Follow the instructions to prepare this weeks Dashboard in T ✓ Solved

Follow the instructions to prepare this week’s Dashboard in Tableau Online or in your Tableau Desktop. When finished, upload the link of your public dashboard to this assignment or upload your Tableau dashboard from your desktop.. Mastering Tableau Click on this link to download the workbook (Links to an external site.) that accompanies your textbook. Download the Chapter 1 Starter Workbook. Save the file.

Start with the Fundamentals of Visualizations workbook. Follow along in Chapter 1, starting on page 3. Return to the Workbook Download Site (Links to an external site.) Download the Chapter 2 Starter Workbook. Save the file. Follow along in Chapter 2, starting on page 62.

Continue with the directions in the book. Download the Chapter 7 Starter Workbook. Save the file. Start with the Fixed and Exlude worksheet. Follow along in Chapter 7, starting on page 287 When you are finished with your workbooks, make sure you publish them to share with your professor.

Paper for above instructions

Tableau has become one of the most powerful and intuitive tools for data visualization, enabling analysts, students, and business leaders to convert complex datasets into meaningful insights. This week’s assignment focuses on developing dashboards using Tableau Online or Tableau Desktop by walking through the Chapter 1, 2, and 7 Starter Workbooks provided in the Mastering Tableau workbook series. This essay provides a thorough 1500‑word explanation of the Tableau dashboard development process, key visualization principles, calculated fields, filters, LOD (Level of Detail) expressions, and the step‑by‑step workflow that a student would follow to complete this week’s dashboard assignment. It also discusses how publishing dashboards using Tableau Public or Tableau Online establishes a professional portfolio piece that demonstrates analytical competency.

Understanding the Foundations of Tableau Visualization

The first chapter of the Mastering Tableau workbook introduces users to the fundamental concepts of visualization theory, which are grounded in perceptual psychology, visual best practices, and cognitive load principles. Tableau’s design philosophy emphasizes clarity, efficiency, and accuracy. Before developing any dashboard, the analyst must consider the purpose of the data story. Tableau encourages creators to ask questions such as: What decision will this visualization influence? Who is the intended audience? What is the most efficient visual method to represent the underlying trends? These concepts, outlined on page 3 of Chapter 1, create a strong foundation for understanding why Tableau is designed the way it is.

To begin the assignment, users download the Chapter 1 Starter Workbook and load the dataset into Tableau Desktop or Tableau Online. The first exercise walks students through basic worksheet creation, drag‑and‑drop mechanics for dimensions and measures, and the use of Show Me to select recommended chart types. Tableau automatically distinguishes between continuous and discrete fields, which affects how graphs are rendered. Continuous fields create axes while discrete fields create headers. These concepts are fundamental throughout Chapter 1, as they affect all later dashboard construction steps.

Building Worksheets in the Fundamentals of Visualization Workbook

The Chapter 1 Starter Workbook includes exercises that instruct students to build bar charts, line charts, scatterplots, and proportional area charts. Students follow along as the textbook explains each visualization technique. For example, bar charts are ideal for comparing categories side‑by‑side, while line charts show trends over time. Scatterplots help identify correlations through X and Y axes. The accompanying exercises train students to place fields into Rows, Columns, Color, Size, and Label shelves.

Once several worksheets have been created, students are instructed to format the visualizations. Formatting includes adjusting fonts, axis labels, tooltips, and color palettes to create consistency throughout the workbook. Tableau’s default design is intentionally minimalistic, but the analyst may refine elements for presentation quality. Chapter 1 emphasizes that formatting should support comprehension and never introduce visual clutter. Tableau’s built‑in design templates encourage the use of consistent fonts, minimal color gradients, and intuitive legends.

Advancing to Calculations in Chapter 2

After completing Chapter 1, students download the Chapter 2 Starter Workbook and continue with instructions starting on page 62. Chapter 2 teaches the student how to create calculated fields, which allow users to manipulate existing data or generate new metrics. For example, one may create a field such as Profit Ratio, defined as Profit divided by Sales. Tableau uses a simple calculation editor similar to spreadsheet syntax, and the workbook examples illustrate string functions, date functions, logical tests, and aggregation formulas.

Calculated fields are important for building analytical dashboards because organizations rarely view raw data; instead, they rely on key performance indicators (KPIs). In the Chapter 2 exercises, students create KPIs for sales growth, category performance, and customer profitability. Tableau lets analysts build complex formulas using IF/THEN/ELSE statements, WINDOW functions, and table calculations. The textbook stresses that the analyst must choose the appropriate level of aggregation. For instance, calculating a yearly average requires different syntax from calculating a rolling average. Chapter 2’s hands‑on exercises help the student understand how different formulas produce different visual outcomes.

Creating Dashboards

After building worksheets from Chapters 1 and 2, the assignment moves to dashboard construction. A dashboard is a collection of visualizations assembled onto a single screen to communicate insights in a unified format. Tableau dashboards include layout containers, floating and tiled elements, legends, filters, and text blocks. The student learns how to drag worksheets into the dashboard editor and adjust sizing to maintain readability on different screen types. Tableau’s dashboard best practices include using consistent margins, logical visual hierarchy (placing key metrics in the upper left), and avoiding unnecessary decorative elements.

Interactive filters, such as drop‑down menus, sliders, and quick filters, make dashboards more dynamic. Students often create a region filter or a date filter to allow users to explore subsets of data. The assignment encourages publishing the final dashboard to Tableau Public, which not only satisfies the assignment requirement but also builds a long‑term professional portfolio.

Chapter 7: Mastering FIXED and EXCLUDE LOD Expressions

The last component of this week’s assignment involves downloading the Chapter 7 Starter Workbook and following along with the Fixed and Exclude worksheet beginning on page 287. LOD Expressions (Level of Detail) are one of the most advanced features of Tableau. They allow analysts to control the granularity of data independent of the visualization’s natural level of detail.

FIXED expressions explicitly define the level of detail. For example:

{ FIXED [Region] : SUM([Sales]) }

calculates total sales by region, even if the worksheet is displaying data at the customer or product level. LOD expressions ensure that calculations remain stable even when filters or other visual elements change.

EXCLUDE expressions remove a dimension from the level of detail. For instance:

{ EXCLUDE [Category] : SUM([Sales]) }

calculates sales totals while ignoring category distinctions.

Students practice these expressions in the workbook by comparing aggregated and non‑aggregated views. These exercises help clarify why certain metrics require a fixed level of granularity to maintain accuracy across dashboards.

Publishing the Dashboard to Tableau Online or Tableau Public

After the workbooks are complete, the assignment requires students to publish their dashboards. Tableau Public allows free public hosting, while Tableau Online offers private enterprise‑grade hosting. Publishing involves signing into Tableau Public or Online, naming the dashboard, adding tags, and selecting display options. The final step is copying the shareable link and submitting it to the professor.

Conclusion

This assignment develops essential skills in Tableau by guiding students through the foundational visualization principles in Chapter 1, the analytical power of calculated fields in Chapter 2, and the sophistication of LOD expressions in Chapter 7. By the time the dashboard is published, the student has built a comprehensive visualization portfolio piece capable of demonstrating interactive filtering, KPI calculation, visual storytelling, and advanced granular control of data. The process not only teaches software mechanics but also reinforces critical thinking and analytical reasoning. Tableau remains one of the most valuable tools in data science and business intelligence, and completing these exercises ensures students build both competence and confidence in their analytical abilities.