Tableau Your Data!, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6 Developing an Ad Hoc Analysis Environment

The creative process, in essence, is an individual in dialogue with themselves and the work. The painter, when at a distance from the easel, can assess and analyze the whole of the work from this vantage. He scrutinizes and listens, chooses the next stroke to make, then approaches the canvas to do it. Then, he steps back again to see what he’s done in relation to the whole. It is a dance of switching contexts, a pitter-patter pacing across the studio floor that produces a tight feedback loop between mark-making and mark-assessing.

—Frank Chimero¹

In Chapter 2, you learned that Tableau connects to a wide variety of Data sources, and this is further extended through the Data Interpreter and Data blending. Chapter 3 introduced the Show Me button, trend lines, reference line, and how filters, sets, grouping, and hierarchies can be used to present information meaningfully—for facts and dimensions that are included in views.

In this chapter, I discuss how Tableau’s design enables discovery work, how discovery differs from reporting and analysis, and how this combination of creative and analytical discovery can lead to insight in a more engaging flow than what is provided by traditional business information tools.

You will also learn about Tableau capabilities that encourage ad hoc analysis via easy-to-use forecasting, building flexible data views using parameters, and allowing information consumers in Tableau Server to change ...