Author: Donna Coles

Can you build a parallel coordinates chart?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

This week’s challenge uses data I collated from the stats vest my daughter wears during her football matches and training sessions. The data provided is already pre-filtered to the 2024-25 season and her Reading U15 team.

If you want to watch a video which demonstrates the concept then this video by Andy Kriebel will help. But if you prefer to read, then carry on 🙂

Building out the calculations

In creating this chart we need to normalise all the different stats we want to show; that is we want to convert every measure into a spread between 0 and 1. To do this we calculate the difference between the value and the minimum value as a proportion of the full range of values (that is the difference between the min and max values). We use table calculations for this.

Total Distance (km)

(SUM([Distance – Total (KM)]) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Distance – Total (KM)])))
/
(WINDOW_MAX(SUM([Distance – Total (KM)])) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Distance – Total (KM)])) )

format to 4 dp

Distance / Min (m)

(SUM([Distance per Min]) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Distance per Min])))
/
(WINDOW_MAX(SUM([Distance per Min])) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Distance per Min])) )

format to 4 dp

HSR Distance (m)

(SUM([HSR – Total (M)]) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([HSR – Total (M)])))
/
(WINDOW_MAX(SUM([HSR – Total (M)])) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([HSR – Total (M)])) )

format to 4 dp

HI Distance (m)

(SUM([HI Distance – Total (M)]) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([HI Distance – Total (M)])))
/
(WINDOW_MAX(SUM([HI Distance – Total (M)])) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([HI Distance – Total (M)])) )

format to 4 dp

Max Speed (m/s)

(SUM([Speed – Max (m/s)]) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Speed – Max (m/s)])))
/
(WINDOW_MAX(SUM([Speed – Max (m/s)])) – WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Speed – Max (m/s)])) )

format to 4 dp

NOTE – in my solution I called these fields Norm – xxxx . After putting on the chart, I aliased them to the names above. Creating with the actual names I used is the simpler solution 🙂 I don’t know why I didn’t just rename them…

On a new sheet, add Game ID to Rows, and then add all the original key measures and their associated normalised values into the table, so each original measure is next to its normalised value. If you sort by one of the original measures from largest to smallest, you should see that the associated normalised value is distributed from 1 at the top of the list to 0 at the bottom.

The other key requirement for this viz is to identify a selected opposition. For this we create a parameter based on the Opposition field. Right click on Opposition > Create > Parameter and the following dialog with the list of opposition teams pre-populated will display. I set the default as Chelsea Ladies U14

Opposition Parameter

The create a new field

Highlight Match

[Opposition] = [Opposition Parameter]

Show the Opposition Parameter control and add Highlight Match to Rows.

Now we can start building the viz.

Building the chart

On a new sheet, add Game ID to Detail, then add Total Distance (km) to Rows. Adjust the table calculation of the field to be computing by Game ID.

Then add Distance / Min (m) onto the sheet, by dragging the field and dropping it on the y-axis when the 2-column icon appears

This will automatically add Measure Names and Measure Values into the display, including a Measure Values ‘box’

Adjust the table calc of the Distance / Min (m) field to compute by Game ID. Reorder the fields in the Measure Values box, and then change the mark type to line. Set to Fit Width.

Add the other 3 normalised fields into the view, by adding the field into the Measure Values box, and adjusting the table calc each time.

We now have the core viz, we just need to format it and add the additional features.

Show the Opposition Parameter control. Add Highlight Match to the Colour shelf. Adjust colours and re-order so True is listed first. Adjust all the table calcs in the 5 measures so they are also now computing by both Game ID and Highlight Match.

Now add H/A to the Detail shelf and change to be an Attribute (this means by default it is excluded from the table calcs, so we don’t need to make all those adjustments again). Then change the icon to the left of the pill from Detail to Colour, so there are now two fields on the Colour shelf. Adjust to suit.

Add Highlight Match to the Size shelf, and then adjust the size to be reversed, so the True lines are thicker.

Create a new field

Label: Opposition

IF [Highlight Match] THEN [Opposition] END

And add this to the Label shelf and set to be an Attribute. Adjust the Label property so it’s just labelling the line ends and label end of line. Ensure labels set to overlap to, and set font to bold and to match mark colour and align top right.

Alias the field H/A (right click field > aliases) so they display as Home and Away. Then add the following fields to the Tooltip : Category, Cup/League, H/A, Opposition, Round and Date. Also add the following measures to the Tooltip : Distance – Total (KM), Distance per Min, HI Distance – Total (M), HSR – Total (M), Speed – Max (m/s). Then adjust and format the Tooltip

To create the vertical lines, add another copy of Measure Values to the Rows which will create a Measure Values (2) marks card. Remove all the fields from this card except the Game ID. And then move Game ID to the Path shelf which has the effect of creating the vertical lines

Adjust the Colour of the line and then add Measure Names to the Label shelf. Set the label to Min/Max by pane, for the Measure Values field. Align centrally.

Set the chart to dual axis and synchronise the axis. Hide all the axis, and the Measure Names labels at the bottom (uncheck show header against the pills). Remove all row/column dividers and gridlines/zero lines etc. Set the background colour (if desired).

Adding the interactivity

Add the chart to a dashboard then create a dashboard parameter action

Set Opposition

On select of the viz, set the Opposition Parameter parameter, with the value from the Opposition field. Set the value to <empty> when cleared.

Adding the information panel

Add a floating Text object onto the dashboard. Copy and paste the information from the challenge page. Resize and reposition the text box as required. Set the background of the text object and add a border to make it prominent. Then from the context menu of the object, select the Add Show/Hide Button option. The Show/Hide object will appear as an X. Move this into the required position and re-adjust the text object to suit too.

And that should then be it. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

DZV & Filter Actions

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Sean based this week’s challenge on a scenario he’d faced with a client and requires the use of dynamic zone visibility (DMZ) and filter actions.

I’m going to attempt to be relatively brief for the vizzes/views that need building, as the main focus is on the dashboard itself.

Creating the Main KPIs

Connect to the data source and add a data source filter on Country/Region = United States so any data related to Canada gets excluded automatically from everything we build.

Create a new field

Profit Ratio

SUM([Profit])/SUM([Sales])

and format to % to 2 dp

On to a new sheet add Sales, Profit, Profit Ratio and Quantity onto the canvas. I just double-clicked each field and once all added used Show Me to display a Text table.

Move Measure Names to Columns and re-order the measures. Add Measure Names to Text too and modify the text so the Measure Names label is beneath Measure Values, aligned centrally and formatted as required. Set the sheet to Entire View. Format the Sales and Profit pills on this sheet to be formatted to $k to 1 dp.

The KPIs need to filter based on the state that will be selected in the map. We’re going to use a parameter to capture the state

pSelectedState

string parameter defaulted to <empty string?

And then we create

Is Selected State?

[pSelectedState]=” OR
[State/Province] = [pSelectedState]

Add this to the Filter shelf and select True.

Format the sheet to remove row/column dividers and hide the Measure Names label header (uncheck show header on the pill).

Name the sheet KPIs-Main or similar.

Creating the Customer KPIs

Although not actually working on Sean’s solution, I believe the intention of showing KPIs on the ‘customer panel’ is to give a summary based on the selected customer. So to do this simply duplicate KPIs-Main and then add Customer Name to the Filter shelf and select all customers. Name the sheet KPIs-Customer or similar.

Creating the Map

ON a new sheet, double click State/Province to automatically create a map and then add Sales to Colour. (if the map doesn’t display the US, then you may need to edit locations – Map > Edit Locations). Adjust the background of the map and remove all city/state labels (Map > Background Layers). Name the sheet Map or similar.

Creating the Customer Orders list

On a new sheet, add Product Name to Rows and then Sales and Quantity as a table. As Is Selected State to Filter and set to True and also add Customer Name to Filter and select all values. Ultimately on click of a state in the map, this list needs to be filtered to just the orders associated to that state , and then additionally be able to be filtered by customer name

Creating the Reset Button

On a new sheet, double click into the space below the marks card and type ‘Reset’ to create a ‘dynamic’ pill. Then change the mark type to square and add this pill onto the Label shelf. Set the size to the largest possible and set the sheet to entire view. Format the label to be centred and larger. Then create a field

State-Reset

”

and add this onto the Detail shelf. This field basically contains an empty string, and we’ll use it later to ‘reset’ the pSelecedState parameter. Call the sheet Reset Button or similar.

Building the dashboard & interactivity

Using layout containers, build out the dashboard as required. I used a horizontal container in the middle of the dashboard which displayed the Map on the left and another Vertical Container on the right. The vertical container is the ‘customer panel’ and it then contained the Customer KPIs, and the Customer Orders sheets along with the Customer Name quick filter (set to a single value dropdown) and reset button in their own horizontal container. My hierarchy is shown below.

Add a dashboard parameter action to select a state

Set State

On select of the Map sheet, set the pSelectedState parameter with the value from the State/Province field. But on clearing the selected keep the current value.

Clicking on a State will now change the KPIs and the list of customer orders

But we also want the list of customers in the filter list to be restricted to those who have orders in the state, so adjust the quick filter settings so that it is set to only relevant values Also customise the control to so the ‘all’ option is not displayed.

Test this behaviour by selecting different States and then checking the values in the Customer Name filter control.

When the Reset button is clicked, we want the State to be deselected and the KPI values all reset, so create another parameter action

Reset State

On select of the Reset Button sheet, set the pSelectedState parameter with the value from the State-Reset field

If you test this out without selecting a Customer Name filter, then the behaviour will work as expected: click a state, KPIs/Orders List and set of customers in the filter change; click reset and KPIs/Orders List and set of customers in the filter all reset .

However if after clicking a state, a customer is then selected in the filter (which filters the Orders List and the Customer KPIs)

If I then click the rest button, the customer panel now shows all the info for the selected customer

and if I now select another state, the customer filter is retained, and if that customer has no orders for the state, I don’t get what I expect

We need to be able to essentially ‘reset’ the customer filter as well when clicking the reset button.

This was the trickiest part of this challenge, and I did try a variety of other ways of displaying the customer filter to see if I could crack it, but I did observe through playing with Sean’s solution and hovering the mouse, that the Customer Name filter was a standard quick filter. Eventually, with the clue being in the challenge title, I got there.

Add a dashboard filter action

Reset Customer Filter

On select of the reset button, target the Customer Orders, KPIs Customer but filter on selected fields where Customer Name = Customer Name

Finally we want the customer panel to only display once the map is clicked. For this, create a new field

State parameter is not empty?

[pSelectedState] <> ”

which will be true when pSelectedState contains the name of a state which happens ‘on click’ of the map. Then back on the dashboard, select the ‘customer panel’ container and on the Layout section, check the control visibility using value option and select the above field

And fingers crossed, you should now have a functioning viz. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Exploring Table Calcs vs LODs

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Erica set the challenge this week, which involved building the same visualisation in two ways – one using Table Calcs only and one using LODs.

To test the functionality and validate what’s going, I’m going to build the data out in a tabular format first.

The Table Calc Table

On a new sheet add Region and Category to Rows and Sales to Text. Sort by Sales descending. Then add Region and Segment to Filter, selecting all options, and show the filters.

Create a new field

Total Sales

TOTAL(SUM([Sales]))

and add into the table. This won’t be used later, but I’ve created so you can see the filtering behaviour.

This is a table calculation, and, by default when added to the table, it shows the total of all the rows against each row. We want to display the total per Region, so every row for a specific region shows the total of that region only. Adjust the table calc setting so it is computing by Category only.

Create a new field

TC – % of Sales

SUM([Sales]) / TOTAL(SUM([Sales]))

format to be % with 1dp and add into the table. By default it should have inherited the table calc settings we just applied for Total Sales, but if not apply the same settings, so it is computing by Category only.

If you do the maths taking the value in the Sales column and dividing by the value in the Total Sales column, you should be able to validate the result.

And if you test by adjusting the Segment and Region filters, everything should work as expected :

Filter out a Segment and the Sales and Total Sales adjust to exclude the value and the TC – % of Sales for a Region still totals 100%

Filter out a Region and that whole block is removed, but the values for all the other rows remain unchanged.

Now add Category to Filter and show the filter. Filter out a Category, and what we now see is the Total Sales now just reflects the total for the selected categories, and the TC – % of Sales still totals 100%. This isn’t the requirement. The % of Sales needs to calculate over all Categories regardless if it is excluded in the display.

To handle this, we create

TC – Filter Category

LOOKUP(MIN([Category]),0)

This is using a table calculation to basically return the value of the Category associated to the current row, which is basically looking up itself. However, as this is a table calculation, when added to the Filter shelf, it applies the filter after other computations (this is Tableau’s order of operations’), whereas the ‘quick filter’ applied above, is filtering the data first before then computing the total sales.

Remove Category from the Filter shelf, and add TC – Filter Category to the Filter shelf instead, selecting all options and showing the filter on the view. By default the table calc setting is set to table down which is fine – it is computing by both Region and Category. Now if you exclude a Category, the relevant rows disappear, but the Total Sales and therefore TC – % of Sales values remain unchanged.

The Table Calc Viz

The simplest way to build this (IMO) is to duplicate the table sheet then

  • Remove Total Sales and Sales
  • Move TC – % of Sales to Columns
  • Show mark labels
  • Adjust colour of bar
  • Adjust colour of worksheet background
  • Widen each row slightly
  • Make the width of bars slightly smaller
  • Edit title of % of Sales axis
  • Adjust fonts of label headers and bar label and axis labels (I set to 8pt)

The LOD Table

Let;s repeat this now using LODs instead.

On a new sheet, once again add Region and Category to Rows and Sales to Text. Add Region and Segment to Filter and show the filter options.

Create a field

LOD – Sales per Region and Segment

{FIXED [Region], [Segment]:SUM([Sales])}

Add into the table. With all segments selected, we can see the total sales for each Region listed

and filtering out a Segment, the totals adjust as required.

If we now add Category to Filter, show the options and filter one out, the totals now no longer change, as the LOD – Sales per Region and Segment doesn’t include Category in its definition – its FIXED to just account for changes to Region and Segment.

So we can now create

LOD – % of Sales

SUM([Sales]) / SUM([LOD – Sales per Region & Segment])

and format to % with 1dp and add into table to validate.

You can now apply similar steps to those detailed above to recreate the bar chart viz for this data.

And once done, add both charts onto a dashboard with their relevant filters.

My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you account for nulls in your averages?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

In this week’s challenge Yusuke wanted us to ensure filtering by date didn’t actually exclude any dimension values (so null values displayed as 0) and average calculations then accounted for those null value entries too.

Setting up the core data requirements

Yusuke provided a link to a version of Superstore which I used, since the requirements included the Manufacturer field which isn’t in the usual Excel file. I first created the hierarchy of Category > Sub-Category > Manufacturer.

Category Hierarchy

Right-click the Category field and select Hierarchy > Create Hierarchy. Name it Category Hierarchy, then drag Sub-Category and Manufacturer to be positioned under the Category field.

The display shows the number of orders, so we need

#Orders

COUNTD([Order ID])

Add Category to Rows and then expand to display Sub-Category and Manufacturer. Add #Orders to Text and add Order Date as a discrete (blue) pill at the Weekday level. This table highlights the ‘gaps’ which we need to display as 0. It also shows us how many rows of data we should always expect regardless of the date being filtered.

A standard ‘quick filter’ on date will just remove the rows that aren’t included in the filter, so we need to handle the date filtering using parameters.

pMinDate

date parameter defaulted to 11 Jul 2025

and

pMaxDate

date parameter defaulted to 23 Jul 2025

with these we create

#Orders in Date Range

ZN(COUNTD(IF [Order Date]>=[pMinDate]AND [Order Date]<=[pMaxDate]THEN [Order ID] END))

Add this into the table, and we can see we still have blank entries.

Now the trick here, which I have to admit I just couldn’t resolve until I looked at Yusuke’s solution, is to create a new field

Index

INDEX()

and add this to the Detail shelf, and all the gaps in the #Orders in Date Range measure will be replaced by 0.

Adding the average

Move the #Orders from the Measure Values section onto Tooltip.

The add column totals (Analysis menu > Show All Subtotals). Then go into the menu again and select Total All Using > Average. You’ll have totals at the Manufacturer level and the Sub-Caetgory level

Right click on the Total label in the Manufacturer column, and Format. In the left hand pane, update the Label to read Avg.

Repeat the same by formatting the Total label against the Sub-Category column.

Now format the numbers displayed by right-clicking on the #Orders in Date Range field on the Text shelf and formatting. In the left hand pane, select the Pane tab and set the format of the Numbers in the Default section to standard and the format of the Numbers in the Totals section to 2dp.

Formatting the rest of the table

Add #Orders in Date Range to Colour. Change the mark type to Square. Edit the Colour palette and select a diverging palette (eg red-blue-white diverging) but set the centre to 0 and check the include totals checkbox.

Format the table, and select the shading tab. Set the Total header to pale orage, and row banding to pale grey at band size 1.

Then select the borders option and set the default options against cell, pane and header to dark grey. Then add thicker orange borders against the totals, and remove row dividers. Add grey column dividers.

Hide the Order Date column heading (right click the Order Date label and hide field labels for columns). Right click the Order Date pill in Columns and format; set the Dates option to display abbreviation

Format the font of all columns to be the same (I used Tableau Medium, black).

We want to display a * to indicate null values, so create

Number prefix *

IIF(([#Orders in Date Range])=0,’*’,NULL)

Add to the label shelf and adjust the position of the fields on that shelf.

The create

Tooltip – 0 orders

IIF([Number Prefix ]= ‘‘, ‘* No orders found for this period’, NULL)

and add to the Tooltip shelf and adjust the Tooltip to suit. Then add Category to filter and select all options.,

Collages / expand the viz and adjust the dates to test the functionality and display.

Creating the date filter & Apply button

On a new sheet, double click in to the space below the Marks shelves and the type ‘Apply’. Move the field created from Detail to Label. Change the mark type to square, adjust the size to be as large as possible and then set the fit to entire view. Format the Apply label to be centred and larger font.

Add Order Date to the Filter shelf, select range oi dates and enter values from 11 Jul 2025 to 23 Jul 2025. Show the filter, and the add the Order Date filter to context.

Create new fields

Min Date

MIN([Order Date])

and

Max Date

MAX([Order Date])

and add both to the Detail shelf.

Create a new field

Colour

[Min Date]= [pMinDate] AND [Max Date]= [pMaxDate]

And add to the Colour shelf. Adjust the colour of the true option to pale grey. Then change the value in the Order Date filter, so the colour shows as false and adjust colour to orange. Hide the tooltip.

Finally create fields

True

TRUE

and

False

FALSE

and add both to the Detail shelf.

Building the dashboard

Use layout containers with padding to add the table viz and the apply button viz to a dashboard. Show the Category filter for the table viz, and the Order Date filter for the apply button viz. Below is how I arranged my layout containers

Create the following dashboard actions:

Set Min Date

On select of the Apply Button viz, target the pMinDate parameter passing in the value from the Min Date field.

Set Max Date

On select of the Apply Button viz, target the pMaxDate parameter passing in the value from the Max Date field.

Deselect Button

On select of the Apply Button viz on the dashboard, target the Apply Button sheet directly, selecting the fields True = False.

Finally add a floating text box to provide a key for the * indicator.

My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

KPI Trend Monitor With Period Comparison

Donna ColesLeave a comment

For the challenge this week, Yoshi wanted us to recreate this summary KPI card detailing the latest Profit Ratio, the change from the previous day, and comparisons against equivalent timeframes.

Defining the calculations

In a usual scenario, we would utilise the TODAY() function to base the rest of the measures being displayed. However given the dataset we’re using and the desire to ensure the viz doesn’t eventually display nothing on my Tableau Public page, ‘Today’ will be harded coded in the parameter

pToday

date parameter defaulted to 04 Feb 2025.

We have 3 timeframes we need to visualise, so we need to find the dates these relate to

Today Last Month

DATE(DATEADD(‘month’, -1, [pToday]))

Today Last Year

DATE(DATEADD(‘year’, -1, [pToday]))

I also want to group these ‘timeframes’ and created

Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr

IF [Order Date] >= DATEADD(‘day’, -14, [pToday]) AND [Order Date] <= [pToday] THEN ‘Recent’ ELSEIF [Order Date] >= DATEADD(‘day’, -14, [Today Last Month]) AND [Order Date] <= DATEADD(‘day’, 14, [Today Last Month]) THEN ‘Prior Month’ ELSEIF [Order Date] >= DATEADD(‘day’, -14, [Today Last Year]) AND [Order Date] <= DATEADD(‘day’, 14, [Today Last Year]) THEN ‘Prior Year’
ELSE NULL
END

Add this to Rows on a sheet , then add Order Date as a discrete exact date (blue pill). Add Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr to Filter and exclude Null. All the dates we want to plot will be displayed against their relevant ‘category’

Create a new field

Profit Ratio

SUM([Profit]) / SUM([Sales])

and format to % with 1 dp

Additionaly create fields

PR -Recent

IF MIN([Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr]) = ‘Recent’ THEN [Profit Ratio] END

and

PR – Not Recent

IF MIN([Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr]) <> ‘Recent’ THEN [Profit Ratio] END

and format these to % with 1dp too.

Add these 3 fields into the table

Finally we need to create the field for the x-axis based on the number of days, so create

X-Axis

CASE [Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr]
WHEN ‘Recent’ THEN DATEDIFF(‘day’,[pToday],[Order Date])
WHEN ‘Prior Month’ THEN DATEDIFF(‘day’,[Today Last Month],[Order Date])
WHEN ‘Prior Year’ THEN DATEDIFF(‘day’,[Today Last Year],[Order Date])
END

Add this onto Rows

Now we have the core fields needed for the line chart.

Building the Line Chart

On a new sheet, add Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr to Filter and exclude NULL. Then add X-Axis as a continuous (green) pill to Columns and PR – Recent to Rows. Add Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr to Colour. The add PR-Not Recent to Rows. Make the chart dual axis, synchronise the axis and then remove Measure Names from the All marks card. Adjust the colour legend associated to the Recent | Prior Mth | Prior Yr field.

Reorder the pills on the Rows so PR-Not Recent is first, which makes the ‘recent’ line in front of the others.

On the PR-Not Recent marks card, adjust the Path, to be a dashed line. On the PR-Recent marks card, add circle line markers (via the colour shelf options). Hide the right hand axis, and hide the null indicator

On the All marks card, add Profit Ratio to the Tooltip shelf and also add Order Date as a discrete exact date (blue bill) to Tooltip. Adjust to suit.

The Hide the X-Axis (uncheck show header), remove the title of the Y-axis, remove row & column dividers and vertical gridlines.

Building the KPI Card

Create new fields

PR-Today

{FIXED:SUM(IF [Order Date]=[pToday] THEN [Profit] END)}/{FIXED:SUM(IF [Order Date]=[pToday] THEN [Sales] END)}

format to % with 1 dp

PR-Yesterday

{FIXED:SUM(IF [Order Date]=DATEADD(‘day’, -1,[pToday]) THEN [Profit] END)}/{FIXED:SUM(IF [Order Date]=DATEADD(‘day’, -1,[pToday]) THEN [Sales] END)}

format to % with 1 dp

PR – Difference

[PR – Today] – [PR – Yesterday]

format to % with 1 dp

PR Direction Up

IF [PR Difference]>=0 THEN ‘Up’ END

PR Direction Down

IF [PR Difference]<0 THEN ‘Down’ END

On a new sheet add PR Difference, PR Direction Up, PR Direction Down, PR-Today and pToday to the Text shelf. Set the mark type to shape and use a transparent shape (see here for details on how to set this up). Then adjust the text as required, formatting as necessary and add a title that references pToday

The add these two sheets to a dashboard and you’re done. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you create a dynamic moving average chart?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Lorna set a table calculation focused challenge this week.

Creating the parameters

The challenge requires 3 parameters

pTimePortion

string list parameter containing values week, month and quarter; defaulted to month. Note the capitalisation of the display as value. The value itself should all be lowercase as it will be referenced in calculations later.

pTimeFrame

integer parameter ranging from 12 to 36, with a step-size of 6 and defaulted to 24

pMoveAvg

integer parameter ranging from 3 to 12 with a step size of 3 and defaulted to 3

Creating the calculations

The viz needs to display a dynamic date based on the value of the pTimePortion parameter.

Display Date

DATE(DATETRUNC([pTimePortion],[Order Date]))

It also displays the moving average of Sales based on the pMoveAvg parameter.

Moving Avg

WINDOW_AVG(SUM([Sales]), -1*([pMoveAvg]-1), 0)

Note, as the moving average is to include the Sales value of the ‘current’ date, then we need to subtract 1 from the pMoveAvg parameter. Ie if the pMoveAcg parameter = 3, then we want to calculate the moving average over the ‘current’ mark plus the previous 2 marks, so -2 needs to be fed into the calculation.

Finally, we need to restrict the dates being displayed in the viz. For this I calculated

Latest Date

WINDOW_MAX(MAX([Display Date]))

then fed this into

Date to Display

MIN([Order Date])>DATEADD([pTimePortion],-1*[pTimeFrame],[Latest Date])

ie only include records where the Order Date is greater than pTimeFrame weeks/months/quarters prior to the Latest Date.

Building the viz

On a new sheet, display all the 3 parameters. The add Display Date as a continuous exact date (green pill) to columns and Sales to rows.

Add Moving Avg to rows, make dual axis and synchronise the axis. Adjust colours of the marks to suit.

Add Date to Display to the Filter shelf and set to True. Then add Sales and Moving Avg to the Tooltip of the All marks card, and adjust Tooltip accordingly.

Update the title of the sheet so it references the various parameters

Finally, tidy up by

  • removing row and column dividers
  • hiding the right hand axis (right click, uncheck show header)
  • editing the Display Date axis, so the title of the axis references the pTimePortion parameter (Note – I did find this gets ‘lost’ when publishing to Tableau Public, so I had to re-edit my viz after publishing to reapply this setting).

Then add to a dashboard, and use a horizontal layout container to organise the parameters across the top. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you create KPI cards with viz extensions?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Kyle set the challenge this week to demonstrate the use of some of the free Viz Extensions available for Tableau Desktop and Tableau Public.

Creating the Sales KPI Card

After connecting the Superstore dataset, format the Sales field to be $ with 0 dp. Then on a new sheet, select the Add Extension option from the Marks drop down

In the resulting pop-up window, search for KPI and select the KPI Card (BANs) extension by LaDataViz

then click Open on the resulting window, and OK to the Allow Extension dialog displayed. You will then be presented with details on how to use the extension

Drag Sales onto KPI and add Order Date to Time, changing the level to a continuous month (green pill).

Then click Format Extension and set each tab as below (I’ve highlighted the options I changed)

which results in

Update the Tooltip as required, then rename the sheet Sales KPI or similar

Creating the Orders KPI card

Create a new field

# Orders

COUNTD([Order ID])

Duplicate the Sales KPI sheet, then add # Orders to KPI instead of Sales. Format the extension so the KPI name is Orders (KPI tab) and remove the $ prefix from the number (Labels tab). Adjust the Tooltip as required and rename the sheet Orders KPI or similar

Creating the Profit Ratio KPI Card

Create a new field

Profit Ratio

SUM([Profit])/SUM([Sales])

and format to % with 1 dp

Duplicate the Sales KPI sheet, then add Profit Ratio to KPI instead of Sales. Format the extension so the KPI name is Profit Ratio (KPI tab) and change the number format style to percentage with 1 decimal (Labels tab). Adjust the Tooltip as required and rename the sheet Profit Ratio KPI or similar

Creating the Filter Control

On a new sheet, select the Add Extension from the marks dropdown, and this time when prompted find the Drill Down Filter extension by LaDataViz

Then add Category and Sub-Category to the Detail shelf. Then Format Extension. I just changed the font colour (Label tab) and background colour (sheet tab)

Building the dashboard

Create a dashboard. Format the dashboard to set the background colour – I set it to a mid-dark grey (#666666) via the Format > Dashboard from the menu.

Add a horizontal container, and add the 3 KPI card sheets side by side. Set the container to distribute contents evenly.

For each KPI card object within the container, adjust the outer padding so there’s 10pt around and between each object (depending which object you’re adjusting the left/right padding may be 10 or 5pt), set the inner padding to 5pt, and set the background to match the background you used on the sheets (I used #555555).

Add the Filter sheet as a floating object, position as required and then add the Show/Hide button via the context menu of the object. Move the floating button as required too

Add a dashboard filter action

Filter

On select of the Filter sheet, target the 3 KPI sheets, excluding all values when selection is cleared.

Add any additional dashboard content – title etc, and you should now have a working filterable dahsboard

My published viz is here

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you create a fake Viz in Tooltip?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

It was my turn to set the 1st challenge for #WOW2026, and I went back in time to recreate something from over 10 years ago! I was at #DataFam Europe in December and the marvellous Andy Cotgreave represented Team DataFam at the tips and tricks battle against Team Tableau, and showcased this technique which he originally blogged about a long time ago. But for a lot of the audience, this was something they hadn’t seen before, so I figured I’d share it here too (as I’d never actually tried it out myself back then). This technique is limited in it’s use – it only really works if you are depicting a % value, and are using a dimension which has a small number of different, but well known values (in this case Segment only has 3 options which don’t change) – but it is a lot faster to render ‘on hover’ than the traditional VIT.

Build the basic map

Connect to the Superstore dataset and construct the basic filled map

  • Double click on State/Province to automatically generate a map of the US (set the Country/Region to USA via the Map > Edit Locations menu option if the US isn’t initially displayed)
  • Add Sales to Colour to change to a filled map
  • Format Sales to $ with 0dp
  • Edit the background layers of the map (Map > Background layers menu option) to remove all the pre-selected options, to produce a ‘clean’ outline of the US on a white background.
  • Hide the map option which allow you to pan/zoom etc (Map > Map Options menu option and uncheck all the preselected options)
  • Hide the unknown indicator in the bottom right (right-click > hide indicator)

Create the calculations

We need to capture the % sales for each Segment per State into it’s own ‘segment specific’ field (which is why this technique could be a bit onerous if you had a high cadence of values in your chosen dimension).

Consumer % Sales

(SUM(IIF([Segment]=”Consumer”, [Sales],0))/SUM([Sales]))*100

Typically, when working with a % value, we would just do SUM(IIF([Segment]=”Consumer”, [Sales],0))/SUM([Sales]), then format this to a %. The value actually stored in the calculation would be a number <= 1. But we need the number to be between 0 and 100 for a step later on, so we perform the % conversion in the calculation by multiplying by 100. To display as a %, the field is just then formatted to a number with 0 dp and with a % suffix

Corporate % Sales

(SUM(IIF([Segment]=”Corporate”, [Sales],0))/SUM([Sales]))*100

format as above

Home Office % Sales

(SUM(IIF([Segment]=”Home Office”, [Sales],0))/SUM([Sales]))*100

If you pop these fields onto a new sheet and build a tabular view, you can see them working

Now we know the % values for each Segment, we can create a calculation to represent the bars. Firstly copy the â–ˆ unicode block into notepad or similar. Then paste 9 more instances directly alongside. The copy all 10 instances and paste that another 10 times, so you have a string of 100 blocks like below

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Create a parameter

100 Blocks

string parameter which contains this 100 block string of characters

Create a new field for each Segment which represents the ‘bar’ of % sales

% Consumer Bar

LEFT([100 Blocks],ROUND([Consumer % Sales]))

% Corporate Bar

LEFT([100 Blocks],ROUND([Corporate % Sales]))

% Home Office Bar

LEFT([100 Blocks],ROUND([Home Office % Sales]))

This is basically truncating the string of 100 blocks to the number of characters represented by the % value. So if the % value is 39%, the result will be a string of 39 blocks.

Add Consumer % Sales, Corporate % Sales, Home Office % Sales, % Consumer Bar, % Corporate Bar and % Home Office Bar to the Tooltip shelf then edit the Tooltip and arrange the layout like the visual below, colour coding the % Bar and % Sales values for each Segment as you wish (make sure you use <tab> on your keyboard after the Segment label to ensure the bars all start at the same point on each row.

Resolve wrapping

On testing this, I found that some lines in the Tooltip wrapped the text onto another line depending on how long the line was. And I couldn’t control the width of the window the tooltip would display in to prevent this.

I figured I needed to make all the lines shorter, so need to adjust the bar calculation to halve the length of the ‘bars’, but to be accurate, I need to incorporate the smaller block character

Half block

string parameter storing the single value of  ▌

and then adjust the fields

% Consumer Bar

//to reduce length of bars, only display half the number of blocks – so 100% shows 50 blocks
//but if 99% need to show 49 1/2 blocks, so add on the half block when number is odd (%2=1)
IF ROUND([Consumer % Sales]) = 1 THEN [Half block]
ELSEIF ROUND([Consumer % Sales])%2 =1 THEN LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Consumer % Sales])/2)) + [Half block]
ELSE LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Consumer % Sales])/2)) END

% Corporate Bar

//to reduce length of bars, only display half the number of blocks – so 100% shows 50 blocks
//but if 99% need to show 49 1/2 blocks, so add on the half block when number is odd (%2=1)
IF ROUND([Corporate % Sales]) = 1 THEN [Half block]
ELSEIF ROUND([Corporate % Sales])%2 =1 THEN LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Corporate % Sales])/2)) + [Half block]
ELSE LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Corporate % Sales])/2)) END

% Home Office Bar

//to reduce length of bars, only display half the number of blocks – so 100% shows 50 blocks
//but if 99% need to show 49 1/2 blocks, so add on the half block when number is odd (%2=1)
IF ROUND([Home Office % Sales]) = 1 THEN [Half block]
ELSEIF ROUND([Home Office % Sales])%2 =1 THEN LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Home Office % Sales])/2)) + [Half block]
ELSE LEFT([100 Blocks],(ROUND([Home Office % Sales])/2)) END

Ta-dah!

Note – I did find that Wyoming with a 100% bar still wrapped on Desktop, but was fine when published to Tableau Public.

I finished up by removing row & column dividers, updating the title of the sheet, and then adding the sheet to a dashboard. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you create breadcrumbs for filters?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Lorna set the challenge this week to display ‘breadcrumbs’ related to the filter selections.

Start by building out the basic viz :

  • Category and Sub-Category on Rows
  • Segment and Sales on Columns
  • Order Date (at the Year level), Ship Mode and Region all set to ‘All’ on Filter
  • Profit on Colour.
  • Show the filters on the display
  • Name the sheet Viz or similar

For the breadcrumbs, we need to understand how many of the options in each filter have been selected

Count Ship Modes

COUNTD([Ship Mode])

Count Regions

COUNTD([Region])

Count Years

COUNTD(YEAR([Order Date]))

and then we need to determine what to display based on the counts

BC – Ship Mode

IF [Count Ship Modes] = 1 THEN MIN([Ship Mode]) + ‘ (‘ + STR([Count Ship Modes]) + ‘)’
ELSEIF ([Count Ship Modes]) = SUM({FIXED:COUNTD([Ship Mode])}) THEN ‘All Ship Modes (‘ + STR([Count Ship Modes]) + ‘)’
ELSE ‘Multiple Ship Modes (‘ + STR([Count Ship Modes]) + ‘)’
END

BC – Regions

IF [Count Regions] = 1 THEN MIN([Region]) + ‘ (‘ + STR([Count Regions]) + ‘)’
ELSEIF ([Count Regions]) = SUM({FIXED:COUNTD([Region])}) THEN ‘All Regions (‘ + STR([Count Regions]) + ‘)’
ELSE ‘Multiple Regions (‘ + STR([Count Regions]) + ‘)’
END

BC – Years

IF [Count Years] = 1 THEN STR(MIN(YEAR([Order Date]))) + ‘ (‘ + STR([Count Years]) + ‘)’
ELSEIF ([Count Years]) = SUM({FIXED:COUNTD(YEAR([Order Date]))}) THEN ‘All Years (‘ + STR([Count Years]) + ‘)’
ELSE ‘Multiple Years (‘ + STR([Count Years]) + ‘)’
END

On a new sheet, double click into the section beneath the marks card and create an ad-hoc dimension called ‘dummy’. Add BC-Region, BC- Ship Modes and BC – Years to the Detail shelf. From the Viz sheet you built the chart on, select each filter and set to Apply to Worksheets and select the new sheet. Show all the filters.

Change the mark type to polygon which will make the displayed mark disappear. Then update the sheet title referencing the breadcrumb fields we created. Test the functionality by changing the filter values. Name the sheet BC or similar.

On a dashboard, use a Vertical layout container and add a text field for the title, the BC sheet underneath (set to fit entire view), then add a horizontal layout container and move/add the filters into it. Then add the Viz sheet below, also set to fit entire view.

Format the horizontal container with a grey background then select the option to add hide/show button to it. The button will automatically be a floating object, so move it to where you want it to be. And then that should be it.

My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna

Can you make a bar chart race?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Yoshi & Yusuke presented this week’s #WOW2025 challenge live at the Agentforce World Tour in Tokyo. The key feature of this challenge is utilising the Pages shelf to step through how the shipment rankings for a set of products changes on a month-by-month basis.

Gathering the required files & modelling the data

I downloaded the Sample Super factory (subset).xlsx file from the provided google drive and connected directly to it. Relate Production_Plan_Output_Shipment to Product Master via the Product ID fields. I then added a Data Source Filter to restrict the data to Date: Year = 2025

I also downloaded all the images from the images folder and saved them in a new WOW2025_47 directory I created within my …\My Tableau Repository\Shapes\ directory.

Building the core rank calculation

On a new sheet, add Date to Columns and set to the Month level as a discrete (blue) pill. Add Product Name to Rows and Shipment Qty to Text.

Create a new field

Shipment Rank

RANK_UNIQUE(SUM([Shipment Qty]))

and add to the table. Adjust the table calculation setting, so the field is being computed explicitly by Product Name only.

Create another new field

Rank Display

IF [Shipment Rank] = 1 THEN ‘1st’
ELSEIF [Shipment Rank] =2 THEN ‘2nd’
ELSEIF [Shipment Rank] =3 THEN ‘3rd’
ELSE STR([Shipment Rank]) + ‘th’
END

Build the bar chart

On a new sheet, add Shipment Rank as a discrete (blue) pill to Rows and Shipment Qty to Columns and Product Name to Text.

Add Spiciness Level to Colour and change the field to be an Attribute so the table calc doesn’t break. Then add another instance of Product Name to the Detail shelf, and then click the icon to the left of the pill to add it to the Colour shelf, so there are 2 dimensions on the colour shelf. Adjust the colours to suit.

Tip – the quickest way to get the colours to be in a range is to edit colours > ctrl-click to multi select a set of colours, choose a diverging colour palette and click assign palette.

Edit the axis and reverse the axis. Adjust the size of the bars to make them a bit smaller. Adjust the label and match mark colour. Hide both the axis and the Shipment Rank header and all gridlines, and row/column dividers. Add Date at the Month level to the Pages shelf and update the sheet title.

Creating the Viz in Tooltip

On a new sheet ad Product ID to Rows. Change the mark type to Shape and add Product ID to shape. Edit the shapes to use the WOW2025_47 shapes added. As they are stored in alphabetical ordered, just use Assign Palette to set the right images to the right products. Hide the Product ID header row and remove any row/column dividers. Set the sheet to Entire View.

Back on the bar chart sheet, add Product ID to Detail and set as an Attribute so the table calc doesn’t break. Update the Tooltip to reference the relevant pieces of text and then add a reference to the VIT worksheet

The image should now display on hover of a bar.

Creating the bump chart

On a new sheet, add Date at the month level as a discrete (blue) pill to Columns and Rank Display to Rows. Add Product Name to Detail. Change the mark type to circle.

Add Spiciness Level to Colour and change the field to be an Attribute. Change the icon next to Product Name from Detail to Colour. The colours should automatically change and match the settings made against the bar chart.

Add Date at the month level as a discrete (blue) pill to the Pages shelf. The table will be filtered to January.

On the pages control, check the show history checkbox, then click on the ‘down arrow’ to display the additional history options. Set them as follows : show All marks, show both marks, allow fade and adjust the range, then format the trails to a narrower line at a lower opacity.

As you now press ‘play’ on the pages, the trails will display. HOWEVER (and this took some time to realise), in Desktop, the display of a circle on previous months does not work. Publish to cloud and it does. I did go down some dual axis related route until I discover this 😦

Add Product ID as an attribute to the Detail shelf and Shipment Qty to the Tooltip shelf and update the Tooltip and reference the Viz in Tooltip images sheet as before.

Then tidy up by

  • Removing row dividers
  • Adding column dividers
  • Adding column banding
  • Hide the Date label heading (right click > hide field labels for columns)
  • Hide the Rank Display label heading (right click > hide field labels for rows)
  • Update the title

Then add the sheets onto a dashboard and you should be good to go:-) My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna