Here is the part 2 of the series on Tableau BI platform.
Tableau Dashboards
Using Tableau, users can create interactive real time dashboards and stories. Dashboards are a combination of individual data visualizations. Tableau Dashboards have data visualization best practices built in.
Users can interact with a dashboard by filtering data, drilling down on specific elements etc. Sharing of dashboards is also very simple and is just a click away from embedding them into company portals, websites etc.
An interactive dashboard created using Tableau Desktop can be used to display the sales and profits of various products in a store. It can display the following visualizations:
- Sales per product category as a Tree Map
- Sales per product sub-category as a Heat Map
- Profits per product category as a pie chart
- Profits per product sub-category as a Bar Chart
- Sales/Profit per customer segment as a Bar Chart
In this manner the sales and profit values for different consumer segments like Corporate, Home Office etc. across different regions like East, south etc. can be visualized using Tableau Dashboards.
Tableau Story Points
Tableau goes one step beyond the dashboards with the introduction of Story Points. Using Story Points, users can build a narrative or a story using the data visualizations and dashboards for easier sharing with others. People find it easier to grasp and remember concepts when told in the form of a story like in case of books or movies. Story Points enables users to share data in the form of a story. As said by Francois Ajenstat, Tableau’s director of product management, “People tend to remember concepts through stories. It’s the oldest form of communication. You can highlight interesting points in your views, and put it together in a sequence with a narrative.”
How it works
Most data visualization presentations today using other Business Intelligence involve users copy pasting the visualizations to a PowerPoint presentation. Tableau’s story point template has the option of having multiple blocks with captions arranged in the form of a strip at the top and a pane for arranging visualizations and dashboards. Visualizations can be easily added, removed and arranged in the pane with simple drag and drop motions, and required coding or programming knowledge. Users can click through the blocks sequentially to move through the panes. As in the case of dashboards, story points are fully interactive with options for filters and other controls.
Tableau Server
Tableau Server is browser- and mobile-based insight anyone can use. Publish dashboards with Tableau Desktop and share them throughout your organization. It’s easy to set up and even easier to run.
Features:
- Turn everyone into your best analyst with interactive dashboards in a web browser or mobile device.
- Embed dashboards in company portals across your business.
- Comment on dashboards to share your findings.
- Subscribe and get regular updates.
- Filter data, drill down or add entirely new data to answer to your analysis.
- Edit any existing view, on the web. And do it all with Tableau’s blazing fast data engine so you get your answer when you ask it.
- Publish shared data connections from Tableau Desktop. Define data sources, add metadata, and author entirely new calculations and data fields for everyone to use.
- Publish shared data connections from Tableau Desktop. Define data sources, add metadata, and author entirely new calculations and data fields for everyone to use.
- Have permission settings to manage access to data connections.
Flexible data architecture
Tableau Server leverages fast databases through live data connections, or can extract and refresh your data in–memory with its blazing fast data engine.
Automatic updates
Refresh local data on schedules, at set intervals, or incremental levels. Or just refresh it all. Get alerts when data connections fail. Set up subscriptions so you get your data when you want it, as often as you want it.
Embedded analytics
Embed dashboards within your organization’s existing workflow. Whether you need native database connectors, APIs or a suite of authentication methods, it’s in the bag.
Scalable
It scales with both hardware and memory, and comes with many features to ensure it is a reliable enterprise backbone.
Mobile
Author a dashboard once; view it anywhere, on any device. All dashboards are automatically optimized for mobile tablets without any programming. Use familiar tablet gestures to view and interact with dashboards in mobile web browsers or using native iPad and Android apps.
End of Part 2 of 2.