Tableau your data!: fast and easy visual analysis with Tableau Software

Introduction xxv     Part I Desktop 1     1 Creating Visual Analytics with Tableau Desktop 3     The Shortcomings of Traditional Information Analysis 4     The Business Case for Visual Analysis 5     Three Kinds of Data That Exist in Every Entity 5     How Visual Analytics Improves Decision Making 6     Turning Data into Information with Visual Analytics 8     Analysis as a Creative Process 8     Tableau   s Desktop Tools 9     Tableau Desktop Personal Edition 9     Professional Edition 9     Tableau File Types 9     Tableau Reader 11     Tableau Online Help 11     Introducing the Tableau Desktop Workspace 11     New Workspace Design 11     Using the Start Page Controls Effectively 12     The Start Page 12     The Tableau Desktop Workspace 17     Summary 41     2 Connecting to Your Data 43     What You Will Learn in This Chapter 43     How to Connect to Your Data 44     Connecting to Desktop Sources 45     Understanding the Data Source Page 47     What Are Generated Values? 57     Knowing When to Use a Direct Connection or a     Data Extract 61     Using Tableau   s File Types Effectively 63     Dealing with Data Shaping and Data Quality 65     The Data Interpreter 68     3 Building Your First Visualization 93     Fast and Easy Analysis via Show Me 93     New Features 94     How Show Me Works 94     The Analytics Pane 103     Sorting Data in Tableau 118     Enhancing View with Filters, Sets, Groups, and Hierarchies 121     How Tableau Uses Date Fields 143     4 Creating Calculations to Enhance Data 155     What Is Aggregation? 156     Dimension versus Attribute 157     What Are Calculated Fields and Table Calculations? 159     How Do Calculated Fields Work? 159     Creating Calculated Fields with the Calculation Editor 160     Performing Ad Hoc Calculations 161     How Do Table Calculations Work? 161     A Word on Calculations and Cubes 162     Using the Calculation Editor to Build Calculated Fields 163     Ad Hoc Calculated Fields 164     Building Formulas Using Table Calculations 166     Adding Flexibility to Calculations with Parameters 177     Why You Should Learn Level of Detail Expressions 183     5 Using Maps to Improve Insight 191     New Map Features 192     Creating a Standard Map View 192     How Tableau Geocodes Your Data 195     Searching for Items in Maps 197     Typical Map Errors and How to Deal with Them 199     Plotting Your Own Locations on a Map 200     Replacing Tableau   s Standard Maps 205     Using Custom Background Images to Plot Spatial Data 211     Notes 219     6 Developing an Ad Hoc Analysis Environment 221     Data Discovery as a Creative Process 221     Preparing Your Team for Success 222     Qualities of a Good Data Analyst 223     Doing Effective Discovery Work 224     What IT Can Do to Help 224     Spreading Discovery to Information Consumers 225     Generating New Data with Forecasts 225     Providing Self-Service Ad Hoc Analysis with Parameters 231     What Are Parameters? 231     How Can Parameters Be Used? 231     Basic Parameter Controls 232     Advanced Parameter Controls 236     Editing Views in Tableau Server 239     7 Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers 243     Saving Time and Improving Formatting 243     Double-Click Fields to Build Faster 243     Reduce Clicks Using the Right Mouse Button Drag 245     Quick Copy Fields with Control-Drag 246     Replace Fields by Dropping the New Field on Top 246     Right-Click to Edit or Format Anything 247     Editing or Removing Titles from Axis Headings 247     Quicken Your Presentation Page Views 248     A Faster Way to Access Field Menu Options 250     Zooming the Formula Dialog Box 250     Drag a Field into the Formula Dialog box 250     Swap Data in Pane and Reference Line Fields 251     Improving Appearance to Convey Meaning More Precisely 251     Changing the Appearance of Dates 251     Formatting Tooltip Content 252     Change the Order of Color Expressed in Charts 252     Exposing a Header in a One-Column Text Table 253     Unpacking a Packaged Workbook File 255     Make a Parameterized Axis Label 255     Using Continuous Quick Filters for Ranges of Values 256     Create Your Own Custom Date Hierarchy 256     Concatenating to Make Custom Fields 258     Using Legends to Build Highlight Actions 258     Formatting Null Value Results 260     When to Use Floating Objects in Dashboards 264     Combined Axis Shading in a Scatter Plot 266     Creating Folders to Hold Fields 268     Customizing Shapes, Colors, Fonts, and Images 269     Customizing Shapes 269     Customizing Colors 271     Customizing Fonts 272     Customizing Images in Dashboards 273     Advanced Chart Types 274     Bar-in-Bar Chart 274     Pareto Charts 275     Sparklines 280     Bullet Graphs 281     8 Bringing It All Together with Dashboards 285     How Dashboards Facilitate Analysis and Understanding 285     How Tableau Improves the Dashboard-Building Process 286     The Wrong Way to Build a Dashboard 287     The Right Way to Build a Dashboard 289     Best Practices for Dashboard Building 290     Size the Dashboard to Fit the Worst-Case Available Space 291     Employ Four-Pane Dashboard Designs 291     Use Actions to Filter Instead of Quick Filters 293     Build Cascading Dashboard Designs to Improve     Load Speeds 293     Limit the Use of Color to One Primary Color Scheme 294     Use Small Instructions Near the Work to Make     Navigation Obvious 295     Filter Information Presented in Crosstabs to Provide     Relevant Details-on-Demand 296     Remove All Non-Data-Ink 298     Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Dashboards 298     Work to Achieve Dashboard Load Times of Less     Than Ten Seconds 299     Building Your First Advanced Dashboard 299     Introducing the Dashboard Worksheet 299     Position the Worksheet Objects in the Dashboard     Workspace 304     Using Layout Containers to Position Objects 308     Positioning the Select Year Text Table and Legends 311     Inserting and Moving Text Objects 312     Positioning and Fitting the Dashboard Objects 315     Ensure That Each Worksheet Object Fits Its Entire View 316     Create More Descriptive Titles for Each Data Pane 317     Improving the Bullet Graph and Sparkline Charts 318     Improving the Text Tables and Scatter Plot 326     Using Actions to Create Advanced Dashboard Navigation 328     Using the Select Year Text Table to Filter the Main Dashboard 329     Adding a Column Heading to Select Year 331     Adding Dynamic Title Content 332     Auto-Generating Highlight Actions from Legends 333     Understanding the Action Dialog Box 336     Embedding a Live Website in a Dashboard 340     Assemble Dashboard 2 345     Adding Details on Demand with Tooltips 354     Enhancing Tooltips and Titles 356     Adding a Read Me Dashboard 358     Bonus: Adding a Floating Dashboard Object 359     Finishing the Titles in the Main Dashboard 363     Sharing Your Dashboard with Tableau Reader 364     Security Considerations for Publishing via     Tableau Reader 365     Using the Tableau Performance Recorder to Improve     Load Speed 366     Sharing Dashboards with Tableau Online or Tableau Server 367     9 Designing for Mobile 369     The Physics of Mobile Consumption 370     Security Considerations for Mobile Consumption 370     Offline Access 371     Typical Mobile Usage Patterns 373     Just-In-Time Use 373     Mobile Design Implications 374     Design Best Practices for Mobile Consumption 374     Design Implications Related to Screen Resolution 375     Best Practices for Mobile Design 375     Design for a Specific Orientation 375     Consider the Limits of Finger Navigation 375     Reduce the Number of Worksheets Being Displayed 378     A Tablet Dashboard Example 378     Mobile Authoring and Editing 382     A Note on Project Elastic 383     10 Conveying Your Findings with Stories 385     Turning Analysis into Insight 385     Building a Story 386     The Story Workspace 387     A Story Example 389     Formatting Story Points 390     Sharing Your Story Point Deck 391     Part II Server 393     11 Installing Tableau Server 395     What   s New in Version 9? 396     Reasons to Deploy Tableau Server 397     Data Governance 398     Efficiency 398     Flexibility 399     Licensing Options for Tableau Server and Tableau Online 399     Determining Your Hardware and Software Needs 399     New Feature: Persistent Query Cache 401     Determining What Kind of Server License to Purchase 401     Tableau Server   s Architecture 402     Sizing the Server Hardware 403     A Scale-Up Scenario 404     A Scale-Out Scenario 404     Environmental Factors That Can Affect Performance 405     Network Performance 405     Browser 405     Resource Contention 405     Configuring Tableau Server for the First Time 405     General Setup Menu Tab 406     General: Run as User, User Authentication, and     Active Directory 407     General: Gateway Port Number 408     General: Open Port in Windows Firewall 408     General: Include Sample Data and Users 408     Data Connection Tab 409     Alerts and Subscriptions 410     Server Processes 411     Security Options 412     External Secure Sockets Layer 414     SAML   Security Assertion Markup Language 415     Kerberos   A Ticket-Based Security Protocol 416     Managing Ownership Through Hierarchy 417     Workbooks and Views 417     User 418     Project 418     Group 418     Site 418     Permissions 419     Permissions for Web Edit, Save, and Download 420     Providing Data Security with User Filters 421     Applying a User Filter to a Data Source 424     Creating a Hybrid Filter from the Data Source 425     What Is the Data Server? 427     When and How to Deploy Server on Multiple Physical Boxes 428     Deploying Tableau Server in High Availability Environments 429     Three-Node Cluster 429     Four-Node Cluster 430     Leveraging Existing Security with Trusted Authentication 432     Deploying Tableau Server in Multi-national Environments 434     Tableau Server Performance Recorder 436     Show Events Filter 438     Timeline Gantt Chart 439     Events Sorted by Time 439     Query Text 439     Performance-Tuning Tactics 439     Query Execution 439     Geocoding 439     Connecting to the Data Source 440     Layout Computations 440     Generating Extract 440     Blending Data 441     Server Rendering 441     Managing Tableau Server in the Cloud 441     What Does It Mean to Be in the Cloud? 441     Tableau   s Cloud-Based Versions of Server 442     Putting Tableau Server in the Cloud 443     Monitoring Activity on Tableau Server 443     Status Section 445     Analysis Section 445     Log Files Section 445     Rebuilt Search Index Section 446     Editing Server Settings and Monitoring Licensing 446     Server Settings General Page 446     Server Setting License Page 447     Partner Add-On Toolkits 448     12 Managing Tableau Server 449     Managing Published Dashboards in Tableau Server 449     Project 451     Name 452     Tags 452     Views to Share 452     Options 452     Edit 453     Navigating Tableau Server 454     Organizing Reports for Consumption 457     Adding Tags to Workbooks 458     Creating a Favorite 459     Options for Securing Reports 461     The Application Layer 461     Defining Custom Roles 462     A Permission-Setting Example 464     Improve Efficiency with the Data Server 469     Publishing a Data Source 469     Consuming Information in Tableau Server 474     Finding Information 475     Authoring and Editing Reports via Server 480     What Is Required to Author Reports on the Web? 480     Server Design and Usage Considerations Related to     Web and Tablet Authoring 481     Differences Between Desktop and Web or Tablet Authoring 482     Saving and Exporting via the Web-Tablet Environment 488     Export 488     Save and Save As 489     Recommendations for Implementing Web/Tablet Authoring 489     Sharing Connections, Data Models, and Data Extracts 490     Offering a Common Data Library 490     Sharing Data Models 490     Embedding Tableau Reports Securely on the Web 491     When to Embed a Dashboard 491     When Your Reports Are a Piece of a Larger SaaS Offering 491     Providing a More Robust Environment 492     How to Embed a Dashboard 492     Further Control Using Passed Parameters 494     Tips and Tricks for Embedding Dashboards 494     Using Trusted Ticket Authentication as an Alternative Single     Sign-On Method 495     Using Subscriptions to Deliver Reports via E   mail 496     Creating Subscription Schedules 496     13 Automating Tableau Server 501     Tableau Server   s APIs 501     What Do Tabcmd and Tabadmin Do? 502     Installing the Command-Line Tools 502     Setting the Windows Path 505     What Kind of Tasks Can Tabcmd Do? 506     Learning to Leverage Tabcmd 507     Manually Entering and Running a Script in Tabcmd 508     Running Tabcmd Scripts via Batch Files 509     The Steps Required to Create Batch Processing Scripts 509     Using Windows Scheduler to Fully Automate Scripts 511     Common Use Cases for Tabcmd 513     Automating Extracts with the Extract API 515     Data Extract API 515     Using the Extract API with Python 517     Data Extract Command-Line Utility 520     REST API 521     Initial Transactions 521     Part III Case Studies 527     14 Ensuring a Successful Tableau Deployment 529     Deploying Tableau   Lessons Learned 529     Effective Use of Consultants 529     Your Team   s Current Knowledge 530     The Data Landscape 530     The Tableau User Group at Cigna 531     Taking Care of Vizness 531     Resourcing 532     Cadence 532     Format 533     Topics 533     Effectiveness and Attendance 534     Tracking Participation 535     Success 535     Part IV Appendixes 537     A Tableau   s Product Ecosystem 539     B S upported Data Source Connections 543     C Keyboard Shortcuts 547     D Recommended Hardware Configurations 551     E Understanding Tableau Functions 555     F Companion Website 657     Glossary 659     Index 673