Tableau (BI) interview questions version 2.0

2015 TABLEAU INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. VERSION 2. EMAIL : TRAINING@VISUALECT.CO,
CALL :09705596666
1. What is Data Visualization?
Data visualization is, quite simply, the process of describing information
through visual rendering. Humans have used visualizations to explain the
world around them for millions of years. Data visualization allows for
universal and immediate insight by tapping into our mind’s powerful visual
processing system.
2. Why is Data Visualization Important?
Technological advances have made data visualization more prevalent and
powerful than ever before, increasing the importance of business intelligence.
Tableau leads the world in making the data visualization process available to
business users of every background and industry. Businesses around the
globe realize that the ability to visualize data effectively leads directly to
better understanding, insight and better business decisions.
Tableau Software enables businesses to keep pace with the evolving
technology landscape and outperform competitors through an adaptive and
intuitive means of visualizing their data.
3. What is Tableau?
Tableau is groundbreaking data visualization software created by Tableau
Software. Tableau connects easily to nearly any data source, be it corporate
Data Warehouse, Microsoft Excel or web-based data. Tableau allows for
instantaneous insight by transforming data into visually appealing, interactive
visualizations called dashboards. This process takes only seconds or minutes
rather than months or years, and is achieved through the use of an easy to
use drag-and-drop interface.
(Or)
Tableau is business intelligence software that allows anyone to connect to
data in a few clicks, then visualize and create interactive, sharable
dashboards with a few more. It's easy enough that any Excel user can learn
it, but powerful enough to satisfy even the most complex analytical problems.
Securely sharing your findings with others only takes seconds.
The result is BI software that you can trust to actually deliver answers to the
people that need them

CALL :09705596666
4. What is Tableau Desktop?
Tableau Software provides software applications for fast analytical and rapid
fire business intelligence.
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization application that lets you analyze
virtually any type of structured data and produce highly interactive, beautiful
graphs, dashboards, and reports in just minutes. After a quick installation,
you can connect to virtually any data source from spreadsheets to data
warehouses and display information in multiple graphic perspectives.
Designed to be easy to use, you’ll be working faster than ever before.
Tableau Server is a business intelligence solution that provides browser-
based visual analytics anyone can use at just a fraction of the cost of typical
BI software. With just a few clicks, you can publish or embed live, interactive
graphs, dashboards and reports with current data automatically customized
to the needs of everyone across your organization. It deploys in minutes and
users can produce thousands of reports without the need of IT services — all
within your IT infrastructure.
Tableau Reader is a free viewing application that lets anyone read and
interact with packaged workbooks created by Tableau Desktop.
5. What can I do with Tableau Desktop?
Imagine being able to answer virtually any business question by dragging-
and-dropping your data into a free-form visual canvas. You create beautiful
graphs, reports and dashboards. You then share those results in just a few
clicks. Using Tableau Desktop, you can build and interact with views of data.
These views allow you to query, display, analyze, filter, sort, group, drill
down, drill up, calculate, organize, summarize, and present data faster and
more efficiently than ever before. With Tableau Sever and Tableau Public you
can share and embed your live, interactive views, reports, and dashboards so
that colleagues can interact, customize or monitor them.
The various ways that Tableau can help you get more from your data are
discussed in more detail below.

CALL :09705596666
Visually Analyze Data Rapidly
See and Understand
People need effective views of data to understand results, discover
relationships, find patterns, locate outliers, uncover structure, and summarize
findings. how well can you see what is going on in your business?
Tableau lets you ask rapid questions of your data by letting you iteratively
create and modify live, interactive charts, reports and dashboards in minutes.
These views are fundamentally more useful for analysis than those provided
by pre-canned reports and traditional dashboards. Tableau gives you
interactive visual tables, picture-perfect data displays, side-by-side
comparisons, and graphic encoding using color, size and shape. Without any
programming or training, users can see and understand data like they’ve
never been able to before.
Browse and Explore
Tableau is the world’s leading exploratory browser for databases. A key step
in the analysis process is the ability to start with “big picture” summaries of
data and then quickly focus on detailed areas of interest.
To conduct effective analysis, it is crucial for people to quickly change what
data they are viewing and how it is being viewed. Tableau’s flexible interface
enables this free form exploration. Exploratory analysis is further supported
with unlimited undo and redo, allowing people to surf their databases much
like they surf the web.
Build Interactive Dashboards
Build Dashboards People Can Understand
Use Tableau to build dashboards that communicate clearly and directly. Each
element of a dashboard presents information in the most effective way
possible, based on the latest research in human perception. Tableau provides
the display type that best expresses the data—bar and line charts, maps,
tables, scatter plots, and more. Tableau helps you build dashboards that
inform and impress.

CALL :09705596666
Monitor and Measure
Use Tableau to build analytical dashboards that compare information and
track performance against goals. These dashboards can be based on multiple
data sources. They are fully interactive, allowing you to drill into and explore
information directly from the dashboard. You can also apply common filters to
all the worksheets, allowing you to change the filter and watch an array of
visual displays update simultaneously.
Interact and Drill-down
Sometimes you need to answer additional questions within a dashboard. With
Tableau, viewers can dynamically filter, highlight, drill-down and link across
multiple views in one dashboard. This essentially creates an interactive visual
analysis application on the fly.
Share and Interact
Present
Imagine pasting Tableau’s vivid multi-dimensional results into Microsoft Office
applications and sharing them with others. our users have a reputation for
producing high-impact presentations that are easy to understand.
Publish and Embed
Share your graphs, reports, and dashboards by publishing them with Tableau
Server. Anyone with proper data credentials can view and interact with those
visualizations using just a browser. They can even save custom views, make
comments, or even tag favorites. Don’t want people to visit a specific URL
destination for their views? No problem—embed them in virtually any web
application with just a few lines of code
6. How do you create dashboard? Can you explain the life cycle?
A dashboard is a collection of several worksheets and
supporting information shown in a single place so you can compare and
monitor a variety of data simultaneously. For example, you may have a set of
views that you review every day. Rather than flipping through each
worksheet, you can create a dashboard that displays all the views at once.
You can create a dashboard in much the same way you create a new
worksheet.
Select Dashboard > New Dashboard.

CALL :09705596666
Alternatively, click the New Dashboard tab along the
bottom of the workbook. A new tab for the dashboard is added along the
bottom of the workbook. Switch to the new dashboard to add views and
objects.
When you open a dashboard the Dashboard window
replaces the Data window on the left side of the workbook. The Dashboard
window lists the worksheets that are currently in the workbook. As you create
new worksheets, the Dashboard window updates so you always have all
worksheets available when adding to a dashboard it.
After a view is added to the dashboard, the worksheet
is marked with a check mark in the Dashboard window. Also, any legends or
quick filters that are turned on for the sheet are automatically added to the
dashboard.By default, dashboards use a Tiled layout, which means that each
view and object is arranged into a single layered grid. You can change the
layout to Floating to allow views and objects to overlap. See Organizing
Dashboards to learn more about these layouts.
7. How can you schedule the Reports in tableau? Explain briefly?
Schedules
when you publish workbooks that connect to extracts you can schedule the
extracts to be refreshed automatically. That way you don't have to republish
the workbook every time the underlying data has updated and you can still
get the performance of a data extract. For example, let's say you have a
workbook that connects to a large data warehouse that is updated weekly.
Instead of publishing a workbook that queries the live data, you can create
an extract including just the data necessary. This increases performance and
avoids queries to the live database. Then you can add that workbook to a
schedule so that the extract is refreshed at regular intervals with updated
data from the data warehouse.Schedules are created and managed on the
server by an administrator. However, an administrator can allow you to add
a workbook to a schedule when you are publishing from
Tableau Desktop.
1. As you are publishing a workbook, in the Publish Workbook to Tableau
Server dialog box, click Scheduling & Authentication.
2. In the Scheduling & Authentication dialog box, select a schedule for the
workbook:
All data sources that require authentication must have an embedded
password so that the extract can be refreshed. This includes data sources
that are not extracts.

CALL :09705596666
8. When export a worksheet into tableau server how to give a connection to
database to run that report in server?
When you publish workbooks that connect to extracts you can schedule the
extracts to be refreshed automatically. That way you don't have to republish
the workbook every time the underlying data has updated and you can still
get the performance of a data extract. For example, let's say you have a
workbook that connects to a large data warehouse that is updated weekly.
Instead of publishing a workbook that queries the live data, you can create
an extract including just the data necessary. This increases performance and
avoids queries to the live database. Then you can add that workbook to a
schedule so that the extract is refreshed at regular intervals with updated
data from the data warehouse. Schedules are created and managed on the
server by an administrator. However, an administrator can allow you to add
a workbook to a schedule when you are publishing from
Tableau Desktop.

CALL :09705596666
1. As you are publishing a workbook, in the Publish Workbook to Tableau
Server dialog box, click Scheduling & Authentication.
2. In the Scheduling & Authentication dialog box, select a schedule for the
workbook
Publishing Data Sources In addition to publishing workbooks, you can also
publish data sources to Tableau Server. A data source is a reusable
connection to data. Publishing data sources allows you to centrally manage
and store data sources. The published data can be located in Tableau’s data
engine (extracts) or in a live, relational database. The published data source
also contains field level customization such as calculations, groups, sets and
default properties. This topic describes how to publish a data source to
Tableau Server. To publish a data source to Tableau Server:
1. Select the data source on the Data menu and then select Publish to
Server:
2. If you are not already signed in to Tableau Server, you see the Tableau
Server Sign In dialog box.
Type the server name or URL (for example, sales_server, or
https://sales_server) and click Connect.
3. Next, type your user name and password and click Sign In. If Tableau
Server is configured to use Active Directory, type your Windows user name
(the domain is not required—except in multi-domain environments where the
user is not in the default domain); otherwise, type your Tableau Server user
name. If Tableau Server is configured to use SAML for user authentication,
you won't see the above dialog box. Instead, you'll see a sign in prompt from
an external identity provider.
4. You now see the Publish Data Source to Tableau Server dialog box.
Specify the following:
l Project: A project is like a folder that can contain workbooks and data
sources.
Tableau Server comes with one project called Default. All workbooks must be
published into a project.
l Name: Provide a name for the workbook in the Name text box.
Use the drop-down list to select an existing workbook on the server. When
you publish using an existing workbook name, the workbook on the server is

CALL :09705596666
overwritten with your workbook. You must be allowed the Write/Web Save As
permission to overwrite workbooks on the server.
l Authentication: If your data source requires a user name and password, you
can specify how authentication should be handled when it is published to the
server. The options available depend on the type of data source you are
publishing.
l Add Tags: You can type one or more keywords that describe the workbook
into the Tags text box. Tags help you and others find related workbooks
when browsing the server. Each tag should be separated by either a comma
or a space. If the tag contains a space, type the tag surrounded by quote
marks (e.g., “Sales Quotes”).
5. You can specify permissions to allow or deny access to the workbook on
the server. By default all users can interact with the workbook and you, as
the publisher, are allowed all capabilities. See Setting Permissions for details,
and see Permissions for information on the capabilities you can assign to
users and groups.
6. If you are publishing an external file data source or a data source that is
on a mapped drive select Include External Files. When you include external
files, a copy of the data source is published. External file data sources include
Excel, Access, Text, Data Extract, and image files. If you don’t include these
files, others may not be able to see the worksheets online. If you do not
want to publish the external files to the server, change the connection
information so that the workbook references a full UNC path. For example
rather than connecting to D:datasource.xls, you would connect to
filesrvdatasource.xls.
7. Click Publish.
9. What is the major difference between 7.0 and 8.0 in tableau? And latest?
 New visualizations are introduced like tree map, bubble chart and box
and whisker plot
 We can copy worksheet directly from one workbook to another
workbook
 Introduced R script
10. What are parameters and when do you use it?
Parameters are dynamic values that can replace constant values in
calculations.

CALL :09705596666
We can create parameters in 3 ways:
1) Filters
2) Reference lines
3) Calculate Field
(Or)
Parameters are used when you want to change the static values.
How to use parameters -1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CFP7t_a6wa
k
How to use parameters - 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wv
F7gAV82_c
11. What are the possible reasons for slow performance in Tableau?
One of the reasons is that filters may not be defined appropriately at report
level due to which the entire data set is pulled from the query (which may
not be necessary).
There are some of the reasons:
1) Creating a query that returns a large number of records from the
underlying table(s), when a smaller number of aggregated records would
suffice. You can check this by looking in the lower-left corner of the Tableau
Desktop work space and looking at the number of marks. If this number is
very large, you are potentially pulling a large amount of data from the
database
2) Use native drivers: Tableau will recommend or require you to create a
data extract to continue working with a particular driver. Usage of native
driver instead ODBC connections as it will generally provide better
performance.
3) Test with another tool: A good way to determine if a slow workbook is
being caused by a slow query is to test the same query in another tool, such
as Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel.

CALL :09705596666
To find the query being run, look in Aditya kommuMy Tableau
RepositoryLogs and find a file titled log.txt. Open this file and scroll up from
the bottom until you find a section like the following:
The section between the begin and end query tags is the query that was
passed to the database. You can copy this text and then use it from a tool
like Access or Excel. If it takes a similar time to return as in Tableau, then it's
likely the problem is with the query, not the tools.
4) Use extracts: Create a tableau extract if you having performance issues.
These extract files can include performance-oriented features such as pre-
aggregated data for hierarchies and pre-calculated calculated fields (reducing
the amount of work required to render and display the visualization).
FOR DBA point:
1)Tune your indexes :Make certain you have indexes on all columns that are
part of table joins
 Make certain you have indexes on any column used in a filter
 Explicitly define primary keys
 Explicitly define foreign key relationships
 For large data sets, use table partitioning
 Define columns as NOT NULL where possible
2) Use statistics Databases engines collect statistical information
about indexes and column data stored in the database. These statistics
are used by the query optimizer to choose the most efficient plan for
retrieving or updating that.
3) Optimize the data mode: beneficial to create summary tables if
most of your queries only need aggregated data - not base level
details records.
12. Can anyone explain about architecture of Tableau?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AyzIchw2Lik
13. What the Difference is between connect live and import all data and Import
some data?
 Connect live – Creates a direct connect to your data. The speed of
your data source will determine performance.

CALL :09705596666
 Import all data – Imports the entire data source into Tableau’s fast
data engine as an extract. The extract is saved with the workbook.
 Import some data – Imports a subset of your data into Tableau’s
fast data engine as an extract. This option requires you to specify what
data you want to extract using filters.
(Or)
 Connect Live - By using this feature you can directly connect to live
database. When you select this feature the performance will be
reduced.
 Import all data - By using this feature you can import all data into
your local machine. This will be called an EXTRACT, file saved with the
Extension of .tde (tableau Data extract).
 Import some data - it is also like extract data but you can apply
filters while importing data into your local system.
14. What is Ad-hoc Reports in tableau? Explain?
Actually Ad-hoc reports means on the spot based on the client requirement
by connecting to live environment we can create reports these reports are
called Ad-hoc reports.
15. What is the Difference between quick filter and Normal filter in tableau?
Quick filter is used to view the filtering options and can be used to select the
option.Normal filer is something you can limit the options from the list or use
some conditions to limit the data by filed or value.
(Or)
Quick Filter always appears right side of your window and it showing what
elements that you select. Normal filter always hide mode .but both work
same...
(Or)
Filter: - This is used to restrict the data from database based on selected
dimension or measure. If u drags a dimension into filter shelf u can filter the
data by selecting list of values. When dragging by measure u can select a
range of values.
Quick Filters:- whatever u have applied filter, if u want give a chance to user

CALL :09705596666
for dynamically changing data members at run time this is useful.
In this u r able to see only non restricted data members only...
16. Does Tableau Public work on a Mac?
Macintosh users can view Tableau Public content in their browser. Tableau
Desktop Public Edition used for authoring content is a Windows application
only. If you are using a Macintosh computer that has an Intel processor, you
can use virtualization software such as VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop to
install Windows and run Tableau Desktop Public Edition. Alternatively, you
can use a built-in utility called Boot Camp to install Windows and run the
Tableau software.
(Or)
Yes, the latest Version 8.2 of Tableau Desktop can be installed on Mac as
well.
17. How do I automate reports using Tableau software?
You need to publish report to tableau server, while publishing you will find
one option to schedule reports.You just need to select the time when you
want to refresh data.
18. How does Tableau perform with huge data sets?
Due to VizSQL
19. Name the components of dashboard?
 Horizontal
 Vertical
 Text
 Images etc
(Or)
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical
3. Text
4. Image Extract

CALL :09705596666
5. Blank Page
6. Web [ URL ACTION ]
20. How is Tableau so fast when working with databases?
Tableau compiles the elements of your visual canvas
into a SQL or MDX query for the remote database to process. Since a
database typically runs on more powerful hardware than the laptops /
workstations used by analysts, you should generally expect the database to
handle queries much faster than most in-memory BI applications limited by
end-user hardware. Tableau's ability to push computation (queries) close to
the data is increasingly important for large data sets, which may reside on a
fast cluster and may be too large to bring in-memory.
Another factor in performance relates to data
transfer, or in Tableau's case result set transfer. Since Tableau
visualizations are designed for human consumption, they are tailored to the
capabilities and limits of the human perception system. This generally
means that the amount of data in a query result set is small relative to the
size of the underlying data, and visualizations focus on aggregation and
filtering to identify trends and out liers. The small result sets require little
network bandwidth, so Tableau is able to fetch and render the result set
very quickly. And, as Ross mentioned, Tableau will cache query results for
fast reuse.
The last factor as mentioned by Eriglen involves
Tableau's ability to use in-memory acceleration as needed (for example,
when working with very slow databases, text files, etc.). Tableau's Data
Engine uses memory-mapped I/O, so while it takes advantage of in-
memory acceleration it can easily work with large data sets which cannot fit
in memory. The Data Engine will work only with the subsets of data on disk
which are needed for a given query, and the data subsets are mapped into
memory as needed.
OR
Tableau does do some amount of in-memory
storage to increase speed (when extracted), but a great portion of its speed
actually comes from not having to store data in memory.

CALL :09705596666
This is because Tableau only stores the data
relevant to your queries in-memory, whereas other solutions will store the
entire set in memory, which can take more time to load.
OR
Tableau main feature "data engine" is really a
cool feature. If you work with a large amount of data it takes some time to
import, create indexes and sort data but after that every thing speedup.
Tableau data engine is not really in-memory technology. The data is stored
in disk after imported and then RAM is hardly utilized. This conception
brings the desired performance.
21. What is Tableau Desktop?
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization application that lets you
analyze virtually any type of structured data and produce highly interactive,
beautiful graphs, dashboards, and reports in just minutes. After a quick
installation, you can connect to virtually any data source from spreadsheets
to data warehouses and display information in multiple graphic
perspectives. Designed to be easy to use, you’ll be working faster than ever
before.
22. What is Tableau Reader?
Tableau Reader is a free viewing application that lets anyone read and
interact with packaged workbooks created by Tableau Desktop.
23. How Does Tableau Work?
While Tableau lets you analyze databases and spreadsheets like never
before, you don’t need to know anything about databases to use Tableau.
In fact, Tableau is designed to allow business people with no technical
training to analyze their data efficiently.
Tableau is based on three simple concepts:

CALL :09705596666
Connect - Connect Tableau to any database that you want to analyze.
Note that Tableau does not import the data. Instead it queries to the
database directly.
Analyze - Analyzing data means viewing it, filtering it, sorting it,
performing calculations on it, reorganizing it, summarizing it, and so on.
Using Tableau you can do all of these things by simply arranging fields
of your data source on a Tableau worksheet. When you drop a field on a
worksheet, Tableau queries the data using standard drivers and query
languages (like SQL and MDX) and presents a visual analysis of the data.
Share - You can share results with others either by sharing workbooks
with other Tableau users, by pasting results into applications such as
Microsoft Office, printing to PDF or by using Tableau Server to publish or
embed your views across your organization.
24. When do you use horizontal and vertical components?
We can use these when we want to have all sheets or filter to move in
single shot.. however we can still create the dashboard without this also..
this allows us to make our work simple
25. Can you explain about table calculations?
These are inbuilt calculations in tableau which we normally use to
calculate Percentage from or for YTD and other calculations like the
measure across table, below table and etc..
26. How we can find the tableau Report Rendering Time.?
Report rendering time=Network time(request from URL to Report server)
+Query execution time + Network time(response from SQL
Server)+calculations(table column)+time taken to display the report in
desired format(HTML/ pdf/ excel)
27. VizQL is a visual query language?

CALL :09705596666
VizQL is a visual query language that translates drag-and-drop actions
into data queries and then expresses that data visually. VizQL delivers
dramatic gains in people’s ability to see and understand data by
abstracting the underlying complexities of query and analysis. The result
is an intuitive user experience that lets people answer questions as fast
as they can think of them.
We believe that VizQL represents a foundational advancement in the area
of data analysis and visualization.
28. Why should you use tableau?
There are many reasons why one should use tableau they are
It is very easy to use:
You don’t need to know programming of any sort, all you need is some
data and tableau to create reports that are visually enchanting and which
tells a story which you need to tell your managers or impress your
professor in class.
With its revolutionary drag and drop feature u can easily create stories or
reports using just your mouse and a little imagination. All this is possible
due to the revolutionary VizQL a visual query language.
29. How many types of filters are there in Tableau.?
In Tableau, there are three types of filters. More explicitly, there are three
different ways to limit the data that is displayed by your graph. Each of
these has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we will look at them one
at a time.
These types are
 Custom SQL "Filters"
 Context Filters
 Traditional Filters.
Custom SQL Filters:

CALL :09705596666
Custom SQL "Filter" is a WHERE clause that is placed in the SQL that
queries the data to be used in the workbook. "Filter" is a Tableau term that
technically applies only to Context and Traditional Filters; however, the
Custom SQL "Filter" emulates the behavior of a global Context Filter, so we
will refer to it as such. By construction, Custom SQL "Filters" are always
global. The most common reason for using a Custom SQL "Filter" is to limit
the size of a data extract. The smaller your data extract, the more quickly
your charts will load. In other words, you can make more complex charts
without sacrificing efficiency.
One of the ways to create a Custom SQL "Filter" is during the Server
Connection process.
Context Filters:
a Context Filter is a filter in Tableau that affects the data that is transferred
to each individual worksheet. Context Filters are great when you want to
limit the data seen by the worksheet. When a worksheet queries the data
source, it creates a temporary, flat table that is uses to compute the chart.
This temporary table includes all values that are not filtered out by either
the Custom SQL or the Context Filter. Just like with Custom SQL "Filters",
your goal is to make this temporary table as small as possible.
Context Filters have a few advantages over Traditional Filters. First, they
execute more quickly than Traditional Filters. They are also executed
before Traditional Filters and can be executed all at once, which further
improves efficiency. However, they do have one drawback. It takes time
for the filter to be placed into context. A rule of thumb, from Tableau's
Knowledge Base, is to only place a filter into context if it reduces the data
by at least 10%.
A Context Filter is created by dragging a field onto the "Filters" Shelf and
editing the filter. Then, you can Right-Click the field on the shelf and select
"Add to Context." If you have multiple context filters, you can CTRL-Select
them all and add them to context in a batch. This will improve the
efficiency of your filter.
Traditional Filters:

CALL :09705596666
Traditional Filter is exactly what most people think of when they think of
filters. When Tableau is creating the visualization, it will check to see if a
value is filtered out by a Traditional Filter. Since this is not performed at
the table level, it is the slowest of all filter types. However, it does have
the advantage of being performed after the Context Filters. This is a
necessity if you are dealing with complex "Top N" filters. A Traditional Filter
can be created by simply dragging a field onto the "Filters" Shelf.
30. How to Improve Performance in Tableau.?
1. Use an extract.
There is nothing else that comes close to the efficiency gained using an
extract. If you don't absolutely need live data, extracting is the best bet.
2. Limit your dashboard to fully answering only one scenario.
At it's simplest, a dashboard should be able to fully explore a single
scenario. If your dashboard has six sheets, five actions, and 3 quick filters,
you might not be looking at only one scenario. Remember, no matter how
elegant and comprehensive your solution is, if it doesn't run as quickly as
the user would like it to, he or she will not use it. I would not recommend
butchering your dashboard so heavily that it cannot fully handle a scenario.
If the user has to go somewhere else to find the answer, why did they use
your dashboard at all?
3. Limit the data being introduced to each worksheet.
If you are not planning on using a set of rows, you should filter them out of
the data set as early as possible. If your table contains all sales, and you
only want to look at US sales, create a Custom SQL query that filters it out.
If the filter is worksheet dependent, try using a Context Filter. For more
information on filtering, check out my other post Types of Filters in Tableau.
You can also click the Down Arrow beside the word "Dimension" and Select
"Hide All Unused Fields" to hide any fields you are not using in any of your
worksheets. I'm not sure if this improves efficiency; but I'd have to
imagine that it does, less data should always improve performance.
4. Remove components that add no value.
While aesthetics are very important to building a usable dashboard,
unimportant objects aren't worth losing efficiency over. In fact, you would
be better off adding more functionality than you would by adding a purely
aesthetic object.

CALL :09705596666
5. Eliminate any non-essential components from the visualization.
This refers to values that would appear on the Pages, Filters, and Level of
Detail Shelves. If they are purely there for the user to see if they scroll
over a point, then they aren't adding any value to the initial glance.
However, I leave this as the last step because it should be a last resort.
In most cases, a little forethought can save you a lot of heartache when you
are creating dashboards. Decide exactly what story you want to tell, and
tell only that. It is much easier to add functionality to a small dashboard,
than to butcher a large one. Thanks for reading.
31. What is Tableau Public?
The free version of Tableau Public is for people. This includes writers,
bloggers, students, professors, hobbyists, journeymen, critics, citizens and
more. It?s also meant for organizations, but only as an introductory service.
If your organization wants to put data online for the public, you are welcome
to use this as an introductory service. If you like what you see, contact us at
info-public@tableausoftware.com to discuss a commercial relationship.
32. How does Tableau Public work?
Tableau Public includes a free desktop product that you can download and use
to publish interactive data visualizations to the web. The Tableau Public
desktop saves work to the Tableau Public web servers ? nothing is saved
locally on your computer. All data saved to Tableau Public will be accessible
by everyone on the internet, so be sure to work only with publicly available
(and appropriate) data.
33. I have my own blog or website. Can I use Tableau Public to share data
there?
Yes. Use Tableau Public to share data and insights with your community.
Embed the content in your blog or website, or share it via links on web pages
or in emails. Use our website to find out how. Learn more about Sharing
Views in the Knowledge Base.

CALL :09705596666
34. Is there a limit on storage space for the data?
Yes, there is a 1 gigabyte limit on storage space for data. For the vast
majority of users, we expect that 1 GB will be more space than needed. Learn
more about Data Requirements and Limitations in the Knowledge Base.
35. Do I need to be a programmer to use this?
No programming skills of any kind are required. It is a simple drag and drop
process that anyone can easily learn.
36. I work for an organization that has lots of data to share with the public. Can
we use Tableau Public?
Yes -- as long as you and everyone at your organization together use less
than 50 megabytes of space. Tableau Public gives your organization (e.g., a
company, government agency or educational institution) the opportunity to
explore its capabilities. If your organization wants to put data online for the
public, please contact us at info-public@tableausoftware.com to discuss a
commercial relationship.
37. Do I need the free desktop product if I already own a commercial version of
Tableau Desktop?
No. Tableau Desktop comes in three editions: Professional Edition ($1,999),
Personal Edition ($999) and Public Edition (free). If you already have
Professional or Personal Edition, you will find that your latest upgrade
includes the ability to publish to the Tableau Public servers. There is nothing
in Public Edition that is included in the latest versions of the paid products.
38. What type of data limitations does Tableau Public have?
Tableau Public can connect to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and multiple
text file formats. It has a limit of 1,000,000 rows of data that is allowed in

CALL :09705596666
any single file. Learn more about Data Requirements and Limitations in the
Knowledge Base.
39. Can I set permissions or protect the data I save to Tableau Public?
All content saved to Tableau Public is accessible to everyone on the internet.
As the author, you are the only one who can delete your own content, but
anyone on the internet can view it. In addition to viewing it, anyone can
download a copy of your workbook (including the underlying data) as well,
which will let them work with and build upon your original.
40. If I publish my data on Tableau Public. Is my data now public?
Yes, your data on Tableau Public is now accessible on the world-wide web and
is down loadable by anyone. We strongly suggest you only publish data you
are willing to share with anyone.
41. What online blog services is Tableau Public compatible with?
Embedding Tableau Public content into a blog requires the blog software to
support embedded HTML content, including script tags. Some popular blog
sites which are compatible with Tableau Public embedded content are:
Blogger (by Google) – www.blogger.com
Typepad – www.typepad.com Edit your posts in HTML mode rather than Rich
Text, otherwise the Tableau Public embed codes don’t get preserved.
Word press - www.wordpress.org. On this site you can download and install a
software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host. WordPress
is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything.
There is also a service called www.WordPress.com which lets you get started
with a new and free WordPress-based blog, but it is less flexible than the
WordPress you download and install yourself. Blogs hosted on Wordpress.com
do not take advantage of tools like Tableau that use JavaScript.

CALL :09705596666
42. What kind of technology is a Tableau Viz?
It is a thin AJAX based JavaScript application.
43. How do people find the visualizations I save to Tableau Public?
Once you save your work to Tableau Public, it may be shared (by emailing a
link or embedding the work in your blog, wiki, or website). If you embed the
work onto a web page, anyone who visits the page will see the live interactive
view. If you email a link, just clicking the link will open a browser page with
the view loaded. Learn more about Sharing Views in the Knowledge Base.
44. "What is the ""Download"" link on the Viz?"
Any Tableau Public viz can be downloaded by pressing the download link in
the lower right corner. It saves to your computer as a TWBX file. Anyone with
Tableau Desktop (Professional, Personal or Public Edition) can open the file
and review or extend the work that was behind the original posting. Learn
more about Downloading Tableau Public Workbooks in the Knowledge Base.
45. Is there a plug-in required to see the Tableau Viz?
No plug-ins are required. You just need a browser with JavaScript enabled.
46. What happens if I delete a workbook from Tableau Public and there are links
to it in blogs or other web locations?
Once a workbook or view is deleted from Tableau Public, it cannot be
retrieved from Tableau Public by anyone. All links or other references to it
that may have been shared will not be able to load the viz and will display an
error message on the page.
47. What do you mean by ""Data In. Brilliance Out.""?

CALL :09705596666
This is our vision for Tableau Public. In captures both our twin goals of
making Tableau incredibly easy to use and spectacularly powerful.
48. What is KPI in Tableau.?
We can easily create a view that shows Key Progress Indicators (KPIs).
To do this, you complete the following tasks:
 Create the base view with the fields you want to measure.
 Build a calculated field that establishes the figure from which you
measure progress for the data you’re measuring.
 Use shapes that Tableau provides that are designed specifically for KPIs.
This example shows how to build a KPI view that shows a green check mark
for any sales figure over $125,000, and a red X for any sales figure under
$125,000.

CALL :09705596666
Preparing data for Tableau.
 Cleanup dimensions and measure names.
 Set attribute aliases.
 Set default colors
 Set default measure aggregations.
 Create calculated fields
Is Parameter have it's dropdown list..?
Yes, But it will be called as Compact list.

CALL :09705596666
What is the criteria to blend the data from multiple data sources.?
There should be a common dimension to blend the data source into single
worksheet.
For example, when blending Actual and Target sales data, the two data
sources may have a Date field in common. The Date field must be used on
the sheet. Then when you switch to the secondary data source in the Data
window, Tableau automatically links fields that have the same name. If they
don’t have the same name, you can define a custom relationship that creates
the correct mapping between fields.
Can we use Groups and Sets in calculation field.?
 Groups: No, we can not use Groups in calculation fields.
 Sets: Yes, we can use Sets in calculation fields.
Difference between Grouping and Sets.?

CALL :09705596666
 Groups – Combine dimension members into higher level categories.
 Sets – Create a custom field based on existing dimensions that can be
used to encode the view with multiple dimension members across
varying dimension levels.
What is context filter.?
If you are applying filters to a large data source, you can improve
performance by setting up context filters. A context filter is applied to the
data source first, and then the other filters are applied only to the resulting
records. This sequence avoids applying each filter to each record in the data
source.
You may create a context filter to:
 Improve performance – If you set a lot of filters or have a large data
source, the queries can be slow. You can set one or more context
filters to improve performance.
 Create a dependent numerical or top N filter – You can set a context
filter to include only the data of interest, and then set a numerical or a
top N filter.
What is Dual Axis.?
You can compare multiple measures using dual axes, which are two
independent axes that are layered on top of each other. Dual axes are useful
when you have two measures that have different scales.
For example, the view below shows Dow Jones and NASDAQ close values over
time.
To add the measure as dual axis drag the field to the right side of the view
and drop it when you see a black dashed line. You can also select Dual Axis
on the field menu for the measure.

CALL :09705596666
The two axes are independent scales but the marks are layered in the same
pane.

CALL :09705596666
Can we use Parameter in Filter.?
Yes, We can use.

CALL :09705596666

CALL :09705596666
What is page self..?
The Pages shelf is a powerful part of Tableau that you can use to control the
display of output as well as the printed result of that output.

CALL :09705596666
49. Is there any new features implemented in tableau 8.0 regarding the tableau
server performance improvement?
1. Use an extract
2. Limit your dashboard to fully answering only one scenario
3. Limit the data being introduced to each worksheet
4. Remove components that add no value
5. Eliminate any non-essential components from the visualization
50. What are the other settings I need to reconfigure to get better performance as
I am using 7.0 tableau server and planning to upgrade to latest
versions?Suggest best configurations based on the provided server details?
Tableau 8,8.1 and 8.2 also supported for 4GB ram and core processors.
51. How many viz SQL process should I run?
Depending on Data Capacity
52. How many extracts (extract type) can be used on a single server(without
effecting server performance like memory) ?
Better 10
53. How to check the performance step by step manner(DB, Report side,
Network) in tableau report ?
Go to help menu and select performance tuning option
54. How to improve the tableau report performance?
If you are not planning on using a set of rows, you should filter them out of
the data set as early as possible. If your table contains all sales, and you only
want to look at US sales, create a Custom SQL query that filters it out. If the
filter is worksheet dependent, try using a Context Filter. For more information
on filtering, check out my other post Types of Filters in Tableau. You can also
click the Down Arrow beside the word "Dimension" and Select "Hide All
Unused Fields" to hide any fields you are not using in any of your worksheets.
I'm not sure if this improves efficiency; but I'd have to imagine that it does,
less data should always improve performance.

CALL :09705596666
55. I have one scenario like Year in integer and week in String and wanted to
calculate the YTD.. how to do this.?
In Tableau, the relative date filter enables flexible analysis of time periods.
Sometimes, however, you might want to see both year-to-date (YTD) and
month-to-date (MTD) values for a particular measure on the same view. To
accomplish this task, you can create date calculations.
Create a calculated column which replaces week from string to integer and
make use this in another calculation for YTD.
YTD:
MTD:

CALL :09705596666
56. What kind of join do you see in data blending?
There won't be any joins as such but we will just give the column references
like primary and foreign key relation.
57. What is data blending..? When do you use this.?
Data blending is when you blend data from multiple data sources on a single
worksheet. The data is joined on common dimensions. Data Blending does
not create row level joins and is not a way to add new dimensions or rows to
your data.
We use this when we want to fetch data from different sources and make use
in single worksheet.

CALL :09705596666
58. Can we have multiple value selection in parameter?
No
59. What is Tableau Server?
Tableau Server is a business intelligence solution that provides browser-based
visual analytics anyone can use at just a fraction of the cost of typical BI
software. With just a few clicks, you can publish or embed live, interactive
graphs, dashboards and reports with current data automatically customized
to the needs of everyone across your organization. It deploys in minutes and
users can produce thousands of reports without the need of IT services — all
within your IT infrastructure.
60. What is the Difference between connect live and import all data and Import
some data.?
 Connect live – Creates a direct connect to your data. The speed of your
data source will determine performance.

CALL :09705596666
 Import all data – Imports the entire data source into Tableau’s fast
data engine as an extract. The extract is saved with the workbook.
 Import some data – Imports a subset of your data into Tableau’s fast
data engine as an extract. This option requires you to specify what data
you want to extract using filters.
61. What does Tableau do?
Our goal is to help people see and understand data. Our software products
put the power of data into the hands of everyday people, allowing a broad
population of business users to engage with their data, ask questions, solve
problems and create value.
62. Who are Tableau’s customers?
Our products are used by people of diverse skill levels across all kinds of
organizations, including Fortune 500 corporations, small and medium-sized
businesses, government agencies, universities, research institutions and non-
profits. Organizations employ our products in a broad range of use cases such
as increasing sales, streamlining operations, improving customer service,
managing investments, assessing quality and safety, studying and treating
diseases, completing academic research, addressing environmental problems
and improving education.
63. When was Tableau founded?
Tableau was founded in 2003 by Christopher Stolte, Patrick Hanrahan and
Christian Chabot.
64. When did Tableau go public and where does its stock trade?
Tableau Software is traded on NYSE under the ticker symbol DATA. The
company went public on May 17, 2013 at an initial public offering price of $31
per share.
65. What are the main features of Tableau Software?
Tableau Software offers the following features:
 Reporting & Dashboard
 Data Analytics
 Analytics

CALL :09705596666
 Business Intelligence
 Ad Hock Query
 Data Hierarchy
 Data Mining
 Multi-Dimensional Analytics
 ODBC
 OLAP
 Analytics on Share Point, the iPad, Android tablets
66. How much does Tableau Software cost?
We have the following pricing information for Tableau Software:
Starting from: $999.00/year
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available (No Credit Card required)
67. Does Tableau Software support mobile devices?
Tableau Software supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone-iPad
68. Does Tableau Software offer an API?
No, Tableau Software does not have an API available.
69. What are the main benefits of using Tableau Software ?
Tableau Software offers the following benefits:
 Tableau Software is faster than other solutions.
 Tableau Software is an intuitive, drag-and-drop tool that lets you
see every change as you make it.
 With Tableau Software you can build smart, fit and beautiful
dashboards.
 In Tableau you can connect directly to databases, cubes, data
warehouses, files and spreadsheets.
Tableau Interview Questions

CALL :09705596666
1. What is the difference between heat map and tree map in tableau? Describe all
24 maps in tableau with explanation?
2. How many extracts (extract type) can be used on a single server(without
effecting server performance like memory) ?
3. Is there any new features implemented in tableau 8.0 regarding the tableau
server performance improvement?
4. How do you Writes codes for database access, modifications, and constructions
?
5. How do you ensure data set continuity, accuracy and consistency ?
6. How do you design data queries and calculations used to extract and format
data for project reports and external presentations?
7. How do you analyze data sets of your project ?
8. How do you design reports/graphs/presentations using Tableau for specified
projects ?
9. What are the system requirements for the desktop software?

Tableau (BI) interview questions version 2.0

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Tableau (BI) interview questions version 2.0 (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Tableau (BI) interview questions version 2.0