Tableau 101

The Tableau 101 User Guide provides instructions and visualizations on how to properly use the Monocle Tableau dashboard capabilities. More specifically, it empowers users to leverage the dashboards in the best way possible to explore, analyze, and share valuable data insights.

Click on a topic below to see expanded information on each topic.

Clicking on the icon to the right of a column allows you to sort the table by the data in the selected column.

  • By default, clicking on the icon sorts the data in a Descending fashion; clicking a second time will do so in an Ascending fashion.
  • Clicking on the arrow to the left of the icon will bring up the menu pictured here.
    • Data Source Order: This option will sort the data in the default order that the data source intended.
    • Alphabetic: This option will sort the data from A – Z, or in Numerical order (1, 2, 3, etc.)
    • Field / Nested: These options will differ depending on the data that is found within the selected table. In this section, you can sort by specific fields, such as “Total Calls,” “Agent ID,” or other items specifically pertaining to the dashboard table.

Data visualizations such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, and many more can be used as filters on the entire dashboard. The examples below show that users can select one data point to filter an entire dashboard. There are multiple other ways to view filter the data in visualizations, and the below information provides a general example.

Filter Type I: Single Select

Users can click on one datapoint to filter the entire dashboard based on the one data point. This example shows that when the user selected one section of a bar chart, the other visualization also filtered to show the details of the one selection.

Filter Type II: Multi-Select

Users can drag and select multiple datapoints to filter the entire dashboard based on the selection. This example shows that when the user dragged and selected one section of a bar chart, the other visualization also filtered to show the details of the selected amount. The user can also select Shift and left click or CTRL and left click to select consecutive items to receive the same results.

Hovering over some visualizations can give users the ability to highlight related information based on where the cursor is placed.

For example, in the pie chart in the righthand example, hovering over the Red section shows all red information within the dashboard.

This gives users the ability to view the Red information without having to select the pie chart and without filtering the data.

Tabs represent the different views that are within a dashboard that users can navigate to, much like the green blocks representing views. Click the tabs to navigate to different views.

Hovering over dashboard visualizations and some capabilities can help you view related Tooltips. These can give you information on the visualization including additional information that may or may not be displayed on the visualization. The below tooltips are examples of different kinds of tooltips that can be viewed in Monocle visualizations:

Keep Only is a functionality that allows you to select one or more elements of a data visualization to be kept in view and filtering other visualizations if applicable.

The Exclude function allows us to remove element(s) selected from the dashboard in the view. Excluding element(s) will only affect the visualization the element(s) are removed from.

The below examples show how to execute Keep Only and Exclude in different visualizations:

Keep Only/Exclude Example: Single Select

Users can right-click on one datapoint and select either Keep Only or Exclude in order to see the desired results.

Keep Only/Exclude Example: Multi-Select

Users can either press CTRL and click on multiple data elements -OR- users can click and drag over the area of information they would like to select, then right click the elements chosen, and select Keep Only or Exclude to see desired results.

The drilldown capability looks like a plus (+) sign in any visualization. This allows you to expand the information and see details that are relevant to the visualization. Simply clicking on the icon will expand the selection. This can also be executed by right-clicking a data element to drill down. Clicking back on the icon when it is a minus (-) will revert the visualization back to its original form.

Below are the basic definitions of the toolbar for each of the Tableau Dashboards:
  • Undo | Undoes any actions executed on the dashboard view
  • Redo | Redoes any actions executed on the dashboard view
  • Revert | Shows the dashboard in its original form
  • Refresh | Refreshes the dashboard for any updates
  • Pause | Pauses the updates to the dashboard for your personal view. You can un-pause the dashboard by selecting Resume which replaces the Pause button after pausing the data
  • View: Original | Sets unique views for a user (see “View: Original” Function)
  • Alerts | Sets the alerts for a dashboard (see Alerts)
  • Metrics | Sets custom metrics for a dashboard (see Metrics)
  • Edit | Allows a user to edit the dashboard, if they have the applicable role to do so
  • Share | Allows a user to share the dashboard either adding names to be notified via email or extracting a link for distribution
  • Download | Allows a user to download the dashboard with different options (see Download)
  • Full Screen | Shows the dashboard in full screen mode.

This capability allows users to create and save their own views of any dashboard according to what they need. This means selecting certain visualizations, filters, or highlighting and saving those selections as a view.

To set custom views for dashboards, execute the following steps AFTER making the selection(s):
  1. Select View: Original at the bottom of the screen in the toolbar
  2. Name the view
  3. Determine if you will Make it [your] default
  4. Determine if you will Make visible to others
  5. Select Save
  6. When navigating back to the dashboard, ensure the correct view is showing by opening View: Original and selecting the correct view under My Views or Other Views
Users can manage their views by selecting View: Original, selecting Manage Views, and then determining if they would like to edit, delete, or make the view public or private.

To set Alerts for dashboards, execute the following steps:
  1. Select Alerts at the bottom of the screen in the toolbar
  2. Select a numeric axis of the desired chart
  3. Select Create
  4. Fill out the applicable information
    • Condition
    • Threshold
    • Subject which is the email subject line
    • When the condition is true, send alert:
    • Recipients
    • Make visible to others
  5. Select Create Alert
To remove yourself, edit, change the owner, or delete the Alert, select the Actions associated with the alert after it is created.

Metrics are an easy and simple way to track changes in your data.

In order to create a Metric, click on the “Metrics” option within the Toolbar pictured above. If you do not have any Metrics created yet, you will be shown a view similar to the one on the right.

Next, you will need to select a mark within your data. A Metric will automatically be created; there is no need for format the Metric, as they are optimized for viewing on both mobile and desktop devices.

  • The Name field is pre-populated based on your selection.
  • Under Description, enter an optional message to help others understand your metric.
  • Under Target value, enter an optional number to compare the metric against.
  • Under Definition > Measure, select the measure to use for your definition from the drop-down.
  • Under Project, click Change Location to choose a different project for the metric.
  • Click the Create button.
You can learn more about Metric creation and troubleshooting from here.

Selecting Download on the bottom toolbar allows users to download the following types of data depending on roles and licensing:

  • Image | Undoes any actions executed on the dashboard view.
  • Data | Allows the user to download the summary or full data of the dashboard into a text file.
  • Crosstab | Allows the user to download one sheet/visualization in Excel format or CSV format.
  • PDF | Allows the user to download a view or sheets of the dashboard along with scaling, page size, and orientation preferences.
  • PowerPoint | Allows the user to download a view or sheets of the dashboard into a PowerPoint.
  • Tableau Workbook | Allows the user to download the entire Tableau workbook of the dashboard.