Detailed review of Tableau Data Blending by a PhD Student at UW- Seattle

by

  From the article conclusions: “Data blending is a new feature in Tableau that simplifies the process of integrating data from a variety of heterogeneous sources. We presented several compelling customer applications that leverage the feature and highlight its usefulness for interactive visual analysis. Additionally, we are engaging with our customers to improve the flexibility … Read more

Quick and dirty analysis with Tableau 6
(in thirteen lucky steps)

by

6_Manual_Rearrange_Items_Freakalytics_1_TableauLet’s face it: in the daily world of work, you often are asked to provide an answer to a new problem in less than a day. Of course, your boss tends to forget about the other three project deadlines you are currently facing, so you really have only 10 or 20 minutes to squeeze in a quick and dirty analysis. 

If this sounds familiar to you, this cheat sheet includes thirteen flexible steps that can take you from being clueless to looking smart in just a few minutes, with a little help from Tableau. Hopefully you’ll be able to obtain enough information to come up with ideas for an e-mail update or talking points for the unexpected meeting that is looming large over your day, showing your boss and colleagues that you can deliver great results in time to be useful. 

So, if you’re already a user of Tableau, this cheat sheet will guide you to do the analysis. Even if you are totally new to Tableau, you can see the possibilities of what you can accomplish in a short amount of time, once you get started.

Download a printer-friendly version of this article here.

1 What question will you examine?

1_PostIts_Flickr_Sources_CC_License

 

Okay, in reality this step might take hours or even days! But let’s assume you have your question, and if it is complex, break it down into several, simpler questions.

2 Grab the closest, readily available dataset that is relevant

Read more

A dashboard to select high-quality stocks with high yield and low volatility

by

High yield high growth low beta dashboard by Freakalytics 2011 12 squareSelecting a “safe” stock with a solid dividend is quite popular in the current economic climate. The traditional “safe” investments are paying extremely low interest rates while many American companies are growing revenues while paying out strong dividend yields (4% and higher) that exceed those of government bonds. In late December, I selected a set of stocks with solid financial strength ratings, positive revenue growth in the past year, dividends of 4% or more and lower than average stock price volatility (also called the beta of a stock.)  
 
 

After some data cleanup, I assembled this into a dashboard for quick review and exploration. This dashboard allows you to select higher yields, higher revenue growth or lower levels of volatility. By clicking on an individual stock, you are taken to MSN Money web site (below initial dashboard) for their current “StockScouter” rating.

 

Read more

Business Analytics in Fortune Magazine – Pat Hanrahan, Tableau Co-founder

by

A nice article on Tableau and visual analytics appeared in Fortune magazine this week. “Former Pixar engineer Pat Hanrahan has found a new calling organizing and analyzing business data, and bringing the information to life. Mr. Incredible: Pat Hanrahan in his lab at Stanford How many enterprise software executives can brag that they have been … Read more

Why choose Complete Tableau Training by Freakalytics?
A recent attendee’s perspective

by

  This review of our 4 day training series was written on LinkedIn by a recent public training attendee, Danyelle.  She works at the US Department of Health and Human Services as a Senior Data Advisor.  I had the great pleasure of speaking with her  outside of the class and was fascinated to hear how … Read more

Quick tutorial on reference lines, bands and distributions – visual analytics best practices

by

The following article features Tableau 6

Reference lines, bands or distributions may be added to your views to emphasize particular values or areas that may be useful in interpreting your data. In particular, when comparing multiple groups or categories of data, reference lines and bands provide immediate feedback on the overall differences between the groups.

Reference lines

Reference lines are vertical or horizontal lines displayed on your view that mark requested values such as average, median, minimum, maximum, sum, total and constants (such as a line that separates the data points as being above or below a target). They can be added on any continuous axis.

1) Open the Sample – Coffee Chain (Access) data source included by default with Tableau 6

2) Place Sales on the Columns shelf and change the aggregate to Average.

3) Place Product on the Rows shelf,
     State and Date on the Level of Detail shelf
     and format Date to ‘MMMM YYYY’.

Read more