Learn Tableau in 1 Day

By Krishna Rungta

Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved – Krishna Rungta

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including
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without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.
Table Of Content
Chapter 1: What is Tableau? Uses and Applications

1. What is Tableau?
2. Tableau Product Suite
3. How does Tableau work?
4. Excel Vs. Tableau

Chapter 2: Tableau Architecture & Server Components

1. Tableau Server Architecture

2. Data Connectors
3. Components of Tableau Server
4. Gateway
5. Clients

Chapter 3: How to Download & Install Tableau Public (Free) & Desktop
(Trial)

1. Download and Install Tableau Public

2. Download and Install Tableau Desktop

Chapter 4: Introduction to Tableau Desktop Software: Workspace &

Navigation

1. Tableau Desktop Workspace

2. Tableau Navigation
Chapter 5: Tableau Data Connections to Databases and Multiple Sources

1. Connecting to various data sources

2. Connection to Text File
3. Connecting to Excel File
4. Connection to Database
5. Connection to Websites
6. Connecting to Tableau Server
7. Data Relationship
8. Data Sorting
9. Replacing Data Source

Chapter 6: Types of Filters in Tableau: Condition by Formula, Extract,

Context

1. Types of Filters:
2. Filter condition in Tableau
3. Filter Condition by Formula:

Chapter 7: Tableau Create Group, Hierarchy, Sets & Sort Data

1. Sort data:
2. Build groups:
3. Build Hierarchy:
4. Build Sets:

Chapter 8: Tableau Charts & Graphs Tutorial: Types & Examples

1. Measure names and Measure values:
2. Generated Fields:
3. Understand how and when to build different types of Visuals:
 Chapter 1: What is Tableau?
Uses and Applications
What is Tableau?
Tableau is a powerful and fastest growing data visualization tool used in
the Business Intelligence Industry. It helps in simplifying raw data into the
very easily understandable format.

Data analysis is very fast with Tableau and the visualizations created are in
the form of dashboards and worksheets. The data that is created using
Tableau can be understood by professional at any level in an organization. It
even allows a non-technical user to create a customized dashboard.

The best feature Tableau are

Data Blending Real

time analysis
Collaboration of data

The great thing about Tableau software is that it doesn't require any
technical or any kind of programming skills to operate. The tool has garnered
interest among the people from all sectors such as business, researchers,
different industries, etc.

Tableau Product Suite

The Tableau Product Suite consists of

Tableau Desktop
Tableau Public
Tableau Online
Tableau Server
Tableau Reader

For clear understanding, data analytics in tableau can be classified into two
section

1. Developer Tools: The Tableau tools that are used for development
such as the creation of dashboards, charts, report
 generation, visualization fall into this category. The Tableau products,
under this category, are the Tableau Desktop and the Tableau Public.
2. Sharing Tools: As the name suggests, the purpose of the tool is
sharing the visualizations, reports, dashboards that were created
using the developer tools. Products that fall into this category are
Tableau Online, Server, and Reader.

Let's study all the products one by one.

Tableau Desktop

Tableau Desktop has a rich feature set and allows you to code and
customize reports. Right from creating the charts, reports, to blending them
all together to form a dashboard, all the necessary work is created in
Tableau Desktop.

For live data analysis, Tableau Desktop provides connectivity to Data

Warehouse, as well as other various types of files. The workbooks and the
dashboards created here can be either shared locally or publicly.

Based on the connectivity to the data sources and publishing option, Tableau
Desktop is classified into

Tableau Desktop Personal: The development features are similar to

Tableau Desktop. Personal version keeps the workbook private, and the
access is limited. The workbooks cannot be published online. Therefore,
it should be distributed either Offline or in Tableau Public.
Tableau Desktop Professional: It is pretty much similar to Tableau
Desktop. The difference is that the work created in the
 Tableau Desktop can be published online or in Tableau Server. Also, in
Professional version, there is full access to all sorts of the datatype. It is
best suitable for those who wish to publish their work in Tableau
Server.

Tableau Public

It is Tableau version specially build for the cost-effective users. By the word
"Public," it means that the workbooks created cannot be saved locally, in
turn, it should be saved to the Tableau's public cloud which can be viewed
and accessed by anyone.

There is no privacy to the files saved to the cloud since anyone can download
and access the same. This version is the best for the individuals who want to
learn Tableau and for the ones who want to share their data with the general
public.

Tableau Server

The software is specifically used to share the workbooks, visualizations that

are created in the Tableau Desktop application across the organization. To
share dashboards in the Tableau Server, you must first publish your work in
the Tableau Desktop. Once the work has been uploaded to the server, it will
be accessible only to the licensed users.

However, It's not necessary that the licensed users need to have the Tableau
Server installed on their machine. They just require the login credentials with
which they can check reports via a web browser. The security is high in
Tableau server, and it is much suited for quick and effective sharing of data in
an organization.
The admin of the organization will always have full control over the server.
The hardware and the software are maintained by the organization.

Tableau Online

As the name suggests, it is an online sharing tool of Tableau. Its

functionalities are similar to Tableau Server, but the data is stored on
servers hosted in the cloud which are maintained by the Tableau group.

There is no storage limit on the data that can be published in the Tableau
Online. Tableau Online creates a direct link to over 40 data sources that are
hosted in the cloud such as the MySQL, Hive, Amazon Aurora, Spark SQL and
many more.

To publish, both Tableau Online and Server require the workbooks created
by Tableau Desktop. Data that is streamed from the web applications say
Google Analytics, Salesforce.com are also supported by Tableau Server and
Tableau Online.

Tableau Reader

Tableau Reader is a free tool which allows you to view the workbooks and
visualizations created using Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public. The data can
be filtered but editing and modifications are restricted. The security level is
zero in Tableau Reader as anyone who gets the workbook can view it using
Tableau Reader.

If you want to share the dashboards that you have created, the receiver
should have Tableau Reader to view the document.
How does Tableau work?
Tableau connects and extracts the data stored in various places. It can pull
data from any platform imaginable. A simple database such as an excel, pdf,
to a complex database like Oracle, a database in the cloud such as Amazon
webs services, Microsoft Azure SQL database, Google Cloud SQL and various
other data sources can be extracted by Tableau.

When Tableau is launched, ready data connectors are available which allows
you to connect to any database. Depending on the version of Tableau that
you have purchased the number of data connectors supported by Tableau
will vary.

The pulled data can be either connected live or extracted to the Tableau's
data engine, Tableau Desktop. This is where the Data analyst, data engineer
work with the data that was pulled up and develop visualizations. The
created dashboards are shared with the users as a static file. The users who
receive the dashboards views the file using Tableau Reader.

The data from the Tableau Desktop can be published to the Tableau server.
This is an enterprise platform where collaboration, distribution,
governance, security model, automation features are supported. With the
Tableau server, the end users have a better experience in accessing the files
from all locations be it a desktop, mobile or email.

Excel Vs. Tableau

Both Excel and Tableau are data analysis tools, but each tool has its unique
approach to data exploration. However, the analysis in Tableau is more
potent than excel.

Excel works with rows and columns in spreadsheets whereas Tableau enables
in exploring excel data using its drag and drop feature.
Tableau formats the data in Graphs, pictures that are easily understandable.

Parameters Excel Tableau

Spreadsheet application used for Perfect visualization tool used for
Purpose
manipulating the data. analysis.
Most suitable for quick and easy
Most suitable for statistical analysis of representation of big data which helps
Usage in resolving the big data issues.
structured data.

Moderate speed with options to

Moderate speed with no option to quicken.
Performance optimize and enhance the progress of
an operation.
The inbuilt security feature is weak when Extensive options to secure data
compared to Tableau. The security update without scripting. Security features like
Security needs to be installed on a regular basis. row level security and permission are
inbuilt.
To utilize excel to full potential, macro and
User Interface The tool can be used without any
visual basic scripting knowledge is required
coding knowledge.
Business need Best for preparing on-off reports with small
Best while working with big data.
data
Comes with different versions such as
Products Bundled with MS Office tools the Tableau server, cloud, and desktop.

Excel integrates with around 60 applications Tableaus integrated with over 250
Integration
applications
In Tableaus, you are free to explore
data without even knowing the
Real time data When you are working in excel, you need answer that you want. With the in-
exploration have an idea of where your data takes you built features like data blending and
to get to know the insights drill-down, you will be able to
determine the variations and data
patterns.
 When working in excel, we first manipulate
the data that is present and then the
visualization such as the different charts,
Easy Whereas in Tableau, the data is
graphs are created manually. To make the
Visualizations visualized from the beginning.
visualizations easily understandable, you
should
understand the features of excel well.

To conclude, Tableau beats Excel in major areas like the interactive

dashboards, visualizations, capabilities to work with large-scale data and
many more.

Summary

Tableau is a powerful and fastest growing data visualization tool used in

the Business Intelligence Industry
The Tableau Product Suite consists of 1) Tableau Desktop 2) Tableau
Public 3) Tableau Online 4) Tableau Server and Tableau Reader
Tableau Desktop has a rich feature set and allows you to code and
customize reports
In Tableau public, workbooks created cannot be saved locally, in turn, it
should be saved to the Tableau's public cloud which can be viewed and
accessed by anyone
Tableau server is specifically used to share the workbooks, visualizations
that are created in the Tableau Desktop application across the
organization
Tableau online has all the similar functionalities of the Tableau Server,
but the data is stored on servers hosted in the cloud which are
maintained by the Tableau group.
Tableau Reader is a free tool which allows you to view the workbooks
and visualizations created using Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public.
Tableau connects and extracts the data stored in various places. It can
pull data from any platform imaginable.
The spreadsheet application used for manipulating the data while
Tableau is a perfect visualization tool used for analysis
 Chapter 2: Tableau Architecture &
Server Components
Tableau Server is designed in a way to connect many data tiers. It can
connect clients from desktop, mobile, and web. Tableau Desktop is a robust
data visualization tool. It is highly available and secure.

It can run on both virtual and physical machines. It is a multi-user, multi-

process and multi-threaded system.

Providing such powerful features requires a robust architecture. Let's study

the Tableau Server Architecture in this tutorial.

Tableau Server Architecture

The various layers used in the Tableau server are given in the following
architecture diagram
 Tableau Architecture Diagram

Let's study the different components of Tableau Architecture

1. Data Server

The primary component of Tableau Architecture is the Data sources it can

connect to it.

Tableau can connect to multiple data sources. These data sources can be
on-premise or remotely located. It can connect to a database, excel file, and
a web application all at the same time. Tableau can connect data from
heterogeneous environments. It can blend the data from multiple data
sources. It can also make the relationship between various types of data
sources.
 2. Data Connectors
The Data Connectors provide an interface to connect external data sources
to Tableau Data Server.

Tableau has in-built ODBC/SQL connector. This ODBC Connector can connect
to any databases without using their native connector.
Tableau has an option to select both live and extract data. Based on the
usage, one can be easily switched between extracted and live data.

Live Connection or Real time data: Tableau can connect to real time
data by linking to the external database directly. It uses the
infrastructure of existing database system by sending dynamic MDX
(Multidimensional Expressions) and SQL statements. This feature can
link to the live data with Tableau rather than importing the data. It
makes good the investment done by an organization on a fast and
optimized database system. In many enterprises, the size of the
database is huge and is updated periodically. In those cases, Tableau
works as a front-end visualization tool by connecting to the live data.
Extracted or In-memory data: Tableau has an option to extract the data
from external data sources. We can make a local copy in the form of
tableau extract file. It can extract millions of records in Tableau data
engine with a single click. Tableau's data engine uses storage such as
RAM, ROM and cache memory to store and process data. Using filters,
Tableau can extract few records from a huge dataset. This improves the
performance, especially while working on massive datasets. Extracted
or in- memory data allows the users to visualize the data offline,
without connecting to the data source.
 3. Components of Tableau Server
The different components present in a Tableau server are:

Application Server
VizQL Server
Data Server

A) Application Server:

The application server is used to provide the authentications and

authorizations. It handles the administration and permission for web and
mobile interfaces. It assures security by recording each session id on
Tableau Server. The administrator can configure the default timeout of the
session in the server.

B) VizQL Server:

VizQL server is used to convert the queries from the data source into
visualizations. Once the client request is forwarded to VizQL process, it
sends the query directly to data source and retrieves information in the
form of images. This image or visualization is presented to the user. Tableau
server creates a cache of visualization to reduce the load time. The cache
can be shared across many users who have the permission to view the
visualization.

C) Data Server:

Data server is used to manage and store the data from external data sources.
It is a central data management system. It provides metadata management,
data security, data storage, data connection and driver requirements. It
stores the relevant details of data set such as
metadata, calculated fields, sets, groups, and parameters. The data
source could extract data as well make live connections to external data
sources.

4. Gateway
The gateway channelizes the requests from users to Tableau components.
When the client makes a request, it is forwarded to external load balancer
for processing. The gateway works as a distributor of processes to various
components. In case of absence of external load balancer, gateway also
works as a load balancer. For single server configuration, one primary server
or gateway manages all the processes. For multiple server configurations,
one physical system works as primary server while others are used as worker
servers. Only one machine can be used as a primary server in Tableau Server
environment.

5. Clients
The dashboards and visualizations in Tableau server can be viewed and
edited using different clients. The Clients are Tableau Desktop, web
browser and mobile applications.

Clients Environment

Tableau Desktop is a business analytics tool. It

helps to create, view and publish dashboards in
Tableau Desktop Tableau Server. Users can access various data
sources and build visualizations in Tableau
Desktop.
 The dashboards from the server can be
interactively visualized using mobile browsers and
Mobile applications. The browser and application can be
used to view and edit the contents in the
workbook.

Web browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari,

Firefox and internet explorer support the Tableau
Web server. The contents and visualizations in the
dashboard can be edited through these web
browsers.

Summary:
The architecture of Tableau Server is designed to connect different
data sources securely.
Data Server is the first layer in the architecture. It helps Tableau to
connect data in various heterogeneous environments.
Data connector is the second layer. It helps to connect to various
databases using its ODBC connector.
Tableau can connect the real time live data by connecting the database
directly. It can also extract a local copy of data through its in-memory
data store for faster processing.
The components such as Application Server, VizQL Server, and data
server act as the third layer.
The application server is used for authentications and authorizations.
VizQL is used to convert the SQL query into visualizations.
Data Server is a centralized data management system used in the
architecture.
A gateway is used to distribute the processes into different components.
The fourth layer of the architecture are the clients such as Tableau
Desktop, web and Mobile.