Tableau training course - advanced

Day One: Data Models, Calculations, and Advanced Analysis

Lesson 1: Planning advanced Tableau analysis

• Translating business questions into analytical requirements
• Identifying dimensions, measures, metrics, and comparison periods
• Determining the required level of detail
• Recognizing row-level, aggregate, and visualization-level logic
• Understanding how granularity affects calculated results
• Planning reusable fields and data sources
• Identifying potential data-quality problems
• Establishing validation totals before creating visualizations
• Documenting assumptions used in an analysis

Lesson 2: Designing advanced data models

• Reviewing Tableau’s logical and physical data layers
• Selecting relationships, joins, unions, or blending
• Understanding relationship cardinality
• Understanding referential integrity
• Preserving different levels of detail with relationships
• Reviewing inner, left, right, and full joins
• Diagnosing duplicated measures caused by joins
• Combining similarly structured data with unions
• Working with multiple fact tables and shared dimensions
• Combining data across connections
• Using data blending for specialized situations
• Validating record counts, totals, and unmatched values
• Documenting the structure of a Tableau data source

Lesson 3: Preparing and managing advanced data sources

• Choosing between live connections and extracts
• Creating extract and data-source filters
• Reviewing full and incremental refresh options
• Pivoting data for analysis
• Splitting and grouping source values
• Creating wildcard unions
• Replacing data sources in existing workbooks
• Managing metadata and default field properties
• Organizing fields with folders and hierarchies
• Working with custom SQL when appropriate
• Identifying when preparation should move to Tableau Prep
• Creating reusable, analyst-friendly data sources
• Testing prepared data against known results

Lesson 4: Creating advanced calculated fields

• Reviewing Tableau calculation types
• Distinguishing row-level and aggregate calculations
• Resolving aggregate and nonaggregate errors
• Creating nested conditional calculations
• Working with IF, ELSEIF, and CASE
• Creating Boolean calculations
• Manipulating and standardizing strings
• Creating reusable date calculations
• Building period-to-date calculations
• Comparing current and previous periods
• Handling null and incomplete values
• Creating ratios without double aggregation
• Building user-selectable measures
• Validating calculations in supporting worksheets

Lesson 5: Mastering table calculations

• Understanding how table calculations operate on displayed results
• Controlling addressing and partitioning
• Using Compute Using options
• Creating running totals
• Calculating differences and percent differences
• Creating percent-of-total calculations
• Building ranking calculations
• Creating moving averages
• Using window calculations
• Using index, first, last, and size functions
• Creating secondary table calculations
• Applying table calculations to filtered views
• Troubleshooting unexpected table-calculation results

Lesson 6: Using level of detail expressions

• Understanding the level of detail of a visualization
• Comparing LOD expressions with table calculations
• Creating FIXED LOD expressions
• Creating INCLUDE LOD expressions
• Creating EXCLUDE LOD expressions
• Creating table-scoped LOD expressions
• Calculating customer-level and order-level metrics
• Finding first and last transaction dates
• Creating cohort and retention measures
• Combining LOD expressions with other calculations
• Applying filters to views containing LOD expressions
• Selecting the appropriate LOD expression for a business question
• Troubleshooting results created at different levels of detail

Lesson 7: Understanding Tableau’s order of operations

• Reviewing the order in which Tableau processes filters and calculations
• Distinguishing extract, data-source, context, dimension, and measure filters
• Creating and using context filters
• Working with condition and Top N filters
• Understanding filters processed before and after LOD expressions
• Creating accurate Top N analyses
• Combining filters with table calculations
• Diagnosing results that change unexpectedly
• Selecting filter types based on analytical intent
• Considering the performance impact of filters

Lesson 8: Creating parameters, sets, and user-controlled analysis

• Creating and displaying parameters
• Using parameters in calculated fields
• Creating selectable measures and dimensions
• Building what-if analysis
• Creating adjustable targets and reference lines
• Creating dynamic date controls
• Updating parameter values from data
• Creating parameter actions
• Creating fixed and dynamic sets
• Building condition-based and Top N sets
• Combining sets
• Comparing in-set and out-of-set populations
• Using sets in calculations
• Creating set actions
• Combining sets and parameters in the same analysis

Day Two: Custom Charts, Mapping, Dashboards, and Publishing

Lesson 9: Creating advanced and custom charts

• Selecting an advanced chart based on the analytical requirement
• Creating dual-axis charts
• Synchronizing dual axes
• Combining different mark types in a layered chart
• Building bullet charts and performance-to-target views
• Creating ranking and Top N charts
• Creating Pareto charts
• Creating box-and-whisker plots
• Visualizing distributions and outliers
• Creating variance and period-over-period charts
• Building cohort and retention views
• Creating small-multiple visualizations
• Visualizing cyclical data
• Creating radial and circular area charts
• Creating alluvial diagrams to show movement between categories
• Building custom charts from multiple marks and calculations
• Evaluating whether a custom chart communicates more effectively than a standard chart

Lesson 10: Applying statistical, forecasting, and explanatory tools

• Adding reference lines and reference bands
• Creating reference distributions
• Adding and interpreting trend lines
• Reviewing model descriptions
• Examining residual information
• Creating forecasts
• Adjusting forecast options
• Understanding when Tableau cannot generate a forecast
• Displaying prediction intervals
• Adding clusters to identify similar observations
• Using supported predictive modeling functions
• Using Explain Data to investigate marks and outliers
• Distinguishing statistical association from causation
• Communicating uncertainty and analytical limitations

Lesson 11: Understanding mapping and geographic data

• Understanding how Tableau creates map visualizations
• Identifying appropriate uses for maps
• Recognizing when a map is not the best visualization
• Understanding geographic dimensions and measures
• Reviewing the data required to create a map
• Working with country, state, county, city, postal code, and other geographic fields
• Assigning geographic roles
• Working with generated latitude and longitude
• Using existing latitude and longitude fields
• Correcting unrecognized and ambiguous locations
• Editing locations and resolving geographic errors
• Formatting location data before connecting it to Tableau
• Considering geographic granularity and aggregation
• Selecting an appropriate map type for the data

Lesson 12: Creating map visualizations

• Creating a basic geographic view
• Creating proportional symbol maps
• Using size to represent quantitative values
• Creating choropleth, or filled, maps
• Selecting appropriate measures for filled maps
• Using sequential and diverging color scales
• Creating point-distribution maps
• Creating density maps and geographic heatmaps
• Adjusting density intensity and appearance
• Adding labels and custom tooltips
• Filtering geographic data
• Creating geographic hierarchies
• Drilling from broader regions into detailed locations
• Comparing multiple measures geographically
• Avoiding misleading geographic comparisons

Lesson 13: Creating advanced and custom maps

• Connecting to spatial data
• Understanding point, line, and polygon geometry
• Creating maps from polygon data
• Working with custom geographic boundaries
• Creating custom territories
• Using spatial files in Tableau
• Adding static background images
• Mapping data over floor plans, diagrams, or custom images
• Defining coordinate systems for background images
• Using Tableau background maps
• Connecting to custom Mapbox maps
• Managing custom background map sources
• Customizing map styles and options
• Controlling streets, borders, place names, and geographic details
• Working with background map layers
• Adding multiple geographic marks layers
• Formatting and controlling individual map layers
• Changing the order and visibility of layers
• Creating dual-axis and layered maps
• Combining filled areas, lines, and proportional symbols
• Creating maps with multiple measures

Lesson 14: Mapping movement, relationships, and time

• Understanding path and order fields
• Preparing origin-and-destination data
• Creating flow and path maps
• Creating spider maps
• Connecting destinations to a common origin
• Displaying direction and magnitude of movement
• Tracking geographic data over time
• Adding date and time fields to map visualizations
• Creating map trails and movement sequences
• Filtering maps by time period
• Creating animated geographic views when appropriate
• Combining time controls with dashboard actions
• Designing tooltips for movement and time-based maps
• Evaluating visual clutter in maps with many paths or locations

Lesson 15: Creating dynamic and interactive dashboards

• Planning dashboards around user tasks and decisions
• Establishing a visual and informational hierarchy
• Using layout containers effectively
• Applying spacing and padding consistently
• Using tiled and floating objects strategically
• Creating show-and-hide controls
• Applying dynamic zone visibility
• Creating sheet-swapping controls
• Allowing users to switch between charts, tables, and maps
• Creating measure-selection and dimension-selection controls
• Using parameters and calculated fields to control displayed views
• Creating drill-down and detail-on-demand experiences
• Adding filter and highlight actions
• Adding navigation and URL actions
• Using parameter and set actions
• Creating visualizations within tooltips
• Coordinating interactions between maps and other charts
• Creating controls for geographic layers and measures
• Managing dashboard filter scope
• Designing for desktop, browser, and device layouts
• Testing dashboard interactions and reset behavior
• Applying accessibility and usability practices

Lesson 16: Improving workbook and dashboard performance

• Recognizing common sources of slow performance
• Reducing unnecessary marks and visual complexity
• Limiting unused fields and calculations
• Simplifying expensive calculations
• Evaluating high-cardinality fields
• Improving filter performance
• Optimizing extracts
• Managing automatic updates while authoring
• Reducing the number of dashboard worksheets
• Evaluating the performance impact of maps and spatial data
• Limiting unnecessary geographic layers
• Using Workbook Optimizer
• Creating and interpreting a performance recording
• Balancing performance with data freshness and flexibility

Lesson 17: Publishing, distributing, and maintaining content

• Preparing workbooks for publication
• Publishing workbooks and data sources
• Selecting embedded or published data sources
• Publishing dashboards containing maps
• Confirming that spatial data and map sources are available
• Testing Mapbox and other background-map connections
• Checking geographic layers after publication
• Exporting maps and dashboards as images or PDFs
• Sharing interactive map visualizations
• Understanding projects and content ownership
• Reviewing workbook and data-source permissions
• Scheduling and monitoring extract refreshes
• Managing connection credentials
• Creating user filters
• Understanding row-level security approaches
• Adding descriptions and documentation
• Reviewing subscriptions and data-driven alerts
• Replacing or updating published content
• Establishing testing and promotion practices
• Maintaining workbooks after publication

Advanced course project: Building a dynamic analytical dashboard

Participants complete an advanced project that includes:

• Evaluating and validating a multi-table data model
• Creating advanced business calculations
• Using table calculations and LOD expressions
• Building parameter- or set-driven analysis
• Creating an advanced or custom chart
• Preparing geographic data
• Creating a proportional symbol, choropleth, density, or flow map
• Adding geographic layers and custom map formatting
• Combining charts and maps in a dashboard
• Creating sheet-swapping or dynamic visibility controls
• Adding dashboard actions and navigation
• Testing analytical accuracy and usability
• Evaluating workbook performance
• Preparing the completed workbook for publication