Build a hierarchy in Tableau

One of the great things about Tableau is how quick and easy it is to create a hierarchy. I have used this for building multiple Tableau hierarchies including:

• Product hierarchy – i.e. product category, subcategory, group, etc
• Regional hierarchy – i.e. Country, State, County, City, etc
• Custom Date hierarchy – i.e. Year, Week, Day

How to create a hierarchy in Tableau

Creating a tableau hierarchy is really simple.

Using the ctrl key, select the dimensions you want to be in your hierarchy, right-click and Hierarchy – Create Hierarchy.

Name the hierarchy when prompted.

To re-order the fields within the hierarchy simply click-drag the field into the correct position.

An example of a Tableau hierarchy

This bullet chart uses a hierarchy of “Category – Sub-category – Product” to display YoY sales.

Hovering near the word Category displays a + or – sign. Click on these to navigate up and down the hierarchy.