Dimension filters in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Dimension filters

Dashboard Goal

Understand how to use dimension filters in Tableau to focus on specific categories and see how they affect sales and profit.

Sample Data

Category	Sub-Category	Region	Sales	Profit
Furniture	Chairs	East	200	50
Furniture	Tables	West	150	30
Technology	Phones	East	300	80
Technology	Accessories	South	100	20
Office Supplies	Paper	West	120	25
Office Supplies	Binders	South	130	35
Furniture	Chairs	South	180	45

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 1180
• KPI Card: Total Profit
  Formula: SUM([Profit])
  Result: 285
• Bar Chart: Sales by Category
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Category]
  Values:
  • Furniture: 530
  • Technology: 400
  • Office Supplies: 250
• Table: Sales and Profit by Region and Sub-Category
  Shows [Region], [Sub-Category], SUM([Sales]), SUM([Profit])
• Dimension Filter: Category
  Allows selecting one or more categories to filter all components

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|   Total Sales (KPI)  |  Total Profit (KPI)  |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|          Bar Chart: Sales by Category         |
+----------------------------------------------+
| Table: Sales & Profit by Region and Sub-Category |
+----------------------------------------------+
|           Dimension Filter: Category          |
+----------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

The Category filter controls which categories appear in the bar chart, table, and KPI cards. When you select or deselect categories, all components update to show data only for those categories.

For example, if you select only Technology, the KPIs show sales and profit for Technology only, the bar chart shows only Technology sales, and the table shows rows with Technology category.

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only the Furniture category, which components update and what will the Total Sales KPI show?

• All components update: KPI cards, bar chart, and table.
• Total Sales KPI will show 530 (sum of Furniture sales).

Key Result

A Tableau dashboard showing total sales and profit KPIs, sales by category bar chart, and detailed sales/profit table, all filtered interactively by category dimension filter.