Pie charts in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants to understand the sales distribution by product category for the last quarter. They asked you to create a pie chart to visualize the proportion of total sales each category contributes.

📊 Data: You have sales data with columns: Order ID, Product Category, Sales Amount, and Order Date. The data covers multiple product categories and sales transactions over several months.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a pie chart in Tableau showing the percentage of total sales for each product category for the last quarter.

Sample Data

Order ID	Product Category	Sales Amount	Order Date
1001	Electronics	1200	2024-01-15
1002	Furniture	850	2024-01-20
1003	Clothing	400	2024-02-05
1004	Electronics	700	2024-02-18
1005	Clothing	600	2024-03-10
1006	Furniture	950	2024-03-15
1007	Electronics	1300	2024-03-20
1008	Clothing	300	2024-03-25

1

Step 1: Connect your Tableau workbook to the sales data source containing Order ID, Product Category, Sales Amount, and Order Date.

No formula needed; just connect the data source.

Expected Result

Data source is connected and visible in Tableau.

2

Step 2: Filter the data to include only sales from the last quarter (January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024).

Create a filter on Order Date: Order Date >= '2024-01-01' AND Order Date <= '2024-03-31'.

Expected Result

Only sales records from the first quarter of 2024 are included.

3

Step 3: Create a new worksheet for the pie chart.

No formula; just open a new worksheet.

Expected Result

A blank worksheet is ready for building the pie chart.

4

Step 4: Drag 'Product Category' to the Color shelf to assign different colors to each category.

Drag 'Product Category' dimension to Color on Marks card.

Expected Result

Marks card colors are assigned by product category.

5

Step 5: Drag 'Sales Amount' to Angle on the Marks card to size slices by sales.

Drag 'Sales Amount' measure to Angle on Marks card.

Expected Result

Pie slices are sized proportionally to sales amount.

6

Step 6: Change the Marks type from Automatic to Pie.

Select Pie from the Marks type dropdown.

Expected Result

The chart changes to a pie chart.

7

Step 7: Drag 'Sales Amount' to Label on the Marks card to show sales values on slices.

Drag 'Sales Amount' to Label.

Expected Result

Sales amounts appear as labels on each pie slice.

8

Step 8: Right-click the Sales Amount label, select 'Format', and set number format to Currency with no decimals.

Format labels as currency, e.g., $1,200.

Expected Result

Sales labels display as currency values without decimals.

9

Step 9: Add a title to the worksheet: 'Sales Distribution by Product Category - Q1 2024'.

Use the worksheet title option to add the text.

Expected Result

The chart has a clear, descriptive title.

10

Step 10: Adjust colors if needed for better contrast and accessibility.

Use Color legend to pick distinct, colorblind-friendly colors.

Expected Result

Pie chart colors are distinct and easy to differentiate.

Final Result

Pie Chart: Sales Distribution by Product Category - Q1 2024

  Electronics  ██████████████  $3,200
  Furniture    █████████      $1,800
  Clothing     ██████         $1,300

(Each slice sized by sales amount, colored by category, with labels showing sales in dollars.)

✓Electronics is the largest contributor to sales with $3,200 in Q1 2024.

✓Furniture sales are the second largest at $1,800.

✓Clothing sales are the smallest among the three categories at $1,300.

✓The pie chart clearly shows the proportion of sales each category contributes.

Bonus Challenge

Create a dashboard that includes this pie chart alongside a bar chart showing monthly sales trends for each product category in Q1 2024.

Show Hint

Use a filter for Q1 2024 on both charts and synchronize colors for categories to make the dashboard cohesive.