What did we come up with?  The Great Tableau Dashboard Speed Test.

What is it?

It’s a simple challenge – how fast can you recreate this dashboard?

When is it happening?

The competition will be held from 10-12 June during the European Tableau Customer Conference. If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, do it now.

Where?

You’ll find The Information Lab HQ at our sponsor stand in the Expo Hall. Visit us and give it a shot. And even if you don’t fancy yourself as a Tableau speed demon, make sure you come by and support the challengers as they race for glory.

Winners

The overall winner will be showered with:

• aforementioned glory
• the coveted title Lord or Lady of the ‘Board
• the legend that precedes you as you walk, a warrior amongst your Tableau kin
• a Sonos PLAY:3 wireless hi-fi system.

There will also be spot prizes up for grabs.

Rules

• You may have the data already connected before the timer starts.
• Your completed dashboard must contain ALL the features of the example we provide.
• The contestant with the fastest time wins.
• Unfortunately Tableau Software partners and staff are not eligible to win, but may still take part.
• The Information Lab staff will be the final judges.

So, what are you waiting for?

• Get training.  Download the sample workbook today and have a go, and read the challenge details to make sure you’ve got everything.
• See what your best time is (we even have a post on superfast charts if you want some tips).

Remember, you’ve got to be in to win!

The Information Lab is a Gold Partner of Tableau Software.  We resell Tableau Software products and provide consulting and training services to help our clients get value from their investments. If you’d like to be kept up to date with everything at The Information Lab please sign up to our newsletter.  Alternately if you’d like to talk to us directly email us.

Somehow he’s managed to keep the video quiet and off the blog…until now! Enjoy!

Our understanding is there are two main reasons. First is installation size and keeping Tableau as lean as possible. I don’t know if you’ve notices but for such a small country the UK is split into many different areas. Even if you just take the first one or two letters of the postcode as a grouping method there are 124 different shapes covering the country! That compares to only 50 states to cover the whole of the United States of America and from a country that would only rank as the 12th largest state in America.

The second reason comes down to complexity. Tableau try to maintain simplicity throughout the product, the first question asked when a new function is developed is “Is it as simple as it can be?” I can imagine the poor developers working on filled maps thinking “OK we’ve covered most of the globe using the hierarchy Country – State – County – City but the UK, that doesn’t seem to fit.” If we take a look at how the hierarchy applies to the UK then it would align something like:

You can see how the alignment can become very confusing very quickly. This isn’t to say that Tableau won’t solve it some day, after all they have developers many times smarter than myself working for them.

How The Information Lab Can Help

Like many other challenges in Tableau there is always a way to achieve the visualisation you’re looking for. All you need is a method and some data. For the method we have a video taking you step by step through the process (see the bottom of this post) and as for the data we’ve done as much of the hard work as we can so you don’t have to. If you don’t see the UK boundary data you’d like then please get in contact and we’ll help you out as best as we can.

UK Boundary Polygon Data

Creating Polygon Area Maps in Tableau

Along with the release of Tableau version 8 we’re very please to announce three completely free webinars:

Getting to know Tableau v8
Fully Booked (add to waiting list)

Upgrading Tableau Server from v7 to v8
Register

UK Area Mapping in Tableau (applicable to version 7)
Fully Booked (add to waiting list)

Once a session reaches capacity of 20 registrations we’ll email attendees with an invitation including a date and time (all sessions will be around 45 minutes long plus a question and answer session and will be held during standard working hours 9AM – 5PM GMT).

Should you not be able to attend it would be great if you could let us know so we can reallocate your space to somebody on the waiting list. If you’re in the first 20 but can’t make the time we’ll be sure to send you a recording of the session. Popular Tableau training sessions may also be rerun.

Want to keep up to date with everything at The Information Lab and Tableau? Subscribe to our newsletter

If you’re as enthusiastic about Tableau and Business Intelligence as we are then take a look at the job description below. If you want to know more or make an application drop us a line at info@theinformationlab.co.uk

Tableau Consultant – The Information Lab

A Tableau Consultant at The Information Lab has a very focussed job description.  You will be become the best Tableau Consultant you can be (and possibly one of the best in the industry) and you will then deploy that knowledge to help clients make the most of Tableau in their organisations.  There is no (upper) limit to how skilled we expect you to become with Tableau software – emulating the Tableau Zen Masters is probably where you should be aiming.

You’ll be advising clients on Tableau license purchases, providing Tableau training and consulting on every aspect of the Tableau product suite – and you’ll be building data sources suitable for analysis with Tableau.

We work for a wide variety of companies, including some of the world’s largest such as Barclays, Unilever and Anglo American – and also some of the world’s most fun, such as Lucky Voice Karaoke Bars.

Your background and attributes

You will probably have worked in a consulting role of some sort in the past – either for a consulting company, or as an internal consultant in a larger organisation.  This will have given you experience of working on many simultaneous projects and being able to achieve a great deal in a short time frame.  You will also have fulfilled roles as a data analyst or reporting specialist of some kind.

You will have a broad technical background, meaning that you’re as confident extracting data from a legacy mainframe system as working with the latest release of SQL server.
You’re happy to present to clients, run workshops and speak up when something needs saying.  You don’t say yes to everything, but challenge the status quo when appropriate.  You believe knowledge should be shared whenever possible and are happy to run classroom style training sessions.

We’re unlikely to tell you exactly how to do your job, so it’s important to demonstrate that you can be a self starter – of course you’ll get huge amounts of support, but exactly how you become awesome at your job is up to you.

Your current skills

You have a serious interest in data visualisation, and probably have more than one book by Stephen Few or Edward Tufte on your bookshelf. You laugh a little when someone shows you a doughnut chart, spider diagram or 3D pie chart.

You have been working with SQL based technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL etc. for 2 years or more and are confident you can write a query to produce just about any data set.  You may have experience in tools for data management such as SSIS, Talend or Jitterbit – and are confident in database design.

You will have worked with a variety of reporting or data analysis tools in the past, such as Excel, SSRS, Qlikview or Business Objects.

You will have been working with Tableau desktop and server for more than a year and are likely to have developed a real passion for working with this software.  If you think your current role is not allowing you to have as much focus on Tableau as you would like, then this could be the opportunity for you.

What will you be doing day to day?

The Information Lab itself does not have its own office but has a base at a beautiful business club in Central London. The majority of our work is undertaken at client office locations, 70% of which are based within London, and the remainder are elsewhere over the UK, so expect a fair amount of train travel.

When not working on a client project, you will be mastering Tableau and other associated technologies, and sharing your new found knowledge with the world through our blog and other social media channels. Most of our team choose to carry out these duties whilst working from home, but all are welcome to work at the business club any time.

We attend all of the Tableau conferences (some of our team have been to the last 6), so you’ll be expected to combine travel with learning (and some fun) twice a year.

What to do now?

If you fit the description above and are looking for a new challenge, please let us know by emailing info@theinformationlab.co.uk – we’ll probably meet you for coffee and see where the conversations leads.  Send us a CV if you have one, but your Linked In page will be just fine too.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE – We don’t use recruitment agencies, so please don’t call us.

So there’s no hiding the fact that I love Tableau Server. The simplicity alone of installing it, maintaining it and using it as both a portal for visualisations and a method to easily disseminate data throughout the organisation makes Tableau Server the perfect best friend of Tableau Desktop and of any budding analyst.

With the announcement of Tableau version 8 came the word ‘ubiquitous’. Tableau would be available on any and every platform, whether you’re working on an Ultrabook or a Chromebook, you would be able to analyse data with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Hearing Chris Stolte talk about those two concepts at the last Tableau Conference, simplicity and ubiquity, got me thinking about how I could make my favourite platform even easier to access on the ubiquitous browser that is Google Chrome.

What exactly is this Google Chrome Extension for Tableau Server?

It’s a light-weight tool which puts your Tableau visualisations right at your fingertips. Whether you use Tableau Server, Tableau Public or the up and coming SaaS platform Tableau Online all published workbooks will be neatly displayed in your toolbar for quick easy access.

Show me! my dashboard. In 2 clicks!

Just like Tableau, it’s been kept simple. Once you’ve told it where your Tableau server is located it’ll check you’re logged in, if not you’ll be directed to the usual server login page. From then on clicking the toolbar icon will bring up a set of thumbnails for each workbook on your server organised by project. Using the options page you can also choose whether clicking a thumbnail directs you to a list of available views within that workbook or dives straight into the first available worksheet.

So you’re storing my server login credentials? Is that secure?

The extension will only store the URL of your server, not your credentials. All user authentication is handled by standard Tableau Server protocols.

So it’ll connect to Tableau Server and Tableau Public?

Yes, in fact you can connect it to as many instances of Tableau Server (including sites) and Tableau Public as you wish. Once each location has been stored you can quickly change the active profile using the option screen.

Sounds great, how do I install it?

All you need to get started is account on Tableau Server, Public or Online…oh and Google Chrome of course. Follow the web store link at the top of this post and click

Once the extension has been installed you’ll be presented with an options page. Simply fill out the ‘Server Settings’ with the following information:

Now just click ‘Save Server’ and off you go. From now on just click the toolbar icon to view your workbooks.

What’s coming next from The Information Lab, will you do a Firefox version?

There’s no reason why we can’t do a similar app for Firefox, it all comes down to demand. If you’d like to see something for Firefox then please comment on this post voicing your opinion.

As for Chrome we have our eyes firmly focussed on the new capabilities of Tableau Server version 8 and its in-browser editing function. Today we’ve put your visualisations at your fingertips…tomorrow your data sources.

The Information Lab is a Gold Partner of Tableau Software.  We resell Tableau Software products and provide consulting and training services to help our clients get value from their investments. If you’d like to be kept up to date with everything at The Information Lab please sign up to our newsletter.

Green vs Blue

Green data fields are continuous and blue data fields are discrete. Tableau behaves differently depending on which of these different types of fields are used in a view. I’m not going to go into too much detail because there is already a great article here that explains these differences really well, but it’s worth mentioning again that blues will give headers, categorical colours and multi-select filters while greens will give axes, gradient colours and range filters. It’s so fundamental to the way Tableau draws stuff on the screen, if you don’t understand what these differences are then I encourage you to read the article thrice before returning!

Partitioning and Addressing

Table calculations are one of the most powerful tools within Tableau, but they’re also one of the most complex. When I started making use of table calcs, I was mostly guessing what to do to get the right result. By learning some of the theory, particularly what is meant by ‘partitioning’ and ‘addressing’, has helped me understand the what, where, when, why and how of Table calcs.

Tableau’s manual says:

“The addressing fields define what part of the table you are computing along. The partitioning fields define how to group the calculation”

To me, I don’t find that statement all that helpful. Let’s try and reword it into plain English where we can apply it to a table calculation we are working with in Tableau. If the partitioning fields “group the calculation” we could start by saying ‘per customer’ or ‘per product’ or ‘per ship mode & container combination’ etc.

The addressing fields are those used within the calculation you are doing, so we could continue by saying ‘calculate % of total for each region’ or ‘calculate the difference for each category’. Put these two statements together and we get something that resembles a plain English sentence.

In the example above we get “For each Region, calculate the Percent of Total for every Category”. For me, reading aloud in my head like this helps me know how to set up my table calc.

Note: When using the ‘Compute using >’ menu shortcut, this will set whatever you select into the addressing (“for every”) box, and every other dimension used in the view to the partitioning box.

Get lots more info on how to make Table calculations work for you right here and here

Tableau writes a query language as you drag and drop

Tableau is pretty clever software and incorporates all kinds of breakthrough technologies that allows you to quickly create complex visuals from huge data sets using a simple drag and drop interface. But at its heart, Tableau is talking to your data using a form of SQL, and then shapes the results from your data source onto the screen through an ‘interpreter’. Having an appreciation of what’s happening under the hood helps you to drive her in the most efficient and elegant way. Put a dimension on rows and a measure on label and you’ve written a query along the lines of

SELECT Region, Sum(Sales) FROM Orders GROUP BY Region

Put another dimension on the filter shelf and it adds a WHERE clause. Do some sorting and you get an ORDER BY etc. Why is this important to me? Well, whenever I get stuck and don’t know what fields to use or how to configure them, I ask myself ‘how would I do this without Tableau?’ i.e. what steps would I follow to get the required result in a database or a spreadsheet? Working through such a solution often helps me discover the missing link I need in Tableau.

Of course, if you’re not familiar with databases and SQL then you can still become an expert Tableau user without understanding any of this but if you already have a bit of data analysis background then this can help accelerate your Tableau knowledge. Check out the log.txt file in the My Tableau Repository directory to see what’s going on in the background.

Order of operations

When you add fields to your view or to the filter shelf or perform a custom calculation, it appears that all these items are computed simultaneously. In fact, things are done in a certain order in Tableau and knowing this order can help you construct your view so that you get the results you need.

Things are processed in this order:

Context filters create a temp table in your source

Top N and/or conditional filters form part of your SELECT statement in the query

Standard filters are applied as a WHERE clause

Aggregations are computed

Table calculations are applied

Table layout and axes are drawn

Anything on the Pages shelf is taken into account

Marks are then drawn

Knowing that a standard filter comes after a top N filter but before a table calculation can help you get out of situations such as you don’t know why your % of total figure is not working

Use of the INDEX function (and it’s close relatives)

Although I had looked through all the available functions early on in my quest to become an accomplished Tableau user, and was aware of the functions INDEX, FIRST and LAST, I hadn’t made proper use of them until relatively recently. Now I know what they do, I use them all the time to help accomplish my goals.

INDEX essentially creates a rank, whether that be by the order that your items are display on the screen or by any other measure is entirely flexible and allows you to sort, filter and display your data in ways that are otherwise not possible.

Here are a couple of introductory examples of what you can use these special functions for:

Create rankings within different categories

Prevent overlapping text when using a TOTAL or other table calculation

There you have it. There’s a lot to take in there, but I think my 3 year younger self would have appreciated the tips. How about you, reader? Was there a Tableau ‘Eureka’ moment for you? Please share in the comments below or get in touch at info@theinformationlab.co.uk

Filter using a table calculation

Let’s just very briefly go through an example of what Tableau is doing in the background to get you your percent of total result. Consider a simple example using the sample Superstore Sales dataset where you show the percent of sales per region, just for Central and East.

1. Calculates SUM([Sales]) for each dimension member
2. Applies a filter for Central and East
3. Works out the total for the regions in view
4. Divides each sales figure by the total worked out in step 3

Note that the Table Calculation is the last item performed in the list of steps. Table Calculations are always performed after the results from the standard calculations and filters have been computed. Therefore if you apply a filter directly to region, the ‘total’ will never equal the sum of everything over all regions.

One way round this is to make Tableau apply the filter later, at the same time as the percent of total calculation. How? Make the filter itself a table calculation! By using the LOOKUP formula, we can make a new calculated field for Region that is used for filtering purposes

LOOKUP( MIN( [Region] ), 0)

Now use this calculated field on the filter shelf instead of the dimension Region itself and you will get the result you need.

This option is quick and easy to implement but it has limitations e.g. you cannot make this filter global so it may not be an option if this view and filter is needed on a dashboard

Duplicate your data

A second option is to create a duplicate data source which you will reference in a new percent of total calculation. Since filters only ever apply to a single data source at a time, a secondary set of data will be unaffected by any filters applied to the primary.

To accomplish this, right click on your data source and select Duplicate (it’s a good idea to call it something sensible such as ‘Totals’). Create a new calculated field in the original data source with the formula

SUM([Sales]) / SUM([Totals.Sales])

The last step is to remove the relationship between the two data sources for that dimension.

Data > Edit Relationships > Custom > [remove ‘Region’]

This method is useful when the first suggestion is not an option, but if you are working with large sets of data then it can potentially further clunk up your workbook

Use Pass Through (RAWSQL) functions

The final option to mention here is to make use of the pass through functions in Tableau. These functions send a query to the underlying data source, regardless of what filters have been used in the view, and return the result in a field to be used in Tableau. In this case, we want the sum of all the sales from the Orders tab in the spreadsheet.

RAWSQLAGG_REAL(“select sum([Sales]) from [Orders$]”)

This field can then be used as the divisor in any percent of total calculation

One disadvantage of using this method is that if you later switch to using an extract, the pass through function will break.

So there you have it. 3 different ways to maintain a percent of total calculation when using filters. If you know of any more ways, or want more help on this topic post a comment below or get in touch at info@theinformationlab.co.uk

On Friday 11th January 2013, Tableau released a new version of Tableau V7 – version 7.0.12. 

This version includes an important security patch for Tableau server (Versions 7.0 and higher).  The patch addresses multiple vulnerabilities in Ruby on Rails code, an open source web development framework that is a component of the Tableau Server architecture.

Tableau strongly recommends upgrading to Tableau Server version 7.0.12 as soon as possible, particularly if your Tableau server is internet facing.

For a detailed description of the vulnerabilities, see the Ruby on Rails website:

http://weblog.rubyonrails.org.

The Information Lab can help

If you do not have the skills or resources available to perform this upgrade quickly, we are standing by to do it for you.

To make this simple, we are offering a fixed price upgrade service – allowing Tableau server users to address this issue quickly and with as little downtime as possible.

Our charges and exceptions to this offer are listed below – please contact us using info@theinformationlab.co.uk or 08453 888 289 to arrange your upgrade.

Exclusions

Unfortunately, we have to make the following exclusions for this offer.  Please contact us if these exclusions apply to you as we’ll be happy to discuss your situation.

• This offer applies to single server installations only.  Please contact us if you need to upgrade a multi server or high availability configuration of Tableau

• This offer also only applies to upgrades from Version 7.0.x to version 7.0.12.  Again, please contact us if you are using an earlier version, or are unsure what version you are using.

This offer is made subject to our standard terms and conditions and is subject to availability.

As an organisation, Tableau Software have built simplicity into every aspect of their products and their approach to doing business.

Their software is amazingly simple to use – reports and analysis can be completed in Tableau desktop by anyone. As evidence of this, at The Information Lab we run Tableau’s official training courses, and the typical delegates on these courses are not people with deep technical experience. They are business users such as marketing staff, sales managers, product specialists – people from every level in every industry are achieving great results with Tableau.

The simplicity of use results in extremely high levels of productivity. Many types of analysis are drag and drop or single click operations – in fact it is possible to build an interactive dashboard involving maps, charts and tables without touching the keyboard at all. Users report increases in productivity of 10-100 times over other reporting and analytics solutions.

Tableau also offer a simple pricing model. There are only two software products available which attract a license fee (these are Desktop and Server, Reader and Public are license free). The prices for these are very transparent and include all modules and functionality that is available. Tableau do not have a modular approach to pricing, so you can be sure you will not be paying later for modules you did not initially expect to need.

Tableau users feel empowered and enjoy their work

A quick search of social media sites such as twitter or linked in will reveal many Tableau users who enjoy working with Tableau software. The underlying reason for this enjoyment come from the empowering feeling of being able to answer your own business questions, without reliance on others. Tableau call this self-reliant business intelligence.

A Tableau user is typically very close to the data. They connect to data sources and answer their first set of questions quickly. This process naturally leads to a secondary set of questions, for which the user often reaches out to a second or third data source to answer. It is rare for the Tableau user to need help from others in this process.

Tableau users spend more time doing high value tasks. Tasks such as investigative data mining and clearly presenting data for communication are of high value to businesses, whilst managing vast arrays of spreadsheets and learning complicated reporting techniques are not.

Using Tableau is fun. Tableau was initially conceived by the lead software engineer from Pixar (Pat Hanrahan) – Pat’s background has ensured that the leadership of Tableau are focussed on creating a great user experience – the individual that created Toy Story was unlikely to create software that was anything other than focussed on the end user, and fun to use.

There is a wealth of learning and support resources available

Successful business intelligence projects rest on more than just choosing the best software, long term success is ensured through access to great training resources and a vibrant support community.

Tableau provide an extensive library of online training. The training resources cover a wide variety of subjects, and are available free of charge and on demand. Tableau partners (such as The Information Lab) supplement this content with extensive content on their own websites.

Beyond training content provided by Tableau, there is an extremely active community of Tableau users. Through platforms such as Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and the Tableau community pages, thousands of Tableau users provide support to those with questions.

It’s possible that the single biggest differentiator for Tableau is Tableau Public. This platform is provided free of charge by Tableau and is has ~20 Million registered users. This community is creating high quality content which represents a fantastic learning opportunity for new Tableau users.

The Information Lab is a Gold Partner of Tableau Software.  We resell Tableau Software products and provide consulting and training services to help our clients get value from their investments.