Measure filters in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants to see only the products that have generated sales above $10,000 in the last quarter. They want a clear view of these top-performing products to focus marketing efforts.

📊 Data: You have sales data including Product Name, Sales Amount, and Sale Date for the last year.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard that shows a bar chart of products with sales greater than $10,000 in the last quarter.

Sample Data

Product Name	Sales Amount	Sale Date
Alpha	12000	2024-03-15
Beta	8000	2024-03-20
Gamma	15000	2024-03-05
Delta	5000	2024-04-10
Epsilon	20000	2024-03-25
Zeta	7000	2024-02-28
Eta	11000	2024-03-30
Theta	9000	2024-04-20

1

Step 1: Connect Tableau to the sales data source containing Product Name, Sales Amount, and Sale Date.

No formula needed; just connect the data.

Expected Result

Data source is loaded and visible in Tableau.

2

Step 2: Create a calculated field to filter sales in the last quarter (Jan-Mar 2024).

Create calculated field named 'Last Quarter Sales' with formula: IF DATEPART('quarter', [Sale Date]) = 1 AND DATEPART('year', [Sale Date]) = 2024 THEN [Sales Amount] ELSE 0 END

Expected Result

Calculated field 'Last Quarter Sales' correctly marks sales from Q1 2024.

3

Step 3: Create a filter to include only products with total sales greater than $10,000 in the last quarter.

Drag 'Product Name' to Rows. Drag 'Last Quarter Sales' to Columns. Right-click 'Product Name' and select 'Filter'. In the filter dialog, choose 'By Field', select 'Last Quarter Sales', aggregation 'Sum', and set condition 'Sum > 10000'.

Expected Result

Only products with total sales above $10,000 in Q1 2024 are shown.

4

Step 4: Build a bar chart showing the sum of sales for each filtered product.

Use 'Product Name' on Rows and SUM([Last Quarter Sales]) on Columns. Ensure the filter from step 3 is applied.

Expected Result

Bar chart displays only products with sales above $10,000 in the last quarter.

5

Step 5: Add a title and format the dashboard for clarity and accessibility.

Add dashboard title: 'Top Products by Sales in Q1 2024'. Use clear fonts and colors with good contrast. Add axis labels and tooltips.

Expected Result

Dashboard is clear, accessible, and ready to share.

Final Result

Dashboard: Top Products by Sales in Q1 2024

Product Name | Sales Amount
----------------------------
Epsilon      | ██████████████████ 20000
Gamma        | █████████████ 15000
Alpha        | ████████████ 12000
Eta          | ██████████ 11000

(Note: Only products with sales > $10,000 shown)

✓Epsilon is the top-selling product with $20,000 in sales.

✓Gamma, Alpha, and Eta also have strong sales above $10,000.

✓Products Beta, Delta, Zeta, and Theta have sales below $10,000 and are excluded.

Bonus Challenge

Modify the dashboard to allow the user to select any quarter dynamically and see products with sales above $10,000 for that quarter.

Show Hint

Create a parameter for quarter selection and update the calculated field to use this parameter instead of a fixed quarter.