'll also find this book useful if you're an aspiring analyst who wants to learn the capabilities of Tableau to answer business-specific questions. No prior knowledge or experience with Tableau or any other Business Intelligence tool is necessary.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright and Credits
    1. Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x
  3. Packt Upsell
    1. Why subscribe?
    2. Packt.com
  4. Contributors
    1. About the author
    2. About the reviewers
    3. Packt is searching for authors like you
  5. Preface
    1. Disclaimer
    2. Who this book is for
    3. What this book covers
    4. To get the most out of this book
      1. Download the example files
      2. Download the color images
      3. Conventions used
    5. Get in touch
      1. Reviews
  6. Catching Up with Tableau 2018
    1. Tableau Desktop
      1. Data Source improvements
        1. Normalized extract (2018.3)
        2. Spatial join (2018.2)
        3. Other Data Source improvements
      2. Visualization improvements
        1. Density Mark (2018.3)
        2. Step and jump lines (2018.1)
        3. Worksheet transparency (2018.3)
        4. Dual Axis mapping (2018.1)
        5. Nested sort (2018.2)
        6. Hierarchy filtering (2018.1)
        7. Other improvements
      3. Dashboard improvements
        1. Extensions (2018.2)
        2. Dashboard navigation button (2018.3)
        3. Navigation action (2018.3)
        4. The Change Set Values action (2018.3)
        5. Automatic Mobile layouts (2018.2)
        6. Grids (2018.2)
    2. Tableau Server/Online
      1. Interacting
        1. Mixed content (2018.3)
        2. Mobile preview (2018.3)
        3. Comments (2018.2)
      2. Web authoring
        1. Connecting to data (2018.1)
        2. Other web authoring improvements
      3. Administration
        1. Tableau Service Manager (2018.2)
        2. Other administrative improvements
    3. Summary
  7. The Tableau Core
    1. The different Tableau products
    2. Speaking Tableau
    3. Dimension and Measure
    4. Blue and green – Discrete and Continuous
    5. The toolbar options
    6. Live or Extract
      1. Live
      2. Extract
    7. Summary
  8. A First Dashboard and Exploration
    1. Connect to data
    2. Create a first set of visualizations
      1. Sales and profit by sub-categories – bar chart
      2. Profit evolution – line chart
      3. Profit by state – filled map
    3. Building your first Dashboard
      1. Assembling the Dashboard
      2. Adding interactivity to your Dashboard
    4. Using Tableau for data exploration
    5. Summary
  9. Connect to Data and Simple Transformations
    1. Data connection
      1. Connecting to a file
        1. Excel files
        2. Text files 
      2. Connecting to a server
        1. Tableau Server/Online
        2. Common servers (MS SQL Server, Oracle, Redshift, MySQL)
        3. Other servers
      3. Spatial files
    2. Join data easily
      1. The Join principle
      2. Join requirements and types
      3. Join risks
      4. Hands-on – a first simple Join 
    3. Union your data
      1. A Union example
    4. Simple transformations
      1. Data Interpreter
      2. Splitting a column
      3. Pivot
    5. Summary
  10. Build an Efficient Data Source
    1. Understanding the Data Source
      1. Data Sources elements
      2. Data types
      3. Generated information
      4. Data Source options
    2. Refresh a Data Source and deal with changes
      1. How to refresh a Data Source
      2. Deal with changes
        1. Trivial cases
        2. A used field is removed or renamed
    3. Field customization and default properties
      1. Field customization and options
      2. Default properties
        1. Comment
        2. Color
        3. Shape
        4. Sort
        5. Number format
        6. Aggregation and total using
    4. Hierarchies
    5. Groups, Sets, and Bins
      1. Groups
      2. Sets
      3. Bins
    6. Summary
  11. Design Insightful Visualizations - Part 1
    1. Creating a visualization the automatic and manual way
      1. Build a visualization the automatic way
        1. Double-click
        2. Show Me
      2. Build a visualization the manual way
    2.  The different Mark types
      1. Bar
      2. Line
      3. Area
      4. Square
      5. Circle
      6. Shapes
      7. Text 
      8. Map
      9. Pie
      10. Gantt Bar
      11. Polygon
      12. Density
    3. Mark properties
      1. Color
      2. Size
      3. Label (Text)
      4. Detail
      5. Tooltip
      6. Shape
      7. Path
      8. Angle
    4. Summary
  12. Design Insightful Visualizations - Part 2
    1. Using multiple Measures
      1. Dual Axis
      2. Measure Names and Measure Values
    2. Filters
      1. Filtering a continuous field
      2. Filter a discrete field
        1. General
        2. Wildcard
        3. Condition
        4. Top
      3. Quick filters
      4. Filter hierarchy 
        1. Context
        2. Global filter hierarchy
    3. Pages
      1. Page basics
      2. Guided tutorial with Pages
    4. Worksheet options and format
      1. Pill options
      2. Worksheet menu options
      3. View options
      4. Format
    5. Summary
  13. Create Powerful Dashboards and Stories
    1. Before we start
    2. Dashboard basics
      1. How to build a Dashboard
      2. Dashboard pane
      3. Layout pane
      4. Dashboard objects
      5. Dashboard options
    3. Tiled, Floating, and Container Layouts
      1. Tiled
      2. Floating
      3. Containers
      4. A step-by-step guide to building a Dashboard with Containers
    4. Dashboard Actions
      1. Filter
      2. Highlight
      3. Go to URL
      4. Go to Sheet
      5. Change Set Values
    5. Creating a Story
      1. How to build a Story
      2. Story options
    6. Summary
  14. Publish and Interact in Tableau Server
    1. Introduction to Tableau Server
    2. Tableau Server contents
    3. Publishing and modifying contents
      1. Why and how to publish a data source
      2. Modifying a published Data Source
      3. Publishing a Workbook
      4. Step-by-step guide – publishing and modifying your work
    4. Interacting with published Contents
      1. Interacting with published Workbooks
        1. Custom Views
        2. Alert
        3. Subscribe
        4. Download
        5. Comment
      2. Web Authoring
    5. Device layout
      1. Creating a Device layout
      2. Mobile layout preview 
    6. Summary
  15. An Introduction to Calculations
    1. Calculated Field basics
      1. Creating a Calculated Field
      2. To aggregate or not to aggregate fields?
      3. Using calculation functions
      4. Example – highlight values
    2. Advanced functions
      1. Table Calculation functions
        1. Table function basics
        2. Quick Table Calculation
        3. Hands-on Table Calculation functions
      2. Level of Detail
        1. LOD function basics
        2. Include and Exclude
        3. Fixed
        4. Hands-on - use a LOD function
    3. Summary
  16. Analytics and Parameters
    1. Using built-in Analytics tools
      1. The Summarize tab
        1. Constant Line
        2. Average Line
        3. Median with Quartiles
        4. Box Plot
        5. Totals
      2. The Model tab
        1. Average or median with a confidence interval
        2. Trend Line
        3. Forecast
        4. Cluster
      3. The Custom tab
    2. How to work with Parameters
      1. Creating a Parameter
      2. Using a Parameter
    3. Creating a year-on-year comparator
    4. Summary
  17. Advanced Data Connections
    1. Cross-database Join
    2. Data-blending
    3. Wildcard Union
    4. Summary
  18. Deal with Security
    1. Tableau Server security
    2. User Filters
    3. Row-level filters
    4. Summary
  19. How to Keep Growing Your Skills
    1. The Tableau Community
    2. Tableau Public
    3. Community projects
    4. Ambassadors, Zen Masters, and Iron Viz
      1. Ambassadors
      2. Zen Masters
      3. Iron Viz
    5. Summary
  20. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Leave a review - let other readers know what you think

Product information

  • Title: Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x
  • Author(s): Tristan Guillevin
  • Release date: September 2018
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781788838689