What is Tableau?
Tableau is a business intelligence software that allows users to import data from different data sources(spreadsheets, CSV, databases, websites, cloud-based services, etc.) and generate compelling stories through dashboards and reports.
It has a user-friendly interface and is a good option for beginners.
Why is Tableau important to data professionals?
It offers advanced data modelling and analysis capabilities, allowing users to perform complex calculations, create custom fields, and perform statistical analysis.
It allows users to create interactive visualisations. Users can easily filter, sort, and drill through their data to uncover insights.
It's a good tool for users to explore and understand their data in real time.
There are good reasons why you should learn to use Tableau as a data professional.
Tableau is widely used in various industries, including finance, healthcare, marketing, and education, among others, and is considered one of the leading data visualisation tools on the market.
What are the types of Tableau products?
Tableau Public
Tableau Desktop
Tableau Server
Tableau Cloud (previously Tableau Online)
Tableau Public is a free version that allows users to create and share data visualisations publicly. It has some limitations compared to Tableau Desktop.
Tableau Public does not support direct connections to most databases.
Tableau Public requires thatou export your data to a supported file format (e.g. CSV) and then connect to that file.
Alternatively, you could use a web data connector or an API to connect to your database indirectly.
Additionally, Tableau Public is designed for public-facing visualisations and cannot be used for confidential or proprietary data.
Tableau Desktop: A licensed version for creating interactive and dynamic dashboards, reports, and charts.
It allows users to connect to various data sources, create visualisations using a
drag-and-drop interface, and publish their work to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.
It provides users advanced analytics capabilities and features, such as data blending, calculations, and forecasting.
Tableau Server: A web-based customer-managed platform that enables users to share, collaborate, and distribute Tableau content across an organisation. It allows users to securely access Tableau dashboards and reports from anywhere, on any device and provides centralised management and administration capabilities.
Tableau Cloud: This is a cloud-based version of Tableau Server that allows users to access Tableau dashboards and reports from anywhere without needing on-premise hardware or IT infrastructure. Tableau Cloud provides the same functionality as Tableau server, but with the added benefits of cloud-based deployment and scalability.
There are also add-ons and extensions to Tableau, including:
Tableau Prep for data preparation and transformation
Tableau Mobile for mobile access to content.
Tableau Prep is a dedicated tool for data cleaning and transformation.
Tableau Desktop also has these functions, but they are limited to relationships, unions, joins, data blending and custom SQL queries.
Tableau Public does not support complex joins such as data blending from multiple sources and custom SQL queries.
Some functionalities that set Tableau Prep apart:
Visual Data Preparation: Users can interactively explore, clean and reshape data using a visual drag-and-drop interface.
Pivot and Unpivot: Transform wide tables into long tables or vice versa. This is useful when working with data that is not in the ideal format for analysis.
Group and Replace: Users can group and replace similar values with a single value. This technique can be useful when dealing with data with multiple variations of the same value.
Other features include data profiling capabilities that allow users to gain insights into their data, including summary statistics, data quality issues, and value distributions. It also includes a matching feature that allows users to join data based on similar values, even if the values are not exact matches.
Tableau is a valuable skill for any data nerd,ardless of their career stage.
As a beginner, Tableau Public would be more than enough to get started. If you are a student, you may consider going through this blog for resources and how to access free Tableau Desktop.
Learners can receive one year of Tableau Desktop access by enrolling in Data Visualization with Tableau on Coursera.
Check out Tableau's website to learn more about their products.
Until next time, keep exploring!