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Tableaubi_tool~15 mins

Running total in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

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Scenario Mode
👤 Your Role: You are a sales analyst at a retail company.
📋 Request: Your manager wants to see how sales have accumulated month by month over the year to understand growth trends.
📊 Data: You have monthly sales data for the year 2023, including the month and total sales amount.
🎯 Deliverable: Create a line chart showing the running total of sales by month for 2023.
Progress0 / 4 steps
Sample Data
MonthSales
January1000
February1500
March1200
April1700
May1600
June1800
July2000
August2100
September1900
October2200
November2300
December2500
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Step 1: Connect your data source with the monthly sales data into Tableau.
Load the data table with columns 'Month' and 'Sales'.
Expected Result
Data is available in Tableau with 12 rows for each month.
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Step 2: Create a calculated field for the running total of sales.
Name: Running Total Sales Formula: RUNNING_SUM(SUM([Sales]))
Expected Result
A new field 'Running Total Sales' that sums sales cumulatively by month.
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Step 3: Build a line chart with Month on Columns and Running Total Sales on Rows.
Drag 'Month' to Columns shelf. Drag 'Running Total Sales' to Rows shelf. Ensure 'Month' is sorted chronologically.
Expected Result
Line chart shows sales accumulating from January to December.
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Step 4: Format the chart for clarity and add axis titles.
Set X-axis title to 'Month'. Set Y-axis title to 'Cumulative Sales'. Add chart title: 'Running Total of Sales by Month - 2023'.
Expected Result
Clear, labeled line chart ready for presentation.
Final Result
Month:    Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec
Sales:    1000 1500 1200 1700 1600 1800 2000 2100 1900 2200 2300 2500
Running:  1000 2500 3700 5400 7000 8800 10800 12900 14800 17000 19300 21800
✓Sales steadily increased over the year with some months showing larger jumps.
✓The running total line chart clearly shows cumulative growth month by month.
✓December had the highest cumulative sales reaching 21,800.
Bonus Challenge

Create a running total of sales but reset the total at the start of each quarter.

Show Hint
Use the RUNNING_SUM function with a partition by quarter to restart the sum every 3 months.