Tableau Desktop 7 Core Certification

STUDY GUIDE

Tablleau C
Certifficatio
on Stu
udy Guide
Tablleau 7
7.0
Thetestin
ngcentercom
mputerswillb
bepreloadedwithTableauu7.0.Theco
ontentdescrib
bedbelow,an
nd
theexamitself,arebasedonthefe
eaturesetofTTableau7.0. IfyouarecurrrentlyusingTableauanearlier
ndthe
versionoffTableauDessktop,itisreccommendedtthatyouupgrradeortrialTTableau7.0andunderstan
newcapabilitiespriorttoattemptinggtheexam.

Recomm
mended preparation
1. Learn
nthefundamentalsofTab
bleauDesktop
p.Thereare optionstoleearnthemateerial:
a)) AttendTableauFundam
mentalsandAdvancedTr aining(besto
option)Seeealistofavailable
here:http:///www.tableaausoftware.co
om/learn/traaining/classro
oom.
locationsh
b) Reviewallloftheonline
etrainingvid
deosunderth
heIntroandA
Advancedheadingsonthee
followingpage:http:///www.tableaausoftware.ccom/learn/traaining/ondem
mand.(Notee,
eosdonotcovverallmaterrialontheexaams,butcan
nhelpyouwitthyourlearn
ning
thesevide
priortore
eviewingthesstudyguide.
2. Revie
ewandbeablletocompletteallofthem
materialscovveredintheReviewandP
Practicesecttion
ofthisstudyguide
e.

Review
w and Practtice
AlloftheexamplesbelowusetheSSampleSup
perstoreSaless(Excel).xlsffile.Itisnotrrecommendtthat
hesampledatasourceoftthesamenam
me,rathermaakeanewcon
nnectiontotheexcelfile.
youuseth
Whentryingtorecreattetheseexam
mples,yourdaatesandresuultingvisualizationsmaydifferfromthee
examples.
Beableto
o:
1. BasicConceptsandData
B
1.1. BuildViews
1.2. BuildDashboa
B
ards
1.3. Createahiera
C
archy

ndexplainth
1.4. Understanda
U
hedifferencebetweenDim
mensionsand Measures.YYoucanfindaa
definitionofd
d
dimensionsve
ersusmeasurreshere:

1.5.
1.6.
1.7.
1.8.

http://online
h
ehelp.tableau
usoftware.com
m/v6.1/pro/o
online/enuss/Id112A8A00
0YEX.html.M
More
simply,measu
s
uresarethen
numericvalue
esthatyouussetoevaluatee.Dimension
nsaretheway
thatyouslice
t
eyourdata.Soinevaluating,yourbu siness,youm
mightlookatyyoursales
measure.But
m
tyouwouldw
wanttosliceorsubdividdetheMeasu
uresalesbyceertain
Dimensions:
D
byGeography,byProductt,bySalesRepp,etc.
Changeamea
C
asureintoad
dimension
Hideunneede
H
edfields
Changeafield
C
dsformattinggtodisplayascurrencyorrpercentagess
Understandth
U
hedifference
ebetweenDiscreteandCContinuousaandworkwith
hDiscreteand
ContinuousD
C
ates.

1.9. Grouptwoor
G
onavieworllegend
moreitemso

UseM
1.10.
MeasureNamesandMeasureValues
MeasureNam
M
meandMeasu
ureValuescomeintoplay whenyouplaacemorethaanonemeasu
urein
thesameplac
t
ce.Theyareaanamevalue
epair.MeasuureNamecon
ntainsthelab
belforthe
measure(Sa
m
les,Profit,e
etc).MeasurreValuescon tainthecorreespondingnu
umericalvaluees.
Themostcom
T
mmonexampllesinclude:

a)CreatingalistingreportwithmorethanonemeasureInthiscase,MeasureValueswillbe
placedonthetextshelf.MeasureNameswillappearontheColumnShelf.PlacingMeasure
Namesonthecolumnshelfprovidesaseparatecolumnwithaheaderforeachmeasurelisted.
Otherwise,thevalueswillbewrittenontopofeachotherinthesamecolumn.Seethe
followingarticle:http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledgebase/measurenames
andmeasurevaluesexplained.
b) CreatingCrossTabs(alsoknownasTextTablesorPivotTables)withmorethanone
measureintheintersectionofmeasures.Inthiscase,youwouldhaveoneormore
dimensionsontheRowShelf,anotherDimension(s)ontheColumnShelf.Youwouldthen
placeMeasureValuesontheTextShelf,andMeasureNamesoneithertheRoworColumn
Shelf.Thisistoprovideaseparatecolumnorrowheaderforeachmeasuredisplayed
ratherthanhavingthemoverwrite.Seethefollowingknowledgebasearticle:
http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledgebase/quickcrosstab.
c) CombiningmorethanoneMeasureonthesameAxis.Seethefollowingknowledgebase
article:http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledgebase/measurenamesand
measurevaluesexplained.
NOTE:InallcasesofusingMeasureNamesandMeasureValues,MeasureNamesare
placedonthefiltershelftoallowyoutoselectwhichmeasuresyouwantinplay(active).A
MeasureValuescardwillalsoappearshowingwhichmeasuresareinplay.Addingor
removingMeasuresfromthiscardisequivalenttochangingthefilteronMeasurenames
fromthefiltershelf.

1.11.

Formaatacrosstabsothattheshadingchanggesoneverytthirdrow

1.12.

Filteraaviewtothelast14days

1.13.

Puttwoormoremeasuresonasingleaxis
Measure Names

Order Date

Profit
Sales
3500K

3000K

Value

2500K

2000K

1500K

1000K

500K

0K
2007

1.14.

2008

2009

2010

2011

Changethelabelofanaxis

1.15.

Adjustcolorlegendsbyusingacustomcolor

1.16.

Sortdynamically

1.17.
1.18.

ShowQuickFilters
ChangeQuickFiltermodes

1.19.
MakeGlobalfilters.Understandthedifferencebetweenlocalandglobalfilters.Most
peopleunderstoodthatglobalfiltersapplyacrossworksheetswhilelocalfiltersapplytoonlya
singleworksheet.Manymissthesubtledistinctionthatglobalfiltersonlyapplytoworksheets/
visualizationsutilizingthesamedataconnection.Someimplications:

Ifyouwantafiltertoapplytoseveral,butnotallworksheets,youcancreatea
duplicateconnection

Ifyouwanttohaveafilterapplytovisualizationsfromdifferentsourcesinthesame
dashboard,parametersorfilteractionscanservethispurpose.
1.20.
UnderstandhowContextFiltersinteractwithTopnfilters.Addingafiltertocontext
impliesthatatemptableiscreatedfromtheresultsofthatfilter.Insomecases,thiswillbea
temptablewithinthedatabaseitself.Inothercases,atemporaryTableauDataExtractis
created.Thetwomostcommonapplicationsofcontextfiltersaredescribedinthefollowing
articles:

http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htm(search
ExampleContextFilters).

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledgebase/usingcontextfilters
improveperformance
1.21.
Saveapackagedworkbookwithyournameasthetitle
1.22.
PublishtoaTableauServer

2. BuildingandUnderstandingVisualizationTypes
YoushouldunderstandthecommontypesofvisualizationsthatwecreatewithTableau,whenyou
woulduseeachtype,andhowtocreatethem.Areviewofcommonvisualizationtypesthatyoushould
becomfortablewithisincludedbelow:
2.1. Histogramahistogramisabarchartshowingthedistributionofdata.Itisdescribedinmore
detailinthefollowingarticle:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histogram.Stepsforcreatinga
histograminTableaucanbefoundhere:
http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htm(searchHistogram).
2.2. SparklineEdwardTufteinventedtheSparkline.ThereisagreatarticleonwhataSparklineis
andwhyyoumightuseitwrittenbyTufte:http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/qanda
fetchmsg?msg_id=0001OR.YoucanfindaknowledgebasearticleoncreatingaSparklinein
Tableauhere:http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledgebase/sparklinesbullets.
2.3. ComboChartCombinationChartscombinetwodifferentmarktypesinonechart.They
requiretheuseofmultiplemarkscards.Youcanfinddirectionsoncreatingthesechartshere:
http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htm(searchCombination
Chart).

Max. Discount

Sales

Createacombinationchart(e.g.barandline)

2.4. DualAxesChartDualAxeschartsusetwoseparateaxestoshowthedata.Thisarticle
describescreatingthem:http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/en
us/help.htm(searchDualAxes).

Sales

Max. Discount

Createadualaxischart

2.5. CrossTabCrossTabsarealsooftenreferredtoastexttables,pivottables,andanumberof
othernames.ItissimplyhavingyourreportbrokendownwithaColumnDimension(s),aRow
Dimension(s)andaMeasure(s)attheintersectionofeachrowandcolumn.Ifyouwanttohave
morethanonemeasureattheintersection,MeasureNamesandMeasureValuescomeinto
play.Youcanfindmoreinformationhere:
http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htmbysearchingText
Tableorintheknowledgebasehttp://www.tableausoftware.com/support/knowledge
base/quickcrosstab.
Createacrosstabwith%ofTotalSalesandSales


2.6. SmallMultiplesAsmallmultipleissimilartotheideaofaCrossTabinthatyouhaveyour
informationdividedbyaRowdimensionandaColumndimension.However,insteadofhaving
anumberattheintersectionofthetwodimensions,youhaveavisualization.Hereisanarticle
whichdescribessmallmultiples:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_multiple.Hereisalink
thatdescribescreatingsmallmultiplesinTableau:
http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htm(searchSmall
Multiples).
2.7. BulletChartAbulletchart/bulletgraphisagreatwaytodisplayhowanactualvalue
comparestoatarget.ItwasinventedbyStephenFew.Youcanfindagooddescriptionofwhat
abulletgraphishere:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_graph.Thisknowledgebasearticle
describesthestepstocreatebulletchartsinTableau:
http://www.tableausoftware.com/community/support/kb/bulletgraph.
Createabulletchart
Region
Central
East
South
West
0K

100K

200K

300K

400K

500K

600K

700K

800K

900K

Current Year Sales

2.8. ScatterPlotascatterplotshowsthedistributionofvaluesacrosstoMeasures.Youcanfind
moredetailshere:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatter_plot.FordetailsoncreatingScatter
PlotsinTableausearchTableauhelpforScatterPlot
http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v6.1/pro/online/enus/help.htm.

1000K

Profit

Createascatte
erplot

C
2.9. Createamap
viewandcorrrectgeocodingerrors(fixxlocations)

2.10.

Usesh
hapesonamaapandscatte
erplot

2.11.

Create
eapiecharto
onamap

2.12.

Create
eaColoredinMap

2.13.

Create
eanAreaChaart


2.14.

Create
eaheatmap
Sales
s

Region / Customer
C
State
South

West

Eastt

1,541

Cen
ntral

50,000
100,000
150,000
Product Sub-Catego
ory (group)
Telephones and Com
mmunica..

193,823
Profit

Binders and Binder Accesso..

A
Office Machines

-22,1
140

52,03
34

Copiers and Fax

Chairs & Chairmats
P
P..
Envelopes, Labels, Paper,
Appliances
Office Furnishings
als
Computer Periphera
Storage & Organizattion
Bookcases
Tables

3. Analyytics
3.1 CreateCalculatedFields
hasDATEDIFF()andDATETTRUNC()
3.2 Usedatefunctionssuch

3.3 UsetheINDEX()functiontocreaterownumbers/ranking
index

Product Cat..

Furniture

Office
Supplies

Technology

index
1

Region
Central

index
1

East

South

West

Central

East

South

West

Central

East

10

South

11

West

12
0K

200K

400K

600K

800K

1000K

1200K

1400K

1600K

1800K

Sales

3.4 UseIForCASEstatements
3.5 Understandwhenandhowtouseaggregatecalculations(customaggregations)
3.6 Createanduseaparametertoperformwhatifanalysis
Measure Names

Order Date

Sales

4M

What if Sales

3M

2M

1M

0M
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

3.7 Workindisaggregatedmode
3.8 Blenddatafromtwoormoredatasources
3.9 ApplyaQuickTableCalculation(e.g.YearOverYearGrowth,PercentofTotal)

3.10

FilteraalisttotheTo
op10

3.11

Perforrmalinearreggression(TurnonTrendLiines)

Sales

3.12
3.13

Create
eanextractofyourdata
Create
ereferencelin
newithacon
nstantvalue

Create
eareferencelineshadingttheareabetw
ween+2stan
ndarddeviations

Profit

3.14

boards
4. Dashb
4.1 Addquickfilterstodashboards
4.2 Organized
dashboardsbyymovingitem
ms
4.3 UseHorizo
ontalandVerticalLayoutC
Containers

nstomakeaselectionononesheetfillteronlyoneothersheeto
onthedashbo
oard
4.4 Useaction
nstohighligh
htrelateditem
msonadash board
4.5 Useaction