Lab 2: Dashboard¶

Your first graded Tableau lab. You build three sheets from Tableau's built-in Sample – Superstore data (a monthly sales trend, a filled map of profit by state and a bar chart of sales by sub-category coloured by profit), combine them into one interactive executive dashboard in which clicking a state filters the other two charts, answer GAP's questions about what the dashboard shows, and submit one PDF on GAP.

Adapted from the DATA 300 GAP course, In-Class Module 1, Lab 2: Dashboard Creation. Written in our own words; follow GAP for the official wording.

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1. What and why¶

What you do	Build three worksheets in Tableau Desktop, assemble them on a dashboard with the map as a filter, use the dashboard to answer GAP's questions in a separate document, and submit the answers and the dashboard as one PDF
Why	Regional managers in the scenario cannot see their sales trend or which products lose money in their state. A linked dashboard lets each manager answer both questions with one click. Building one teaches the difference between a set of static charts and an interactive view
CLOs	CLO 2 (visualisation tools that communicate user-centred analytics), CLO 1 (descriptive analytics to evaluate performance), CLO 3 (organising information with computational tools)
Weight	3%
Deadline	Wednesday 11 November, 23:59 China Standard Time, on GAP (worked on in periods 7 and 8 of Day 2)
Before you start	The two Day 2 lectures: Visualising and communicating data and Tableau concepts and dashboards. Tableau Desktop installed and activated (setup)

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2. Route A: Tableau Desktop (as on GAP)¶

Part 1: Connect to the data¶

Open Tableau Desktop and click Sample – Superstore under Saved Data Sources on the start page. A blank Sheet 1 opens with the Superstore fields in the Data pane.

Part 2: Build the three sheets¶

Sheet 1, Monthly Sales Trend. Rename the tab. Put Order Date on Columns. Open the pill's menu and choose the second Month entry, the one with a year in its example (such as "May 2015"): it is in the lower list of date values, and the pill turns green (continuous). Put Sales on Rows. You should see one line running across all the years, not twelve points. (Why: Tableau lecture, Part 2.)

Sheet 2, Profitability by State. New worksheet, renamed. Double-click the state field (State or State/Province). Tableau draws a dot per state. On the Marks card, change Automatic to Map to make a filled map, then drag Profit onto Color. Profit is shown on a diverging palette: by default blue for profit and orange for loss.

Sheet 3, Sales by Sub-Category. New worksheet, renamed. Sub-Category on Rows, Sales on Columns, then the Sort Descending button on the toolbar. Drag Profit onto Color: now bar length shows sales and colour shows profit.

Part 3: Assemble the dashboard¶

1. Click New Dashboard (next to New Worksheet at the bottom).
2. In the Size menu on the left, choose Automatic, as GAP asks. (Your version may start from Fixed size rather than Range; choose Automatic either way.)
3. Drag the map to the top half, the trend to the bottom left and the sub-category bars to the bottom right.
4. Click the map once to select it, then click its Use as Filter icon (a small funnel on the map's border, top right). Clicking a state now filters the other two charts.

Part 4: Answer the questions¶

Open a Word document and answer GAP's questions in full sentences. They come in three groups:

• Baseline (nothing selected): the sub-category with the most sales nationally and whether it is profitable; two states operating at a loss.
• Interactive (click a state): for one named state, the sub-category with the largest loss and the month and year of an unusual spike in sales; for a second named state, whether its top three sub-categories by sales match the first state's.
• Critical thinking: why colouring the sales bars by profit is more useful than colouring them by sales, and what it reveals that a plain bar chart hides.

Name the sheet each answer comes from, give the values you read (with units: US dollars, months and years) and say how you read them (tooltip, colour, bar order).

Part 5: Export¶

Clear any selection on the map, then File → Print to PDF, Active Sheet (with the dashboard as the active sheet). Save your answers as a PDF too, and combine the two files. See Submission below.

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3. Route B: if Tableau Desktop is not working¶

There is no Python route for this lab, and that is deliberate. The graded product is a working Tableau dashboard; a Python chart would not show that skill, and Superstore is not part of the course folder (it comes with Tableau, in a version that differs between installations). An offline Python copy would give different numbers and could not be graded against your own Tableau.

If Tableau does not work on your laptop, in order of preference:

1. Activation problems: Tableau Desktop runs as a free 14-day trial without a product key. Choose the trial, do the lab, and enter the student key when it arrives. Sample – Superstore is included in the trial.
2. No laptop or installation fails: use a lab PC with Tableau Desktop, or pair with a classmate to build it on their machine, then rebuild it on your own before the deadline. Your submission must be your own work.
3. Still stuck: tell your facilitator during period 7, not after the deadline.

To practise the same ideas without Superstore, the Tableau lecture builds a linked three-view dashboard in Python on a synthetic bookshop chain (Part 8). Its facilitator note also shows how to save that data as a CSV, which you can open in Tableau with Connect → To a File → Text file for extra practice. Practice data does not replace the lab.

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4. Checks you can make¶

These tell you whether your dashboard is right without giving any answers away.

• The trend sheet shows one continuous line across several years, with a green month pill, not twelve points or twelve bars.
• The map is filled (states shaded, not dots), and the colour legend runs from orange through to blue across zero.
• The sub-category bars are sorted longest first, and their colours vary with profit.
• On the dashboard, clicking a state makes the trend and the bars change; clicking the state again (or pressing Esc) brings back the national view.
• Dashboard → Actions lists one filter action with the map as its source.
• Your PDF shows the national view (no state highlighted) and all three charts are readable.
• Every answer names the chart it comes from and gives values with units. For the loss questions, you checked the value in the tooltip (a negative profit), not only the shade.

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5. Known pitfalls and fixes¶

Problem	Cause	Fix
No field called State, or no State/Province	Superstore's field names differ between Tableau versions	Use whichever state field your Data pane shows (State or State/Province); the steps are the same
Double-clicking the state field gives a list, or a map with no states	The field does not have a geographic role, or the country is not recognised	Right-click the state field → Geographic Role → State/Province. If an "unknown" indicator appears at the bottom right of the map, click it and choose Edit Locations, with the country set to the United States
The map shows dots, not shaded states	The mark type is still Automatic (a symbol map)	On the Marks card, open the mark-type menu and choose Map (the filled map)
The trend shows twelve points, or the pill is blue	The first Month entry (a discrete date part) was chosen	Open the pill's menu again and choose the second Month entry, in the lower list, showing a year (for example "May 2015")
A state looks orange-ish but its tooltip shows a positive profit, or shades change after clicking a state	The colour range is recomputed from the data in view, and the palette's midpoint may not sit at zero	Color → Edit Colors → Advanced, tick Center and set it to 0. Always confirm a "loss" with the tooltip value
The sort order seems wrong after clicking a state	The bars were sorted by hand (dragging) rather than with the sort button	Use Sort Descending on the toolbar, or the axis sort icon; this sorts by the measure and updates with the filter
No Range option to change, or the size menu shows Fixed size	Newer versions start dashboards at a fixed size	Choose Automatic as GAP asks. If the PDF then looks cramped, choose a Fixed size such as Letter landscape or A4 landscape before printing
Can't find the filter icon on the map	The map is not selected, or the icon is small	Click once inside the map on the dashboard so a grey border appears; the Use as Filter funnel is on that border at the top right (hover to see its name). When on, it is filled in
Clicking a state does nothing to the other charts	The filter icon was not switched on, or was switched on for another sheet	Check Dashboard → Actions: there should be a filter action with the map as source and the other two sheets as targets. If not, select the map and click Use as Filter again
The PDF shows only one state's data	A state was still selected when you printed	Click an empty area of the map (the sea, or outside the states) or press Esc so nothing is selected, check both charts show national data, then print again
Print to PDF is missing from the File menu	Some versions and platforms (often macOS) do not have it	Use File → Print… and choose Save as PDF in the print dialog; or Dashboard → Export Image… and paste the image into your Word document
The PDF has several pages, or only one sheet	Print Range was set to Entire Workbook, or the wrong sheet was active	Click the dashboard tab first, then choose Active Sheet under Print Range
GAP mentions "the 5 questions" but lists more	Inconsistent wording	Answer every question GAP lists, each under its own number
GAP calls the coloured bar chart "dual-axis"	In Tableau, dual axis means two measures on two overlaid axes; this chart has one axis plus colour (a dual encoding)	Answer the question GAP means: what the second encoding (colour) adds
Online PDF merger is blocked or slow	—	Combine the PDFs offline: see Combining PDFs without internet

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6. Beyond the lab¶

Optional, not graded. Try these after you have submitted:

1. Add Profit Ratio as a calculated field, SUM([Profit]) / SUM([Sales]), and put it on the map's Color instead of Profit. Which states change colour, and why might a rate be fairer than a total (Day 2 morning lecture, Part 4)?
2. Change the dashboard action from Filter to Highlight (Dashboard → Actions → Edit). When would a manager prefer each?
3. Rewrite each sheet's title as a message title that states what the national view shows, with a number where you can (morning lecture, Part 5).
4. Add a KPI text sheet at the top showing total sales, total profit and profit ratio, and let the map filter it too.
5. Run through the dashboard design checklist and fix the two weakest points.

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7. Submission¶

File	Contents
Answers	Your answers to every GAP question, in full sentences, saved as Answers_Lab2.pdf
Dashboard	The dashboard, national view, from File → Print to PDF (Active Sheet), saved as Tableau_Dashboard_Lab2.pdf
Final file	The two combined into one PDF, named YourLastName_DATA300_AppliedLab2.pdf

1. In Tableau, clear the selection on the map and check that the trend and bars show national data.
2. Export the dashboard and your answers as the two PDFs above.
3. Combine them offline (Combining PDFs without internet). In Word you can instead paste an exported image of the dashboard below your answers and save once as PDF.
4. Open the final PDF and check that the answers and the full dashboard are present and readable.
5. Upload it to Applied Lab 2 on GAP and submit before Wednesday 11 November, 23:59 China Standard Time (how to submit). Save your workbook as a .twbx too, in case your facilitator asks for it.