Tableau Starter Kit

1. Download the Tableau Software and Install it in your computer.
2. Access the Starter Kit Workbook  from the link http://www.tableau.com/learn/starter-kit
3. And  enjoy learning Tableau Desktop Tool within 20 days.
Source : Tableau Digital Team 

Data Blending -Key points

Important notes in Tableau Desktop

Important notes in Tableau Desktop

• Multidimensional data sources do not support aggregations and binned data.
• Multidimensional data sources supports only in windows.
• You can use tableau to aggregate measures only with relational data sources, multidimensional data sources contain aggregated data only.
• Null values are ignored in median, count, sum, avg and countD.
• Median does not work on live connection.
• Median was not there before 8.2 version.
• Percentile required extract data. Percentile works with only extracts.
• When all measures are disaggregated you see a mark for each row in the view, you can't select marks to keep only, exclude or create a set when all measures are disaggregated.
• A dimension can be aggregated as a measure using minimum, maximum, count and count (distinct)
• Count (Distinct) is not support for Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and text files data sources. These data sources requires extract to work with CountD
• Dis-aggregating the data can result in a performance degradation.
• When you are writing formulas, any part that displays in bold indicates that it will be computed locally with in tableau on the aggregated results. Any normal weight text will be computed at the database level.
• Functions are displayed in Blue color while creating calculation field.
• Data window fields are displayed in Orange color while creating calculation field.
• Operators are displayed as Blank color while creating calculation field.
• Parameters are displayed as Purple color while creating calculation field.
• Comments are colored as Green color while creating calculation field.
• Grand Totals cannot be applied to continuous dimensions.
• The view must have at least one header to apply Grand Totals.
• If row headers are displayed you can calculate Grand Total for row, If column headers are displayed you can calculate Grand Total for column.
• Forecasting is not supported for multidimensional data sources.
• Forecasting doesn’t work if the view contains:
  (a) Table calculations
  (b) Disaggregated measures
  (c) Percent calculations
  (d) Grand Totals or Sub Totals
  (e) Date values with aggregation set to exact date
  (f) A time series contains null values also imposes constraints.
• The smaller the p-value, the more significant the model.
• If your data contains negative values tableau cannot plot them on a logarithmic scale. All values with a negative value will be displayed at 1 on the axis.
• The pattern match is not case sensitive in filters wild card match.
• If we are using multidimensional data source wild card match option is only available when filtering single level hierarchies and attributes.
• Filters cannot be applied across multiple data sources.
• In previous versions of tableau desktop, the All using this data source option was called make global and the only this worksheet option was make local.
• Sorted fields are identified by a sort icon on the right side of the field.
• You cannot nest inner joins within left or right joins. These joins will cause a "join expression not supported" error.

Source : Suresh Reddy NallapaReddy

Some Findings While Working on Tableau

Observations

• More than 16 dimensions is not possible in table layout
• Side by side bar with line chart is not possible
• Exporting all dashboards or all sheets in a single dashboard in to single excel file is not possible
• When title as header session it is not showing all values as list, it is showing it as 5 more
• There is no multiple selection in parameters
• If we use data base column in parameters list that list is not refreshing dynamically.
• Dynamic pagination is not there.
• Session is not there (like SAP BO)
• Automatic text wrapping is not there
• Selected prompt values deselecting multiple values is not there like other reporting tools.
• Sort icon is not working as other reporting tools
• Tableau taking much time to sort the filter values.
• CountD, Median, percentile functions does not work when we use data blending.
• Adding subtotals and totals is not possible when we add measures in between dimension columns in discrete mode.
• In cross tab report Coloring to entire row based on KPI is not possible in tableau
• Zero value issues in Pie, Bar chart and Bubble chart with Marks labels

Source : Suresh Reddy Nallapa Reddy

Top 10 and Bottom 10 values by Sales

1) First you create a set for top 10 Products by Right click on a product field-> then create a set -> then select "Top" ->  then define "10", choose "Sales"  with sum.

2) Create second set  for create Bottom 10 Products by right click on a product field -> create a set -> then select bottom -> then define 10, choose sales with sum

3)  now combine the first and second set, by clicking on any one of the sets and -> selecct combine set -> select all values 

4) First drag the sales in to rows shelf, and then Products in to columns shelf.

5) Now drag the combine set in to the filter shelf... now your view will have only top 10 and bottom 10 values by sales.

Tableau Connection Error - 127

Once in  six months or an year, We used to recieve a connection error called 127 in Tableau especially when we connected to an Oracle Database.  It means the database connection drivers might be out of date.

Fix for this is : We need to downlaod the right version of Oracle Instant client, Unzip it to the Oracle folder and then add it to the system Environment variable Path.

After that you should restart your Tableau server. That's it...

How to Create Installation log in Tableau?

Step 1: Download the Tableau Desktop or Tableau Reader installer to your machine, to the location of your choice.
Step 2: Click the Start button.
Step 3: In the search box, type Command Prompt. In the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
Step 4: Type cd c:\ to change the drive directory to c:
Step 5: Type cd and the path to the location where you downloaded the Tableau Desktop or Tableau Reader installer in step 1.
For example, cd Users\<username>\Desktop. The <username> must be replaced with your Windows username.
Step 6: For Tableau Desktop, type TableauDesktop.exe /t:"full path to the folder of your choice"/c to simultaneously extract the Tableau Desktop installer to a folder that is created with a name of your choice.

For Tableau Reader, type 
For Tableau Reader, type TableauReader.exe /t: "full path to the folder of your choice"/c.
For example, TableauDesktop.exe /t:"c:\Users\<username>\Desktop\TableauDesktopTemp"/c.
Step 7: Type cd and the name of the folder you created in step 6.
For example, cd TableauDesktopTemp.
Step 8: Type dir to see the contents of this folder.
Make note of the full name of the .msi file contained in this folder. For example, the full name of Tableau Desktop .msi file may look similar to this, tableau-setup-std-tableau-6-1.11.0724.1830.msi.
Step 9: Type msiexec /i fullfilename.msi /l*v logfile.txt to install Tableau. Everything that happens during this installation process is recorded in the installation log called "logfile.txt".

Replace"fullfilename.msi" with the full file name you noted in step 8. For example, 
Replace"fullfilename.msi" with the full file name you noted in step 8. For example, msiexec /i tableau-setup-std-tableau-6-1.11.0724.1830.msi /l*v logfile.txt.
Step 10 (optional):If an error or other issue occurs during installation, navigate to the folder you created in step 6. It will contain the installation log called "logfile.txt".https://www.facebook.com/groups/15888884513646