Dual axis charts in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants to see how monthly sales revenue and the number of units sold trend together over the past year to understand their relationship.

📊 Data: You have monthly sales data including 'Month', 'Sales Revenue' (in dollars), and 'Units Sold'.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dual axis line chart in Tableau showing both Sales Revenue and Units Sold over the months of the year.

Sample Data

Month	Sales Revenue	Units Sold
Jan	12000	300
Feb	15000	350
Mar	13000	320
Apr	17000	400
May	16000	380
Jun	18000	420
Jul	20000	450
Aug	21000	460
Sep	19000	430
Oct	22000	480
Nov	23000	500
Dec	25000	520

1

Step 1: Connect your data source in Tableau and load the monthly sales data.

No formula needed; just connect and import the data.

Expected Result

Data with columns Month, Sales Revenue, and Units Sold is available in Tableau.

2

Step 2: Drag 'Month' to the Columns shelf to create the timeline.

Columns: Month

Expected Result

Months appear along the horizontal axis.

3

Step 3: Drag 'Sales Revenue' to the Rows shelf to create the first line chart.

Rows: SUM(Sales Revenue)

Expected Result

A line chart showing total sales revenue per month appears.

4

Step 4: Drag 'Units Sold' to the Rows shelf next to Sales Revenue to add the second measure.

Rows: SUM(Units Sold)

Expected Result

Two separate line charts stacked vertically appear.

5

Step 5: Right-click on the second axis (Units Sold) and select 'Dual Axis' to overlay the two charts.

Right-click SUM(Units Sold) axis > Dual Axis

Expected Result

Sales Revenue and Units Sold lines share the same horizontal axis but have separate vertical axes.

6

Step 6: Format the chart: assign different colors to each line, add axis titles, and add a chart title 'Monthly Sales Revenue and Units Sold'.

Use Color shelf for lines; edit axis titles and chart title in the worksheet.

Expected Result

Clear, colorful dual axis line chart with proper labels and title.

Final Result

Month ->

| 25000 +---------------------------------------------------+ 520
|       |\                                                  /|    
| 20000 + \                                                / + 450
|       |  \                                              /  |    
| 15000 +   \                                            /   + 350
|       |    \                                          /    |    
| 10000 +     \                                        /     + 300
|       |      \                                      /      |    
|  5000 +       \                                    /       +    
|       |        \                                  /        |    
|     0 +---------\--------------------------------/---------+  0
|          Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Legend:
- Solid line: Sales Revenue
- Dashed line: Units Sold

✓Sales Revenue and Units Sold generally increase together over the year.

✓There is a steady growth trend from January to December.

✓The dual axis chart helps see how revenue and units sold relate month by month.

Bonus Challenge

Add a third measure, 'Profit Margin', as a dual axis chart with a different chart type (e.g., bars) on the same timeline.

Show Hint

Use the 'Measure Names' and 'Measure Values' fields in Tableau to combine multiple measures and change the mark type for each measure.