Ascending and descending sort in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a sales analyst at a retail company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants to see the list of products sorted by total sales, first in ascending order and then in descending order, to understand which products are selling the least and which are selling the most.

📊 Data: You have sales data including Product Name, Category, and Sales Amount for each transaction.

🎯 Deliverable: Create two views in Tableau: one showing products sorted by total sales in ascending order, and another showing products sorted by total sales in descending order.

Sample Data

Product Name	Category	Sales Amount
Notebook	Stationery	120
Pen	Stationery	80
Desk Chair	Furniture	450
Monitor	Electronics	700
Mouse	Electronics	150
Stapler	Stationery	60
Desk Lamp	Furniture	200
Keyboard	Electronics	300

1

Step 1: Open Tableau and connect to the sales data source.

Connect to the data file or database containing Product Name, Category, and Sales Amount columns.

Expected Result

Data is loaded and visible in Tableau's Data pane.

2

Step 2: Create a new worksheet and drag 'Product Name' to Rows shelf.

Drag 'Product Name' field from Data pane to Rows shelf.

Expected Result

List of products appears vertically on the left side.

3

Step 3: Drag 'Sales Amount' to Columns shelf and set aggregation to SUM.

Drag 'Sales Amount' field to Columns shelf; ensure aggregation is SUM (default).

Expected Result

Horizontal bars appear representing total sales per product.

4

Step 4: Sort the products in ascending order by total sales.

Click the sort icon on the 'Product Name' pill in Rows shelf, choose 'Sort Ascending' by 'Field' SUM(Sales Amount).

Expected Result

Products are listed from lowest to highest total sales.

5

Step 5: Duplicate the worksheet to create a second view.

Right-click the worksheet tab and select 'Duplicate'.

Expected Result

A copy of the worksheet appears as a new tab.

6

Step 6: In the duplicated worksheet, sort the products in descending order by total sales.

Click the sort icon on the 'Product Name' pill in Rows shelf, choose 'Sort Descending' by 'Field' SUM(Sales Amount).

Expected Result

Products are listed from highest to lowest total sales.

7

Step 7: Create a dashboard to display both views side by side.

Create new dashboard, drag both worksheets onto it side by side, add titles 'Ascending Sales' and 'Descending Sales'.

Expected Result

Dashboard shows two sorted product lists for easy comparison.

Final Result

Dashboard: Ascending and Descending Product Sales

+----------------------+  +-----------------------+
| Ascending Sales       |  | Descending Sales       |
|                      |  |                       |
| Stapler       | 60    |  | Monitor       | 700    |
| Pen           | 80    |  | Desk Chair    | 450    |
| Notebook      | 120   |  | Keyboard      | 300    |
| Mouse         | 150   |  | Desk Lamp     | 200    |
| Desk Lamp     | 200   |  | Mouse         | 150    |
| Keyboard      | 300   |  | Notebook      | 120    |
| Desk Chair    | 450   |  | Pen           | 80     |
| Monitor       | 700   |  | Stapler       | 60     |
+----------------------+  +-----------------------+

✓Stapler has the lowest total sales at 60.

✓Monitor has the highest total sales at 700.

✓Sorting helps quickly identify best and worst selling products.

Bonus Challenge

Add a filter to the dashboard to allow sorting products within each category separately.

Show Hint

Use a Category filter on the dashboard and apply sorting within the filtered data.