Tableau sessions

Draft section

These sessions are drafts. The click paths have not yet been tried end to end in Tableau, and menus may differ slightly, so your facilitator will confirm them.

Four sessions that rebuild the analysis you did in Python, this time in Tableau. You use the same Superstore file, the same date window and the same checks, so you can compare your Tableau numbers with your Python numbers.

What the four sessions cover

Each session has a lecture and a lab, like the Python sessions.

Session Lecture Lab Python link
T1: Tableau fundamentals How Tableau reads a table: dimensions and measures, discrete and continuous fields, aggregation, the Marks card, level of detail and filters Count rows and orders, flag returned orders, and draw distributions of order value and ship days Sessions 2 and 4
T2: Calculations and KPIs Calculated fields, ratios done correctly, distinct counts, running totals and growth, a first level-of-detail expression Rebuild the segment KPI table with a reconciliation check, and the monthly trend and growth Sessions 5 and 7
T3: Dashboards Layout and reading order, filters and actions, colour and accessibility, message titles Rebuild the decision dashboard in Tableau Session 14
T4: Publishing and portfolio What Tableau Public makes public, what is safe to publish, keeping versions, telling a story Build a portfolio piece from your capstone analysis Sessions 15 and 16

Before the first session

1. Install Tableau Desktop Public Edition

  1. Go to the official Tableau Public page.
  2. Download Tableau Desktop Public Edition. It is free. You need to create a free Tableau Public account to download it.
  3. Install it and open it once to check that it starts.

If you cannot install software on your laptop

Tell your facilitator before the first session. The labs need Tableau Desktop Public Edition, because it saves .twbx files on your own computer, and Moodle needs those files. In the Tableau Public web editor, saving publishes the workbook and its data, so never use the web editor with Superstore.

2. Download the course data

  1. Download the Superstore file from Tableau's sample-data page: sample_-_superstore.xls.
  2. Save it in a folder you can find again, for example Documents/DataAnalytics/data.
  3. Do not open and re-save it in Excel. Keep the original file untouched.

This is the same file the Python sessions download in their setup cell.

Use the downloaded file, not the built-in sample

Tableau Desktop Public Edition comes with a built-in data source called Sample - Superstore. It may be a different version of the data, with different dates and rows. Always connect to the file you downloaded, so your numbers match the course.

The course scope rule

All four sessions use the same rule as the Python sessions:

  • Period: orders placed from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025, by Order Date. Orders placed in 2026 are left out.
  • Grain: one row is one order line: one product within an order.
  • Returns: an order counts as returned when its Order ID appears on the file's Returns sheet.
  • Money: Sales and Profit are in the file's own monetary units. The file does not state a currency, so we never call them dollars or any other currency.

You set up this scope once, in the T1 lab section Set up the Superstore data source. Later labs start from the same setup.

Save your work

Save every workbook on your own computer as a packaged workbook (.twbx). A packaged workbook keeps your charts and a copy of the data together in one file.

  1. Choose File → Save As.
  2. Pick your course folder and, under file type, choose Tableau Packaged Workbook (*.twbx).
  3. Name it clearly, for example T1_lab_YourName.twbx.

Publishing to Tableau Public is optional

Anything you publish to Tableau Public can be seen by anyone, including the data inside it. Hiding a workbook on your profile does not make it private. You do not need to publish anything in T1 to T3. T4 covers publishing safely.

Submit your work on Moodle

Each Tableau lab has a Moodle assignment. For each lab, upload:

  1. your saved .twbx file, and
  2. a PDF or image export of your main sheet or dashboard (File → Print to PDF, or Worksheet → Export → Image),

plus any written answers the lab asks for.

Name your files clearly

Use T1_lab_YourName.twbx and T1_lab_YourName.pdf, for example T1_lab_AnitaShrestha.twbx.

Start here

Begin with the T1 lecture: Tableau fundamentals, then the T1 lab.