Creating calculated fields in Tableau - Dashboard Building Guide

Dashboard Mode - Creating calculated fields

Business Question

How can we calculate total sales and average sales per order to better understand our sales performance?

Sample Data

Order ID	Product	Quantity	Unit Price	Sales Region
1001	Notebook	2	15	North
1002	Pen	5	3	South
1003	Binder	1	10	East
1004	Pen	10	3	West
1005	Notebook	3	15	North
1006	Binder	4	10	South

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Calculation: SUM([Quantity] * [Unit Price])
  Result: 2*15 + 5*3 + 1*10 + 10*3 + 3*15 + 4*10 = 30 + 15 + 10 + 30 + 45 + 40 = 170
• KPI Card: Average Sales per Order
  Calculation: AVG([Quantity] * [Unit Price])
  Result: Total Sales (170) / Number of Orders (6) = 28.33
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Calculation: Sum of sales per region using calculated field [Quantity] * [Unit Price]
  Data:
  • North: (2*15) + (3*15) = 30 + 45 = 75
  • South: (5*3) + (4*10) = 15 + 40 = 55
  • East: 1*10 = 10
  • West: 10*3 = 30
• Table: Detailed Sales
  Shows all columns plus calculated sales per order [Quantity] * [Unit Price]

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|   Total Sales (KPI)  | Average Sales (KPI)  |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                      Bar Chart: Sales by Region                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                         Table: Detailed Sales                       |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

A filter for Sales Region allows users to select one or more regions. When a region is selected, all components update:

• Total Sales recalculates sum for selected regions.
• Average Sales per Order recalculates average for selected regions.
• Bar Chart updates to show only selected regions.
• Detailed Table shows only orders from selected regions.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Sales Region = North, which components update and what are their new values?

• Total Sales: 75 (from orders 1001 and 1005)
• Average Sales per Order: 75 / 2 = 37.5
• Bar Chart: Shows only North region bar with value 75
• Detailed Table: Shows only orders 1001 and 1005

Key Result

Dashboard shows total and average sales with sales by region and detailed order data using calculated sales fields.