Creating a dashboard in Tableau - Business Scenario Walkthrough

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a dashboard to monitor monthly sales performance by region and product category.

📊 Data: You have sales data including Date, Region, Product Category, Sales Amount, and Quantity Sold for the last 12 months.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard showing monthly sales trends by region and product category with clear visualizations and filters.

Sample Data

Date	Region	Product Category	Sales Amount	Quantity Sold
2023-06-01	North	Electronics	12000	30
2023-06-01	South	Furniture	8000	20
2023-07-01	East	Electronics	15000	35
2023-07-01	West	Furniture	7000	18
2023-08-01	North	Clothing	5000	50
2023-08-01	South	Electronics	11000	25
2023-09-01	East	Clothing	6000	40
2023-09-01	West	Electronics	13000	28
2023-10-01	North	Furniture	9000	22
2023-10-01	South	Clothing	4000	45
2023-11-01	East	Furniture	8500	19
2023-11-01	West	Clothing	4500	38

1

Step 1: Connect Tableau to the sales data source containing Date, Region, Product Category, Sales Amount, and Quantity Sold.

Use 'Connect to Data' and select the data file or database with the sales data.

Expected Result

Tableau shows the data fields ready for analysis.

2

Step 2: Create a new worksheet named 'Monthly Sales by Region'.

Drag 'Date' to Columns, right-click and select 'Month' as the date part. Drag 'Sales Amount' to Rows. Drag 'Region' to Color on Marks card.

Expected Result

A line chart showing monthly sales trends with lines colored by region.

3

Step 3: Create a new worksheet named 'Sales by Product Category'.

Drag 'Product Category' to Rows. Drag 'Sales Amount' to Columns. Use Bar chart type.

Expected Result

A horizontal bar chart showing total sales amount by product category.

4

Step 4: Create a filter for 'Region' to allow dashboard users to select regions.

Drag 'Region' to Filters shelf. Show filter on worksheet.

Expected Result

A filter control for Region appears on the worksheet.

5

Step 5: Create a dashboard named 'Sales Performance Dashboard'.

Add the two worksheets 'Monthly Sales by Region' and 'Sales by Product Category' to the dashboard. Place the Region filter on the dashboard.

Expected Result

Dashboard shows both charts and the Region filter for interactive analysis.

6

Step 6: Configure dashboard layout for clarity and responsiveness.

Arrange charts side by side with clear titles. Set dashboard size to automatic for responsive design.

Expected Result

Dashboard is easy to read and adjusts well on different screen sizes.

Final Result

Sales Performance Dashboard

+----------------------------+  +----------------------------+
| Monthly Sales by Region    |  | Sales by Product Category   |
|                            |  |                            |
|  * Line chart with months  |  |  * Bar chart by category    |
|    on X-axis, sales on Y   |  |                            |
|  * Lines colored by region |  |                            |
|                            |  |                            |
+----------------------------+  +----------------------------+

[Region Filter: All | North | South | East | West ]

✓Sales vary by region each month, with East and North showing higher sales in some months.

✓Electronics is the top product category in sales amount.

✓The Region filter allows focusing on specific areas to analyze sales trends.

Bonus Challenge

Add a calculated field to show average sales per quantity sold and include it in the dashboard.

Show Hint

Create a calculated field: Average Sales = SUM([Sales Amount]) / SUM([Quantity Sold]). Add this as a new chart or tooltip.