Blending data sources in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Blending data sources

Business Question

How can we combine sales data from two different sources to see total sales by product category and region?

Sample Data

Data Source 1: Sales 2023

Order ID	Product Category	Region	Sales Amount
1001	Furniture	East	250
1002	Technology	West	400
1003	Office Supplies	East	150
1004	Furniture	West	300
1005	Technology	East	500

Data Source 2: Sales 2024

Order ID	Product Category	Region	Sales Amount
2001	Furniture	East	350
2002	Technology	West	450
2003	Office Supplies	East	200
2004	Furniture	West	400
2005	Technology	East	550

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales Amount]) from both data sources blended on Product Category and Region.
  Result: 3650 (sum of all sales amounts from both sources)
• Bar Chart: Sales by Product Category
  Formula: SUM([Sales Amount]) grouped by [Product Category] from blended data.
  Result:
  Furniture: 1300
  Technology: 1900
  Office Supplies: 350
• Map Chart: Sales by Region
  Formula: SUM([Sales Amount]) grouped by [Region] from blended data.
  Result:
  East: 2000
  West: 1650
• Table: Detailed Sales
  Shows Order ID, Product Category, Region, Sales Amount from both sources combined.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+-----------------------+
|      KPI Card        |   Bar Chart            |
|  Total Sales: 3650   |  Sales by Product Cat  |
|                      |  Furniture, Tech, etc. |
+----------------------+-----------------------+
|                      Map Chart: Sales by Region |
|                      East, West                 |
+--------------------------------+----------------+
|       Table: Detailed Sales (Order ID, Product, Region, Sales)       |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
  

Interactivity

Filters for Product Category and Region apply to all components. Selecting a category or region updates the KPI card, bar chart, map, and table to show only matching blended data.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Region = East, which components update and what changes?

• All components update to show only East region data.
• KPI Card shows total sales for East: 250 + 150 + 500 + 350 + 200 + 550 = 2000.
• Bar Chart shows sales by product category only for East.
• Map Chart highlights East region sales only.
• Table shows only orders from East region.

Key Result

A dashboard blending two sales data sources to show total and detailed sales by product category and region with interactive filters.