Clearly and Simply

Tag: tableau software

  • Another Look at Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 (Part 3)

    Techniques to Get Past the Limitations – Part 3: Performance Tips and a Wish List

    © halmackenreuter / pixelio.deThis is the third and final part of a guest post series by Richard Leeke from Equinox Ltd.

    The first two articles of this series focused on three different techniques for doing different levels of aggregation with Tableau: Table Calculations, Data Blending and Parameter Lookup Tables.

    However, these articles only discussed one of the caveats raised in Robert’s original Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6. I can’t do anything about the second – missing functionality of triggering an action after the change of a parameter. But in this article I discuss the various techniques I used to optimize the performance of the Tableau workbook. Whilst the discussion focuses on the Site Catchment Analysis discussed in this series, there are several that are general hints which may apply to lots of your Tableau workbooks. I actually only worked out a couple of these while working through this analysis, but have already adopted them in other workbooks with great success.

    So, today’s article wraps up my guest post series with a couple of tips to increase Tableau’s performance and (especially for the Tableau folk reading this blog) a little wish list for future versions of Tableau.

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  • Another Look at Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 (Part 2)

    Techniques to Get Past the Limitations – Part 2: Data Blending and Parameters for Lookups

    © Niko Korte / pixelio.deThis is the second part of a guest post series by Richard Leeke from Equinox Ltd.

    The first part of this series described one approach to overcoming the restrictions in Robert’s Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6, in this case using table calculations. If you look at the roadblocks Robert has described in his approach, table calculations are probably the first idea that comes to your mind if you are trying to overcome the issues. But whilst that approach achieves the analytical outcome Robert was seeking, it does not get the workbook back to the performance Robert had achieved with version 5.2.

    However, there are other options, too: you could either use data blending or even a nifty little trick to let parameters do the required lookups. Each of those techniques makes the workbook quicker, as I explain below. Each of the three approaches comes with its own pros and cons, but all of them are well worth having a closer look.

    Today’s article describes those 2 alternative approaches and again provides the Tableau workbook on Tableau Public and for free download.

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  • Another Look at Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 (Part 1)

    Techniques to Get Past the Limitations – Part 1: Table Calculations

    © Ulrich E. K. Schmidt / pixelio.deClearly and Simply proudly presents another guest post: Richard Leeke is kind enough to contribute a series of 3 articles on how to overcome the limitations of my fragmentary and imperfect Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6. Richard is a co-founder of Equinox Ltd, a New Zealand based IT consulting firm, where he specializes in performance engineering. And Richard is one of the most active members in the Tableau Forums with an impressive number of almost 1,300 posts so far. A real Tableau expert. Enjoy.

    I read Robert’s excellent Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 post discussing the pluses and minuses of Tableau 6 compared with 5.2 and despite being really pleased with what version 6 has delivered, I could immediately relate to the limitations Robert had encountered.

    I was fortunate enough to be on the Technology Preview programme for the new Tableau Data Engine and the alpha programme for the rest of version 6, so I have had a few months’ head-start on most of the Tableau community in terms of learning how to get the most out of the new version. One of the things that I have come to realize is that there are lots of completely different ways to tackle the same problem, so I couldn’t resist the challenge of seeing if I could get past any of the limits which Robert described. I managed to do so, and along the way learned a lot and also developed a couple of new (to me, at least) techniques which will be invaluable in my own analysis.

    Today’s article describes how to use aggregate table calculations to overcome the limitations of Robert’s site catchment analysis. As always, including the workbook for direct access here on the blog via Tableau Public and for free download. 

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  • Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6

    Use Parameters and Table Calculations in Tableau 6 for a Site Catchment Analysis of Germany

    © R.-B. / pixelio.deFor a recent post called Calculated Fields in Tableau I used a site catchment analysis of Germany to explain how to use and take advantage of Calculated Fields in Tableau. The example posted back then was produced with Tableau 5.2.

    The main disadvantage of that workbook is the fact that you have to change a constant in a Calculated Field if you want to switch to another center location for the site analysis. Inconvenient and even impossible if you only have the Tableau Reader available.

    With version 6, available since November 10, 2010, Tableau introduced an extremely powerful new feature: Parameters. Parameters are user-defined constants that can be used in Calculated Fields. They can be entered by the user of the workbook either on worksheets or dashboards, are valid throughout the whole workbook (e.g. they are global) and can be used in any Calculated Field. Thus, it wasn’t far to seek that with parameters Tableau 6 would easily overcome the main drawback of the Tableau 5 site analysis workbook.

    Today’s post shows how to transform the site analysis workbook to Tableau 6 using parameters. As usual including the Tableau Public workbook for direct access and free download.

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  • Calculated Fields in Tableau

    How to create and use Calculated Fields in Tableau Software, illustrated with a show case of a site analysis for Germany

    © Kathrin Antrak / pixelio.de

    As soon as your data analyses and visualizations with Tableau Software become more complex, you will soon find that sometimes your data source does not include all the measures and dimensions you need.

    One of the most common examples is a data set including the measures revenues and costs, but lacking a profit field.

    This is where Tableau’s Calculated Fields come into play. This functionality enables you to add new fields based on dimensions and measures from your data source and/or based on other Calculated Fields.

    If you are interested in professional data analysis and visualizations using Tableau Software, you definitely won’t get out of using Calculated Fields sooner or later.

    Today’s post discusses the power of Tableau’s Calculated Fields, including a definition, a short how-to tutorial and a few additional tips. A show case of a site analysis for Germany illustrates the use of different types of Calculated Fields including the Tableau packaged workbook for free download. 

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