Tableau and Data Science: An Introduction |
Posted: June 3, 2019 |
One of the most famed tools utilized for Business Intelligence by the companies is Tableau. Ask any professional or an amateur, and they will begin listing the coolest things this tool can do. Tableau is basically a data interpretation and visualization tool employed by the decision makers of an organization. And so, to give you a picture of how it fits in with Data Science, we have crafted this introductory post. This brief run-through will give you a basic idea of how Tableau functions and what practical ‘gimmicks’ it has to offer. If you wish to make a sprawling career in Data Science, then Tableau training course by PST Analytics comes highly recommended! Let us get started with the basics of this immaculate tool. Advanced Graphs Graphs and charts are an innate part of a Data Scientist’s work. Let us begin by looking at what all types of graphs can be created in Tableau! The ‘Show Me’ feature in Tableau dashboard allows for generating simpler charts with fewer computations. However, advanced users that require complex calculations require charts beyond the ‘Show Me’ option. Here are some of the complex and engagingly beautiful graphs that one can create in Tableau; Motion Chart These are beautiful animated line graphs that one can create in Tableau. Motion charts are often used for comparative analysis of the trends, especially in the economy and market positions. Bump Chart Often used for segment analysis (for example, sales of products from different categories), bump charts reflect a much crisper picture than the line charts. Bump charts show points of contra flection or line intersection without making them tedious to read. Doughnut Chart This one is the classy representation of the numbers. A doughnut chart is an improved version of a pie chart, only that it has a hole in the middle which makes it easier to read. Waterfall Chart This chart is analogous to a waterfall and usually represents running numbers (say, running sales of a company year by year). It easily depicts rise and drop trends and makes it easy to spot any shift in the pattern. Pareto Chart Pareto charts are often used in determination and computation of Risk Management to identify the most common problems that are having the most negative impact on a project. Tableau allows for generation of interactive Pareto charts. Steps to use Tableau for Beginners Installation This one is self-explanatory. You start by downloading Tableau in your PC and agree to the user license agreement. Open the newly installed program and you are ready to work on Tableau. Understanding the Tableau Workspace/Dashboard The Tableau workspace constitutes of menu bar, toolbar, worksheets, shelves, and a lot of other elements that the user will get familiar with when working with Tableau for a long time. The ‘Sheets’ section includes dashboards, worksheets, and stories where you can access different projects. Integrating a Data Source Since Tableau is a Data Analysis tool, we will need to feed it with data. We can do this by connecting it to a Data Source. Tableau is compatible with a variety of Data sources. One can check all the supported Data sources by checking out the left pane of the workspace. Some of the data sources that Tableau supports are Text, Excel, or Server Data. By clicking on the ‘Connect’ pane on the left side of the workspace you can see the list of available Data sources. You can then open a new or old workbook from the ‘Open’ tab and begin work. It is recommended that you go through a ‘Sample workbook’ to get a better idea of the process and workflow. Creating a View Before you create an analytical view of your computations, it is important to understand these terms;
To Create a View;
Then, with ‘Show me’ option, you can generate a basic view of the input data. Keep experimenting with the tools and new data sets to generate analytical visuals as required! The next two steps are for advanced users which include ‘Refining’ and ‘Emphasizing’ the results. You can move to more mature operations in Tableau with time after getting a hang of the basics. Good luck!
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