Make an AWESOME Tableau Dashboard in Only 10 Minutes

Summary

In this instructional video, Andy demonstrates how to create an interactive sales dashboard in Tableau within 10 minutes. He guides viewers through building essential charts, customizing their appearance, arranging them in a dashboard with containers, and adding interactivity for a comprehensive visual analytics experience. The tutorial covers filtering data, designing KPIs, mapping sales by country, and line charts for monthly sales, all tailored to a European company's sales tracking needs.

Takeaways

• 📊 The video provides a step-by-step guide to creating an interactive dashboard in Tableau within 10 minutes.
• 🔍 The process begins with building charts and then customizing their appearance to match a specific look.
• 🗺️ A map chart is created to visualize sales by country, with customization of colors to match the company's branding.
• 📈 KPIs such as monthly sales, profit, and customer count are displayed in a clear and concise manner with horizontal alignment.
• 📝 A line chart is constructed to represent sales by month, with options to customize the appearance and interactivity.
• 🎨 Custom colors are applied to the charts to enhance visual appeal and align with the company's color scheme.
• 📐 The use of containers in the dashboard helps to organize and align the charts effectively.
• 🔑 Interactivity is added to the dashboard by enabling filters that allow users to select specific months or products and see corresponding changes in the data.
• 📑 The script includes instructions on how to format text, borders, and backgrounds to create a polished and professional look.
• 🔗 The video creator, Andy, provides additional resources in the description for further learning about Tableau features like containers.
• 💻 The video is aimed at helping viewers become proficient in Tableau, with the final result being a visually appealing and functional sales dashboard.

Q & A

What is the main goal of the video?

The main goal of the video is to demonstrate how to create an interactive dashboard in Tableau within 10 minutes.

Who is the presenter of the video?

The presenter of the video is Andy, who created the channel to help viewers become proficient in Tableau.

What are the three main steps to customize the charts in the dashboard?

The three main steps to customize the charts are: building the charts, customizing them to achieve the desired look, and placing them in the dashboard using containers.

What type of company is the scenario based on in the video?

The scenario is based on a European company that needs to build a sales dashboard.

What are the key elements tracked by the sales dashboard mentioned in the video?

The sales dashboard tracks monthly sales, KPIs, top-selling products, and the performance of different regions.

How does the video guide the user to filter the data to the latest year?

The video instructs the user to drag the 'Order Date' to the filters, select the latest year, and apply this filter to all worksheets to ensure it applies to every new sheet created.

What is the first chart that the video guides the user to build and what does it display?

The first chart built in the video is a KPI chart that displays sales, profit, and the number of customers.

How does the video suggest customizing the map chart to match the company's color scheme?

The video suggests changing the default color of the 'Sales' field to a company-specific blue color by accessing the default properties and selecting a standard blue color.

What is the purpose of using containers in the dashboard as shown in the video?

Containers are used in the dashboard to have more control over the alignment and layout of the sheets within the dashboard.

How does the video guide the user to add interactivity to the dashboard?

The video shows how to add filters to the 'Sales by Month' and 'Sales by Product' sheets so that selecting an item in one chart updates the others, creating an interactive experience.

What is the final step described in the video for completing the dashboard?

The final step is to add a bit of interactivity by enabling filters on the charts so that selecting a category in one chart will update the others, and ensuring the dashboard has a clean and polished look with appropriate formatting and borders.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Building Interactive Dashboards with Tableau

This paragraph introduces a tutorial on creating an interactive dashboard in Tableau. The presenter, Andy, outlines the process in four steps: building charts, customizing their appearance, arranging them in a dashboard with containers, and adding interactivity. Andy's channel focuses on improving Tableau skills and encourages viewers to subscribe for more content. The task at hand is to build a sales dashboard for a European company, tracking monthly sales, KPIs, top products, and regional performance. The dataset includes order ID, date, product, customer, and other relevant information, which is available for download. The tutorial begins with filtering the data to the latest year and setting up the filter to apply to all future sheets.

05:01

🖼️ Customizing Charts and Creating a Dashboard Layout

The second paragraph delves into the customization of charts and the layout of the dashboard. It starts with creating KPIs by arranging sales, profit, and customer count in a horizontal layout, editing aliases, and adjusting text sizes for clarity. The presenter then moves on to creating a map visualization, changing the color scheme to align with the company's branding, and cleaning up the map's appearance by adjusting background layers and borders. Following this, a line chart for sales by month is created, with customizations including changing mark types and synchronizing axes. The paragraph also covers creating a bar chart for sales by product, adding an average line for context, and color-coding bars based on their performance relative to the average. The dashboard layout is initiated with containers to control the alignment of sheets, and the presenter guides through adding a title, arranging charts, and formatting the dashboard with borders, padding, and background colors.

10:03

🔍 Adding Interactivity to the Dashboard

The final paragraph focuses on adding interactivity to the dashboard. The presenter demonstrates how to set up filters on the 'Sales by Month' and 'Sales by Product' sheets so that selecting an item in one chart will update the others accordingly. This is done by using the filter option in Tableau and ensuring that the filters apply to all relevant charts. The 'Sales by Country' sheet is also set up with filtering capabilities, allowing for dynamic updates based on country selection. The tutorial concludes with the presenter removing excess elements like the color legend and adjusting the dashboard's appearance for a clean, professional look. The viewer is encouraged to like the video, comment on what they've learned, and subscribe for more content.

Keywords

💡Interactive Dashboard

An interactive dashboard is a digital tool that allows users to interact with data through various visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps. In the video, the main theme revolves around creating an interactive dashboard in Tableau, which is a business intelligence software. The script describes how to build this dashboard with features that respond to user inputs, enhancing data exploration and decision-making.

💡Tableau

Tableau is a data visualization software used for creating interactive and shareable dashboards. The video script provides a tutorial on using Tableau to develop a sales dashboard, demonstrating its capabilities for visualizing and analyzing data through steps like building charts, customizing their appearance, and adding interactivity.

💡KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

KPIs are quantifiable measurements used to track performance against objectives. In the context of the video, KPIs such as monthly sales, profit, and customer count are visualized on the dashboard to provide a quick snapshot of the company's performance. The script describes how to create these KPIs in Tableau by dragging sales and profit measures onto the text shelf.

💡Filters

Filters in Tableau are used to narrow down the data displayed in the visualizations. The script mentions applying a filter to show data from the latest year, which is a common practice to ensure the dashboard displays the most relevant and recent data. Filters help in making the dashboard more dynamic and useful for specific data analysis.

💡Containers

In the script, containers are used to organize and align sheets within the dashboard. They provide a way to control the layout and positioning of different visualizations, ensuring a clean and effective presentation of information. The use of containers is part of the dashboard design process described in the video.

💡Sales by Country

This term refers to a specific visualization in the video that maps sales data by country. The script describes how to create a map in Tableau, color-coded to represent sales figures, and customize its appearance to match the company's branding, such as changing the color to the company's blue.

💡Line Chart

A line chart is a type of graph that displays information as a series of data points connected by straight line segments. In the video, a line chart is used to represent sales by month, showing trends over time. The script details the process of creating this chart, including customizing the appearance and adding interactivity.

💡Subcategory

In the context of the video, a subcategory refers to a classification within a larger category, such as different types of products within a product line. The script mentions creating a visualization to analyze sales by subcategory, allowing viewers to understand which specific products are performing well.

💡Calculated Field

A calculated field in Tableau is a custom field created by the user to perform specific calculations or transformations of the data. The script describes creating a calculated field called 'above average sales' to determine which products have sales figures above the average, adding another layer of analysis to the dashboard.

💡Interactivity

Interactivity in the context of a dashboard refers to the ability of users to interact with the visualizations, such as clicking on elements to filter or drill down into the data. The script explains how to add filters to the charts so that selecting a month or a product will update all other charts on the dashboard, creating a cohesive and interactive experience.

Highlights

The video demonstrates how to create an interactive dashboard in Tableau within 10 minutes.

The process involves building charts, customizing them, arranging in a dashboard, and adding interactivity.

Andy, the creator of the channel, aims to help viewers excel in Tableau.

A European company's sales dashboard is the project focus, tracking monthly sales, KPIs, top products, and regional performance.

The dataset includes order ID, date, product, customer, and other relevant information.

Filtering to the latest year is the first step in building the charts.

KPIs are created by dragging sales, profit, and the count of customers onto the text shelf.

Customizing the appearance of text and borders for a cleaner look is part of the process.

A map visualization is created, with countries colored by sales, and personalized with a company's blue color.

Sales by month are visualized in a line chart with circles representing each month.

Formatting includes removing axis titles, hiding field labels, and adjusting grid lines for clarity.

Sales by product are presented with a bar chart, using a calculated field to color code bars above or below average sales.

The dashboard layout is designed using containers for better alignment and control.

Interactivity is added by enabling filters on the sales by month and sales by product sheets.

The final dashboard includes a title, KPIs, a map, and line and bar charts, all with a consistent aesthetic.

The video concludes with the complete interactive dashboard, showcasing the ability to update charts based on selected filters.

Transcripts

in this video I'm going to show you how

to make this awesome interactive

dashboard in Tableau in just 10 minutes

first we're going to build the charts

second we're going to customize them to

get the look that we want third we're

going to place them in the dashboard

using containers and lastly We'll add

some interactivity let's get started

if you're new here my name's Andy I

created this channel to help you become

great at tableau and today I'm going to

show you how to build a beautiful

Tableau dashboard if you enjoy this

video please give it a like and don't

forget to click on subscribe I create

lots of content and I don't want you to

miss out on anything here we go so we're

a European company and we've been tasked

with building a sales dashboard that

tracks things like monthly sales some

kpis top selling products and which

regions are performing the best the data

set looks like this we have the order ID

the date what product was bought who the

customer is and so on this data set is

available in the description first let's

go ahead and build all of the charts

first we want to filter down to just the

latest year so drag order date to the

filters

click on years and then next

and choose the latest year and click on

ok now we want this filter to apply to

every sheet that we create so let's go

ahead and click on that filter choose

apply to worksheets and then all using

this data source that way we don't have

to remember to reapply this filter with

every new sheet that we build let's

build those kpis drag sales to the text

drag profit on top of that number so

that you see show me and then we want to

get the count of customers so right

click and drag customer ID to the

measure value Shelf

and choose Cal distinct of customer ID

click on OK we want to rearrange these

so that the numbers go across rather

than down so drag measure names from the

rows to the columns we want sales to be

first before profit so on the measure

value shelf drag sales above profit and

we want our customers to say the number

of customers not distinct count of

customer ID so right click on that

header and choose edit Alias I'm going

to rename it number of customers

click on OK click on the text shelf and

in the alignment instead of automatic

choose Center horizontal

and Center vertical

let's make the text nice and big for our

headers so right click on one of the

headers

and choose format

change the font to 14 point

but we want the text to be bigger as

well so click on the text shelf and then

the three dots

on the measure values let's make these

maybe 22 point

in the format pane choose the borders

option

set the row divider to none

and now we have nice and clear kpis

rename the sheet kpis

the second sheet we want to build is our

map I'm going to double click on country

drag sales to the color shelf and now we

have each country colored by sales but I

don't like this color blue I want to

make it more like my company's blue

color so right click on the sales field

in the data pane go to default

properties and then color

and we like to use the standard blue

color

click on OK I want to clean up this map

so right click in the map and choose

background layers

drag the washout to 100 click on the

color Shelf

and change your border to white but we

still have these lines go around the

outside of the map so close the

background layers right click in the map

and choose format in the borders option

set the row dividers to none

and the column dividers To None now we

have a nice clean looking map let's

rename this sheet

sales by country

on to our next sheet in this one we want

to create a line chart of sales by month

right click and drag order date to the

columns

choose discrete months

click on OK

drag sales to the rows

now I want to see little circles on each

month so I'm going to hold my control

key down

and duplicate the sales field on the

rows on the first sale shelf change the

mark type from automatic to line on the

second cell shelf change the mark type

to a circle click on the color shelf set

the color to white

and set the border to Blue right click

on the second sum of sales field on the

row Shelf

and choose dual axis

right click on either of the axes and

choose synchronize axis right click on

the axis on the left hand side and

choose edit axis

let's get rid of the title

right click on the axis on the right

hand side choose edit axis and let's get

rid of the title

right click on order date at the top of

the view and choose hide field labels

for columns

now we don't need the axes on both sides

so I'm going to right click on the axis

on the right and uncheck shell header

lastly we want to clean up the view of

it so right click in the view and choose

format I'm going to go to my borders and

I'm going to turn my row dividers off

and also set my column divider to none

I'm going to go to my lines I'm going to

turn my grid lines on and then back off

turn my zero lines off

and I'm going to set my Axis ruler to a

line lastly I want to change the

formatting of my months right click on

any of the months and choose format in

the dates option let's choose

abbreviation and that gives us the three

letter months rename the sheet sales by

month

one more sheet in this one we want to

look at sales by product drag

subcategory to the rows sales to the

columns

sort descending right click on the

header for the subcategory and choose

hide field labels for rows right click

on the axis and choose edit axis and get

rid of the title

change the view from standard to entire

view right click in the view and choose

format go to the lines and turn your

grid lines on and back off set the zero

lines to none to add a bit of context

for these bars let's go to the analytics

Pane and drag on an average line for the

table we can now color code the bars

based on whether they're above or below

the average go back to the data Pane and

create a new calculated field I'm going

to call this above average sales

my formula is sum of sales is greater

than or equal to the window average

of the sum of sales

the window average sum of sales

represents the value of my reference

line click on OK drag the above average

sales field to the color Shelf and

notice we now have two colors choose the

color shelf and edit colors I'm going to

set the true to be blue so those that

are above average are blue and I want

the false to be Gray

so I'm going to choose Seattle grays

false and then the light gray click on

OK let's rename this sheet sales by

product

and now we have our four sheets built if

I go back to the dashboard this is the

view we're looking at so we can refer

back and forth to this as we build our

dashboard create a new dashboard and

we're going to make it 1200 by 600.

start by holding the shift key down and

drag in a vertical container go to the

layout tab and set the position to 0x0y

1200 wide and 600 tall

we put this container in here so that we

have a bit more control over how the

sheets are aligned in the dashboard if

you want to learn more about containers

I'll post the link in the description to

a whole series of videos I have so

inside of the dashboard let's start by

dragging in a text object to use as our

title

I'm going to call this European sales

dashboard

highlight the text and let's make it a

nice big font

and change the color click on ok now we

want to have the map on the right hand

side so I'm going to drag my sales by

country field

to the right inside of that container

let's edit the width of the map

let's make it 375. notice there's a

color legend in the back we'll take care

of that in a minute so now referring

back over to our dashboard we have our

map on the right and we have our title

across the top but now we need this

other section here so I'm going to drag

in a vertical container to the left of

my title grab my title and drag it into

that vertical container now we can drag

our kpis underneath of the title next we

want to put the sales by month and the

sales by product side by side drag in a

horizontal container below the kpis drag

in your sales by month into that

horizontal container

and then your sales by product to the

right of that in your container now we

can do a bit of formatting let's set the

dashboard height

to 85.

let's set our kpis to fit the entire

View

and then let's edit the height of those

to be 115.

right click on the title and choose hide

title on the sales by product let's edit

the width of that

to be 400.

and now we're looking pretty good but I

want to have these nice gray borders

around the outside and have the grade

between the objects to make them pop a

bit more for that it's just a bit of

formatting choose dashboard on the menu

and choose format we want the shading to

be a light gray close that view choose

our title click on the layout tab and

let's set the outer padding to 10.

change the background to be white

set our inner padding to 10 and then

turn on a light gray border go to our

kpi sheet again turn our light Ray

border

set the inner padding to 10 and then set

the outer padding to 10.

and set the background color to white on

our sales by month again turn on the

light gray border

set the background to White

set the outer padding to 10.

said the inner padding to 10. sales by

product sheet set the border to Gray

so the background to White

said the outer padding to 10 and set the

inner padding to 10. sales by country

same steps like gray border

background is white

and then our inner and outer padding are

both 10.

now remember we have a color Ledge in

the background that's tied up in this

tiled object down here on the bottom

left right click on that tiled object

and choose remove from dashboard

click on delete containers and there we

go we now have the dashboard looking

exactly the way we'd like it it's time

to add a bit of interactivity let's say

I want to be able to filter the other

charts based on one of the months I pick

click on the sales by month sheet and

choose the filter option

now when I click on a month you'll see

all of my charts changed based on that

month let's do the same thing for sales

by product click on the filter so now

when I click on a product all the other

charts will update based on that product

let's change sales by country

turn on the filter click on Finland and

now all of the charts will update based

on the sales for Finland

and that's all there is to it in just a

few minutes we've created a beautiful

interactive dashboard and Tableau if you

found this useful please give it a like

and better yet leave me a comment with

something you've learned in this video

and don't forget to click on subscribe I

don't want you to miss any content I

create until next time