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Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
Sprache: Englisch
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Transform your organization's data into actionable insights with Tableau Tableau is designed specifically to provide fast and easy visual analytics. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface helps you create interactive reports, dashboards, and visualizations, all without any special or advanced training. This all new edition of Tableau Your Data! is your Tableau companion, helping you get the most out of this invaluable business toolset. Tableau Your Data! shows you how to build dynamic, best of breed visualizations using the Tableau Software toolset. This comprehensive guide covers the core feature set for data analytics, and provides clear step-by-step guidance toward best practices and advanced techniques that go way beyond the user manual. You'll learn how Tableau is different from traditional business information analysis tools, and how to navigate your way around the Tableau 9.0 desktop before delving into functions and calculations, as well as sharing with the Tableau Server. Analyze data more effectively with Tableau Desktop * Customize Tableau's settings for your organization's needs with detailed real-world examples on data security, scaling, syntax, and more * Deploy visualizations to consumers throughout the enterprise - from sales to marketing, operations to finance, and beyond * Understand Tableau functions and calculations and leverage Tableau across every link in the value chain * Learn from actual working models of the book's visualizations and other web-based resources via a companion website Tableau helps you unlock the stories within the numbers, and Tableau Your Data! puts the software's full functionality right at your fingertips.

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Leseprobe

Titlepage

About the Author

About the Technical Editor

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Overview of the Book and Technology

How This Book Is Organized

Who Should Read This Book?

Tools You Will Need

What's on the Companion Website?

Summary

Part I: Desktop

Chapter 1: Creating Visual Analytics with Tableau Desktop

The Shortcomings of Traditional Information Analysis

The Business Case for Visual Analysis

Tableau’s Desktop Tools

Introducing the Tableau Desktop Workspace

Summary

Chapter 2: Connecting to Your Data

Chapter 3: Building Your First Visualization

Chapter 4: Creating Calculations to Enhance Data

What Is Aggregation?

What Are Calculated Fields and Table Calculations?

Chapter 5: Using Maps to Improve Insight

New Map Features

Creating a Standard Map View

Chapter 6: Developing an Ad Hoc Analysis Environment

Data Discovery as a Creative Process

Providing Self-Service Ad Hoc Analysis with Parameters

Chapter 7: Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers

Saving Time and Improving Formatting

Customizing Shapes, Colors, Fonts, and Images

Advanced Chart Types

Chapter 8: Bringing It All Together with Dashboards

How Dashboards Facilitate Analysis and Understanding

How Tableau Improves the Dashboard-Building Process

The Wrong Way to Build a Dashboard

The Right Way to Build a Dashboard

Building Your First Advanced Dashboard

Sharing Your Dashboard with Tableau Reader

Using the Tableau Performance Recorder to Improve Load Speed

Sharing Dashboards with Tableau Online or Tableau Server

Chapter 9: Designing for Mobile

The Physics of Mobile Consumption

Security Considerations for Mobile Consumption

Offline Access

Typical Mobile Usage Patterns

Design Best Practices for Mobile Consumption

A Tablet Dashboard Example

Mobile Authoring and Editing

A Note on Project Elastic

Chapter 10: Conveying Your Findings with Stories

Turning Analysis into Insight

Building a Story

Formatting Story Points

Sharing Your Story Point Deck

Part II: Server

Chapter 11: Installing Tableau Server

What’s New in Version 9?

Reasons to Deploy Tableau Server

Licensing Options for Tableau Server and Tableau Online

Determining Your Hardware and Software Needs

New Feature: Persistent Query Cache

Determining What Kind of Server License to Purchase

Tableau Server’s Architecture

Sizing the Server Hardware

Environmental Factors That Can Affect Performance

Configuring Tableau Server for the First Time

Security Options

Managing Ownership Through Hierarchy

Permissions

What Is the Data Server?

When and How to Deploy Server on Multiple Physical Boxes

Deploying Tableau Server in High Availability Environments

Leveraging Existing Security with Trusted Authentication

Deploying Tableau Server in Multi-National Environments

Tableau Server Performance Recorder

Performance-Tuning Tactics

Managing Tableau Server in the Cloud

Monitoring Activity on Tableau Server

Editing Server Settings and Monitoring Licensing

Partner Add-on Toolkits

Chapter 12: Managing Tableau Server

Managing Published Dashboards in Tableau Server

Navigating Tableau Server

Organizing Reports for Consumption

Options for Securing Reports

Improve Efficiency with the Data Server

Consuming Information in Tableau Server

Authoring and Editing Reports via Server

What Is Required to Author Reports on the Web?

Saving and Exporting via the Web-Tablet Environment

Sharing Connections, Data Models, and Data Extracts

Embedding Tableau Reports Securely on the Web

When Your Reports Are a Piece of a Larger SaaS Offering

Using Trusted Ticket Authentication as an Alternative Single Sign-on Method

Using Subscriptions to Deliver Reports via E-mail

Chapter 13: Automating Tableau Server

Tableau Server’s APIs

What Do tabcmd and tabadmin Do?

Automating Extracts with the Extract API

REST API

Part III: Case Studies

Chapter 14: Ensuring a Successful Tableau Deployment

Deploying Tableau—Lessons Learned

Effective Use of Consultants

The Tableau User Group at Cigna

Taking Care of Vizness

Part IV: Appendixes

Appendix A: Tableau’s Product Ecosystem

Tableau Desktop

Tableau Server

Tableau Online

Tableau Public

Tableau Reader

Tableau Mobile

Project Elastic

Power Tools for Tableau

Appendix B: Supported Data Source Connections

Windows Connections

Mac OS X Connections

Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts

Appendix D: Recommended Hardware Configurations

Tableau Desktop for Windows: Professional and Personal Editions

Tableau Desktop for Mac OS X: Professional and Personal Editions

Virtual Environments

Tableau Server

Web Browsers

Hardware Guidelines

Tableau Server User Authentication and Security

Virtual Environments

Internationalization

Appendix E: Understanding Tableau Functions

Organization and Key for Appendix E

R Integration via Script Functions

Other Specialized Functions

Alphabetical Function List—Summary

Appendix F: Companion Website

Glossary

End-User License Agreement

List of Tables

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Guide

Cover

Title Page

Front Matter

Introduction

Part I: Desktop

Chapter 1: Creating Visual Analytics with Tableau Desktop

Start Reading

End-User License Agreement

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Tableau Your Data!

Fast and Easy Visual Analysis with Tableau Software®

Second Edition

Daniel G. Murray

Copyright

Tableau Your Data! Fast and Easy Visual Analysis with Tableau Software®

Published by

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

10475 Crosspoint Boulevard

Indianapolis, IN 46256

www.wiley.com

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-119-00119-5

ISBN: 978-1-119-00121-8 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-119-00120-1 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (877) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952725

Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Tableau Software is a registered trademark of Tableau Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

About the Author

Daniel G. Murray has over 30 years of professional experience. Dan has seen firsthand the technical revolution in data that led to the creation of Tableau Software. Prior to starting the InterWorks Tableau/BI practice in 2008, he held a variety of increasingly responsible roles in finance, accounting, sales, and operations for a mid-sized global manufacturing company serving the heavy industry and construction markets. During the late 1990s, his employer acquired over 50 companies. Dan’s role in 2006 as the CFO/CIO led to an assignment to integrate and create a global reporting environment. Uninspired by the high cost and complicated products available from traditional vendors, Dan discovered Tableau Software through data visualization expert Stephen Few. Less than one month after downloading a trial license of Tableau Software, Dan and his team were able to successfully create a reporting platform for less than 15 percent of the cost and one-tenth the time that traditional vendors had quoted. At this point, it was apparent that everyone needed Tableau—they just didn’t know it yet.

Within months after speaking at Tableau’s first customer conference, Dan went to friend and founder of InterWorks, Inc., Behfar Jahanshahi, to convince him to allow Dan to form a boutique consulting team focusing on providing the best practices of data visualization and reporting using Tableau Software and any emerging or popular database. Since the publication of the first edition of Tableau Your Data! Dan has visited 50 cities across North America and Europe presenting over 70 speeches on data and data visualization.

InterWorks, Inc. is now the premier Gold Professional Consulting Partner for Tableau Software with clients all over the world and over 35 Tableau consultants providing data visualization, database, and hardware expertise to many of the most significant organizations—spanning business, education, and government.

Dan is a 1982 graduate of Purdue University’s Krannert School of Business. He and his family live in the metro Atlanta area.

About the Technical Editor

Dick Holm is a successful, longtime entrepreneur with expertise in data analysis, statistics, and product positioning and presentation. Dick has been interested in the graphical presentation of information since the age of four when he learned to write his name in the Minnesota snow. He founded his own business based on presenting visual process information to machine operators. It eventually became a $10 million company. He now spends several hours a day with Tableau Desktop on his screen and a smile on his face.

Acknowledgments

When I first approached this edition, I mistakenly thought that writing an updated edition would be easier than writing the original book. I’ve discovered that writing a guidebook for Tableau is never going to be easy. Tableau’s product evolution has been consistently aggressive. During the last two years, Tableau added a slew of new features to Desktop and Server. Consequently, nearly every figure in this book has been updated, and there are over 200 pages of totally new content.

During the last two years, I received lots of feedback from readers of the first edition. That feedback was universally positive and helpful. One individual went out of his way to document improvement ideas by sending me multiple pages of detailed feedback. Dick Holm’s feedback was so good I asked him if he would be willing to provide technical editing on this edition. Dick agreed, and his feedback informed every chapter of Part I. I don’t want to fail to mention Molly Monsey of Tableau Software. Molly’s contribution to the first edition of the book was extensive and invaluable.

This challenging project would have been impossible without the help and support of the InterWorks team. James Wright provided an excellent first draft of Chapter 9, “Designing for Mobile.” Kate Treadwell drafted the new Chapter 10 on Story Points. Our resident server wizard, Brad Fair, updated the initial draft for Chapter 11, “Installing Tableau Server.” Mat Hughes updated the initial draft of Chapter 12, “Managing Tableau Server.” Eric Shairla, Javod Khalaj, and Greg Nelms provided the first draft of Chapter 13, “Automating Tableau Server,” which included new code samples for illustrating some of the new capabilities of Tableau’s expanding API toolsets.

InterWorks has many wonderful clients, but I would specifically like to thank Donna Costello of Cigna Healthcare for inviting me to speak at one of her Tableau User Group meetings and providing a case study from Cigna’s internal user group. As Tableau’s first successful partner, we’ve learned a lot about how to effectively deploy Tableau. InterWorks East Coast Team Leader James Wright recaps key success factors in his case study that shares lessons learned.

After writing the first edition of this book I had the honor of speaking at over 50 Tableau User Groups all over North America and Europe—meeting hundreds of Tableau users. Their enthusiasm reminds me of how I felt about Tableau Software when I first discovered it in 2007. One of the best things about Tableau Software is the community of people who use the product. Your Tableau Public posts and generosity inspire me. The Tableau Zen Masters are a great example of this sharing. I want to thank all of them for the insights they have shared with the community.

This book wouldn’t have been possible without the faith and support of InterWorks CEO Behfar Jahanshahi. Behfar believed in a big idea with a little following in 2007. His strategic and tactical leadership continues to shape our success. His wisdom, insight, and kindness continue to inspire me.

Introduction: Overview of the Book and Technology

This book aims to provide an introduction to Tableau in the context of the needs of enterprises—large and small. With every Tableau deployment, there are several user constituencies—report designers who are responsible for performing analysis and creating reports, information technology team members who are responsible for managing Tableau Server and maintaining good data governance, and the information consumers who use the output and may want to do their own report creation.

This book's goal is to provide each group with a basic introduction to Tableau's Desktop and Server environments while also providing best practice recommendations that encompass novice, intermediate, and advanced use of the software.

How This Book Is Organized

There are four distinct sections. Part I (Chapters 1–10) covers the basics of Tableau Desktop and then progresses to more advanced topics including best practices for building dashboards to ensure they are understandable to end users, load quickly, and are responsive to query requests made by your audience. A lot of new and updated content had to be created in Chapters 1–5 because of interface enhancements and added capability in the tool. Chapter 6 includes expanded content related to data discovery and editing content on Tableau Server. Chapter 7 includes new tips and tricks that relate to V9+. Chapter 8's detailed dashboard example has been edited to include an additional action to create a floating and disappearing chart. Tablet computers have become ubiquitous and Tableau has added more capability in its web/mobile platform, so this edition includes a new Chapter 9 on mobile design and consumption with additional content. Chapter 10 on Story Points is also a completely new chapter.

Part II (Chapters 11–13) focuses on Tableau Server, mostly from the perspective of a technology manager responsible for installing, securing, and maintaining the Tableau Server environment. Tableau Server Version 9 is one of the most significant upgrades to Tableau Server ever. Not only has the user interface been redesigned and improved, but the backend processes have been enhanced, and Tableau's API toolset has been expanded. Consequently, every chapter in Part II contains significant content updates and additions.

Part III (Chapter 14) includes a new case study that provides tips for ensuring successful Tableau deployments. Cigna Healthcare created an internal user group aimed at improving employee skills and building enthusiasm around their Tableau deployment.

Part IV (Appendixes A–G) provides additional details on Tableau Software's current product ecosystem, supported data connections, keyboard shortcuts for Windows and the Mac, and recommended hardware configurations, and also includes a detailed Tableau function reference that provides explanations for function syntax and code samples. Some of these sections were included in the chapter content in the first edition. Due to their dynamic nature of the material, it made sense to break them out into separate appendixes so that we could include the most up-to-date information as close to publication as possible.

It's a challenge writing a book on this product line. Tableau Software's research and development spending reached an all-time high last year, and Tableau’s management team remains committed to 12–15 month major release cycles. There isn't a lot of time to update a guide that is 600+ pages.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is intended to introduce new users to the features that Tableau Desktop has to offer from the perspective of someone who needs to create new analysis or reporting. It is also intended for staff responsible for installing, deploying, and maintaining Tableau Server.

The chapters related to Tableau Server are more technical because the subject matter assumes that you have a grasp of server terminology and security.

You can read the book sequentially from start to finish. Or, you can skip around and read about a topic of particular interest. Each chapter builds on the previous material, but if you've already mastered the basics of connecting and using the Desktop, you can skip any chapter related to Tableau Desktop and focus on topics of interest. Care has been taken to cross-reference related topics. So if you are the type of reader who wants to skip to a particular topic, breadcrumbs have been dropped so you can efficiently find related topics.

Tools You Will Need

You can read the book without having Tableau Software installed on your computer, but you'll get a lot more from the material if you follow the examples yourself. Tableau provides free trials of the software. Alternatively, you can download Tableau Public for free, indefinitely—all of the book examples related to Tableau Desktop should work on Tableau Public.

What's on the Companion Website?

Tableau constantly updates the Desktop and Server products with multiple maintenance releases and at least one major product release every 12 to 15 months. The book's companion website includes articles related to the releases, sample files related to the book's examples, and also examples related to new capabilities added to the product as Tableau makes them available. The InterWorks team actively tests new Tableau products, so the companion website may also include demonstrations of new visualization types or techniques before they become available publicly.

Wiley also has a website dedicated to the book that you can find at www.wiley.com/go/tableauyourdata2e.

Summary

Tableau lowers the technical bar for accessing data from many different data sources. This book should allow you to advance your technical ability and save time deploying Tableau in your enterprise by enabling you to make better decisions earlier in your deployment.