Union and join basics in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to combine sales data from two different regions and analyze total sales by product category.

📊 Data: You have two Excel files: one with sales data from the East region and one from the West region. Each file has columns: Order ID, Product Category, Sales Amount, and Order Date.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard that shows total sales by product category combining both regions.

Sample Data

Order ID	Product Category	Sales Amount	Order Date
1001	Electronics	250	2024-01-05
1002	Furniture	450	2024-01-07
1003	Clothing	150	2024-01-10
2001	Electronics	300	2024-01-06
2002	Furniture	500	2024-01-08
2003	Clothing	200	2024-01-11

1

Step 1: Connect to the East region sales Excel file in Tableau.

Use 'Connect' > 'Microsoft Excel' > select East region file.

Expected Result

East region sales data loaded with columns: Order ID, Product Category, Sales Amount, Order Date.

2

Step 2: Connect to the West region sales Excel file in Tableau and add it as a union to the East region data.

Drag West region file below East region file in the data source tab to create a union.

Expected Result

A combined table with all rows from both East and West regions.

3

Step 3: Create a new worksheet to analyze total sales by product category.

Drag 'Product Category' to Rows and 'Sales Amount' to Columns. Set aggregation to SUM.

Expected Result

Bar chart showing total sales for each product category combining both regions.

4

Step 4: Add a filter to show sales only for the month of January 2024.

Drag 'Order Date' to Filters, select 'Range of Dates', and choose 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31.

Expected Result

Chart updates to show sales only for January 2024.

5

Step 5: Create a dashboard and add the worksheet with total sales by product category.

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

Expected Result

Dashboard displays total sales by product category for both regions combined.

Final Result

Dashboard: Total Sales by Product Category (Jan 2024)

+--------------------+------------+
| Product Category   | Total Sales|
+--------------------+------------+
| Electronics        | 550        |
| Furniture          | 950        |
| Clothing           | 350        |
+--------------------+------------+

Bar chart shows Electronics, Furniture, and Clothing sales bars sized by total sales.

✓Furniture has the highest total sales combining both regions in January 2024.

✓Electronics and Clothing have lower but significant sales.

✓Union of data from both regions allows complete sales analysis.

Bonus Challenge

Create a join between the combined sales data and a product details table to add product descriptions.

Show Hint

Use 'Product Category' as the join key between sales data and product details table.