Multiple data sources in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report that shows total sales by product category and customer region. The sales data and customer data are in separate sources.

📊 Data: You have two data sources: Sales data with columns OrderID, ProductCategory, SalesAmount, CustomerID; Customer data with columns CustomerID, Region.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard that combines these two data sources to show total sales by product category and region.

Sample Data

OrderID	ProductCategory	SalesAmount	CustomerID
1001	Electronics	250	C001
1002	Clothing	100	C002
1003	Electronics	300	C003
1004	Home	150	C001
1005	Clothing	200	C004
1006	Home	100	C002

CustomerID	Region
C001	North
C002	South
C003	East
C004	West

1

Step 1: Connect to the Sales data source in Tableau.

Use 'Connect' > 'Text file' or database connection to load Sales data with columns OrderID, ProductCategory, SalesAmount, CustomerID.

Expected Result

Sales data is loaded and visible in Tableau data pane.

2

Step 2: Connect to the Customer data source in Tableau.

Use 'Connect' > 'Text file' or database connection to load Customer data with columns CustomerID, Region.

Expected Result

Customer data is loaded and visible in Tableau data pane.

3

Step 3: Create a relationship between Sales and Customer data sources on CustomerID.

In Data menu, use 'Edit Relationships' and set CustomerID from Sales to CustomerID from Customer data.

Expected Result

Tableau links Sales and Customer data on CustomerID for combined analysis.

4

Step 4: Create a new worksheet to build the view.

Drag ProductCategory from Sales data to Rows shelf.

Expected Result

Product categories are listed on rows.

5

Step 5: Add Region from Customer data to Columns shelf.

Drag Region from Customer data source to Columns shelf.

Expected Result

Regions are shown as columns.

6

Step 6: Add SUM of SalesAmount to Text or Label on Marks card.

Drag SalesAmount from Sales data to Text on Marks card and set aggregation to SUM.

Expected Result

Total sales amounts appear in the grid by product category and region.

7

Step 7: Format the view for clarity and add a title 'Sales by Product Category and Region'.

Use Format pane to adjust fonts and add worksheet title.

Expected Result

Clean, readable table showing total sales by category and region.

8

Step 8: Create a dashboard and add the worksheet to it.

Use 'New Dashboard', drag the worksheet onto the dashboard canvas.

Expected Result

Dashboard displays the combined sales by product category and region.

Final Result

Dashboard: Sales by Product Category and Region

+----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| ProductCategory| North  | South  | East   | West   |
+----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Electronics    | 400    |        | 300    |        |
| Clothing       |        | 100    |        | 200    |
| Home           | 150    | 100    |        |        |
+----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

✓Electronics sales are strong in North and East regions.

✓Clothing sales are mainly in South and West regions.

✓Home products sell mostly in North and South regions.

Bonus Challenge

Add a filter to the dashboard to select specific regions and see sales update dynamically.

Show Hint

Use a Region filter on the dashboard and set it to apply to all relevant worksheets.