This month, many of DS11 are taking the Alteryx Designer Core Exam (as well as the Tableau QA), including myself. If you’re interested in my top tips on how to pass the Tableau QA, see my post here.
In this post, I will go through:
The resources I found helpful while preparing for the exam
Tableau Prep version 2018.1.1 was released in April this year. Six months on and five versions later, Emily Chen introduced DS11 to Tableau Prep 2018.3.1.
My first thoughts? Its user interface is modern and intuitive with some great functions but there are some limitations. Tableau Prep wonât surpass Alteryx in power at the moment but definitely has potential!
Being a new software, many of you probably havenât given it a go yet. In this guide, I will run through everything you need to know to get started! See my previous posts on getting started with Alteryx (link) and Tableau Public/Desktop (link).
Now, if you havenât got Tableau Prep downloaded yet, you can get the free trial here. Otherwise, start up Prep and letâs get started!
Start Screen
The first thing youâll see when you start up Tableau Prep is something like Figure 1.
Ah⌠The much-awaited Part Two of my âMaking Every âShow Meâ Chart From Scratchâ series (see part one here). Thank you for following my series so far! To recap, we have so far gone through text tables, heat maps, highlight tables, symbol maps, filled maps and pie charts.
In this post, I will go through how to create a bar chart, stacked bar chart, side-by-side bar chart, treemap, circle view and side-by-side circles. For this series, I will be using the âEU Superstoreâ dataset found in My Tableau Repository.
Letâs get started!
Horizontal Bar Chart
Tableauâs Show Me bar chart is known as âHorizontal Barsâ, though really, bar charts can be both vertical and horizontal. I will show you both. For this bar chart, I want to look at the profit for each sub-category.
Step One
Drag the measure âProfitâ to the Columns Shelf and the dimension âCategoryâ to the Rows Shelf. As we want to look at sub-category, we can either drag the dimension âSub-Categoryâ to the Rows Shelf next to âCategoryâ or the quicker way: click the little plus sign shown in Figure 1. This expands category to its next level of detail, sub-category. This only works because sub-category is below category in its hierarchy. If these dimensions arenât in a hierarchy together, the regular drag-and-drop works too.
Tableau has a super useful âShow Meâ function which allows you to choose from 24 chart types based on dimensions and measures you select. This is a brilliant feature for beginners. However, what if youâre a little bit more experienced and want to know how to make these charts from scratch? Or even if youâre a beginner who doesnât want a shortcut? In this four-part series, I will go through how to create all 24 âShow Meâ chart types.
For this series, I will be using the âEU Superstoreâ dataset found in My Tableau Repository. In this post, I will go through how to create a text table, heat map, highlight table, symbol map, filled map and pie chart.
Letâs get started!
Text Table
Text tables are exactly like they sound. A table of values similar to what you get in an Excel spreadsheet. For this text table, I would like to look at how much each sub-category of products have made in sales.
Step One
From the Data Pane, drag over the dimension âSub-Categoryâ over to the Rows Shelf (Figure 1).
We are currently well into our second week of the Data School; with the focus of this week being Tableau (i.e. the reason we all applied to this job). For all of you who are interested in learning to use Tableau and/or are thinking of applying to the Data School but donât know where to begin, this blog post will take you through everything you need to know to get you started. See my previous post on getting started with Alteryx (link).
First of all, check out Tableauâs Starter Kit (link here). Itâs a great resource for getting started. Remember, the more you read, the more you learn!
Now, if you havenât already downloaded Tableau Public for free, hereâs a link to where you can sign up. If you have access and would prefer to use Tableau Desktopâs free trial, then go ahead and start it up!
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*Warning* I will be dropping a lot of terminology, so get ready. However, don’t worry about memorising the terms as much as understanding the purpose/function.
Start Screen
The first thing youâll see when you open up (in my case) Tableau Desktop, is something like Figure 1.
DS11âs first week at the Data School was focused on introducing us to Alteryx; a super useful software for prepping messy data before visualising in Tableau. Amongst data preparation, Alteryx is also capable of spatial and predictive uses. In this guide, we will navigate through the interface of Alteryx Designer and I will also give some helpful hints on how to get started. Now, download Alteryx Designer and letâs get acquainted.
Alteryx Designer Interface
When opening Alteryx Designer, you will be met with an interface that looks like Figure 1. Matlab users out there will be very familiar with this layout!