Why choosing the right chart type matters in Tableau - Dashboard Impact

Dashboard Mode - Why choosing the right chart type matters

Business Question

How does choosing the right chart type help us understand sales data better?

Sample Data

Month	Product	Sales	Profit
January	Apples	100	30
January	Bananas	150	50
February	Apples	120	40
February	Bananas	130	45
March	Apples	140	50
March	Bananas	160	60

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 800
• KPI Card: Total Profit
  Formula: SUM([Profit])
  Result: 275
• Bar Chart: Sales by Month
  Shows total sales for each month.
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Month]
  Why Bar Chart? Easy to compare sales across months.
• Pie Chart: Sales by Product
  Shows proportion of total sales by product.
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Product]
  Why Pie Chart? Shows parts of a whole clearly.
• Line Chart: Profit Trend Over Months
  Shows how profit changes over time.
  Formula: SUM([Profit]) grouped by [Month]
  Why Line Chart? Shows trends clearly over time.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
| Total Sales (KPI)    | Total Profit (KPI)   |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                      Bar Chart: Sales by Month                      |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pie Chart: Sales by Product       | Line Chart: Profit Trend Over Months |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

A filter for Month lets users select one or more months. When applied:

• KPI cards update to show totals for selected months.
• Bar chart updates to show sales only for selected months.
• Pie chart updates to show sales proportions for selected months.
• Line chart updates to show profit trend only for selected months.

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only February, which components update and what will they show?

• KPI Cards: Total Sales = 250, Total Profit = 85
• Bar Chart: Shows sales for February only.
• Pie Chart: Shows sales proportion between Apples and Bananas for February.
• Line Chart: Shows profit for February only (single point).

Key Result

This dashboard shows how choosing the right chart type helps visualize sales and profit data clearly by month and product.