Creating bins in Tableau - Business Scenario Walkthrough

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants to understand how sales amounts are distributed by grouping sales into ranges (bins).

📊 Data: You have sales transaction data with columns: Transaction ID, Product, Sales Amount, and Date.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dashboard showing the count of transactions grouped into sales amount bins of $50 each.

Sample Data

Transaction ID	Product	Sales Amount	Date
1001	Shirt	45	2024-05-01
1002	Jeans	120	2024-05-02
1003	Shoes	75	2024-05-02
1004	Hat	30	2024-05-03
1005	Jacket	200	2024-05-04
1006	Socks	15	2024-05-04
1007	Shirt	55	2024-05-05
1008	Jeans	130	2024-05-05
1009	Shoes	90	2024-05-06
1010	Hat	40	2024-05-06

1

Step 1: Connect your sales data to Tableau and open a new worksheet.

No formula needed.

Expected Result

Sales data is loaded and visible in Tableau's data pane.

2

Step 2: Create a bin for Sales Amount with a size of 50.

Right-click 'Sales Amount' in data pane > Create > Bins... > Set bin size to 50 > Click OK.

Expected Result

A new field 'Sales Amount (bin)' appears in the data pane.

3

Step 3: Drag 'Sales Amount (bin)' to Rows shelf.

No formula needed.

Expected Result

Rows are grouped by sales amount bins of $50 ranges.

4

Step 4: Drag 'Number of Records' to Columns shelf to count transactions per bin.

No formula needed.

Expected Result

Bar chart shows count of transactions in each sales amount bin.

5

Step 5: Format the chart with clear axis titles and add a chart title 'Transaction Count by Sales Amount Bins'.

No formula needed.

Expected Result

Chart is easy to read with descriptive titles.

6

Step 6: Add the chart to a dashboard and publish or share with your manager.

No formula needed.

Expected Result

Dashboard shows sales distribution grouped by $50 bins.

Final Result

Sales Amount Bins (Rows) | Number of Transactions (Columns)
---------------------------------------------------------
  $0 - $49             | ████████ (4)
  $50 - $99            | ██████ (3)
  $100 - $149          | ██ (2)
  $150 - $199          |  (0)
  $200 - $249          | █ (1)

Bar chart with bins on vertical axis and count on horizontal axis.

✓Most transactions fall in the $0-$49 and $50-$99 sales amount bins.

✓There are fewer transactions with sales amounts above $100.

✓The highest sales bin ($200-$249) has only one transaction.

Bonus Challenge

Create dynamic bins where the bin size can be changed by the user using a parameter control.

Show Hint

Create a parameter for bin size, then create a calculated field using FLOOR([Sales Amount]/[Bin Size Parameter])*[Bin Size Parameter] to define bins dynamically.