Keep dashboards simple
Within the Tableau community I see many dashboards shared that look great, often are highly complex, sometimes like works of art. However in my professional career I have never seen dashboards of that type. I use Tableau for business reporting where dashboards should be kept simple. [...]
Tableau format zero values
To format zeroes (0) to something else, such as a dash (-) for example, is simple using standard formatting techniques. In the number formatting there’s a Custom option. […]
Create fixed bins from a measure in Tableau
What feels like a long time ago, pre-Tableau 9, I wrote an article on how to create fixed bins from a measure in Tableau. At the time it was complicated, data duplication and blending was required. Then Tableau 9 came along and this suddenly creating bins from a measure [...]
Tableau dashboard navigation without the double click
There are use cases where using buttons can aid Tableau dashboard navigation. For example in your Tableau report you may have a summary dashboard and a detailed drill down. Perhaps you want the user to drill down from the summary to the detail dashboard on a click. [...]
Show the total for selected and unselected values
Recently I came across a chart that showed the total for both the selected and unselected values. It’s actually very simple to create but did take a bit of thought to begin. We want the values NOT selected to remain within the view. A standard filter [...]
MS Access query isn’t in the Tableau table list
Using MS Access in conjunction with Tableau isn’t always a painless experience, especially when it comes to the Access query. You might notice your Access query doesn’t appear in Tableau for you to choose. Alternatively you might find an Access query that returns records in Access returns [...]
Tableau Cannot use boolean type in IF expression
The "Cannot use boolean type in IF expression" error in Tableau calculated fields is quite self-explanatory. You're not able to use fields that return true or false (i.e. boolean type) with IF statements in Tableau. However there is a workaround. In many programming languages True or [...]
Using Alteryx for Data Quality checks
Data Quality is now a rapidly growing area in many Financial Services organisations. There are multiple vendors, such as Informatica and Ab Initio, with software specifically marketed as a data quality tool. Undoubtedly they are both great products, however they are expensive, in all likelihood in [...]
Simple way to add All to a parameter in Tableau
Back in 2012, I wrote a post describing an overly complex way to add ‘All’ to a parameter in Tableau. It is surprisingly simple to add All to a parameter if using the parameter to select a value from a dimension. First create a patameter and [...]
Move or Copy files in Alteryx
In previous posts I’ve written about how to use the Run Command tool in Alteryx to publish a tableau extract to tableau server and how to unzip a file in Alteryx. Another great use for the Alteryx Run Command tool is to move and copy files. [...]