Why table calculations compute across the view in Tableau - Dashboard Impact

Dashboard Mode - Why table calculations compute across the view

Business Question

How do table calculations in Tableau compute values across the view to help analyze sales trends by region and category?

Sample Data

Region	Category	Sales
East	Furniture	100
East	Office Supplies	200
East	Technology	300
West	Furniture	150
West	Office Supplies	250
West	Technology	350

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 1350
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region and Category
  Shows sales values for each category within East and West regions.
• Table Calculation: Running Total of Sales Across Categories per Region
  Formula: RUNNING_SUM(SUM([Sales]))
  Explanation: This calculation adds sales values across categories horizontally within each region, computing across the view.
  Example for East region: Furniture=100, Furniture+Office Supplies=300, Furniture+Office Supplies+Technology=600
• Text Table: Sales and Running Total
  Columns: Region, Category, Sales, Running Total Sales
  Shows how the running total accumulates sales across categories in the view.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+-----------------------+
|      KPI Card        |     Bar Chart          |
|   Total Sales: 1350  | Sales by Region & Cat |
+----------------------+-----------------------+
|               Text Table (Sales & Running Total)              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

A filter for Region allows users to select East or West. When a region is selected, the bar chart and text table update to show sales and running totals only for that region. The KPI card updates total sales accordingly.

Self Check

If you add a filter to show only the East region, which components update and what changes occur?

• The KPI card updates to show total sales for East: 600.
• The bar chart updates to show sales bars only for East categories.
• The text table updates to show sales and running totals only for East categories, with running totals computed across the visible categories.

Key Result

Dashboard showing total sales, sales by region and category, and running total table calculation computed across the view.