Practical Tableau

Chapter 79. Shape the Data

The first two steps in the INSIGHT framework for data visualization—identify the Business Question and nme KPIs—will inform what should be included in the third step: Shape the Data. In Chapter 4, I discussed the ideal way to shape data for use with Tableau, but this step is also about accessing the required data, doing any preparation such as joins or aggregations, and making sure the dataset is laid out for your data visualization requirements:

Mastering this step is truly half the battle when it comes to data visualization, and this chapter will touch on different tactics for ensuring your analyses are set up for success.

Shaping Data for Use with Tableau

As mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, we have already covered the ideal way to shape data for use with Tableau, but it’s worth repeating some of this critical concept. In general, it is easier to work with “vertical” tables than with “horizontal” tables. In most cases, each column should represent one field with the field name in the column header, and each subsequent row should be an entry under that column header.

One common type of data that usually requires reshaping is survey data. In survey data, each column corresponds to a different question, such as “on a scale of 1 to 5 indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statement,” and each row represents ...