Blending data sources in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report that shows total sales by product category along with customer satisfaction scores from a separate survey data source.

📊 Data: You have two data sources: 1) Sales data with columns: OrderID, ProductCategory, SalesAmount, OrderDate. 2) Customer survey data with columns: CustomerID, ProductCategory, SatisfactionScore.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a blended Tableau dashboard that combines sales totals by product category with average customer satisfaction scores for the same categories.

Sample Data

OrderID	ProductCategory	SalesAmount	OrderDate
1001	Electronics	250	2024-01-15
1002	Furniture	450	2024-01-16
1003	Electronics	300	2024-01-17
1004	Clothing	150	2024-01-18
1005	Furniture	700	2024-01-19
1006	Clothing	200	2024-01-20

CustomerID	ProductCategory	SatisfactionScore
C001	Electronics	4.5
C002	Furniture	3.8
C003	Clothing	4.2
C004	Electronics	4.0
C005	Furniture	4.1
C006	Clothing	3.9

1

Step 1: Connect to the Sales data source in Tableau.

Use 'OrderID', 'ProductCategory', 'SalesAmount', and 'OrderDate' columns.

Expected Result

Sales data loaded with 6 rows.

2

Step 2: Connect to the Customer Survey data source in Tableau.

Use 'CustomerID', 'ProductCategory', and 'SatisfactionScore' columns.

Expected Result

Survey data loaded with 6 rows.

3

Step 3: Create a new worksheet for sales totals by product category.

Rows: 'ProductCategory'; Columns: SUM('SalesAmount').

Expected Result

Table showing total sales: Electronics=550, Furniture=1150, Clothing=350.

4

Step 4: Create a new worksheet for average satisfaction score by product category.

Rows: 'ProductCategory'; Columns: AVG('SatisfactionScore').

Expected Result

Table showing average scores: Electronics=4.25, Furniture=3.95, Clothing=4.05.

5

Step 5: Blend the two data sources on 'ProductCategory' in Tableau.

Use 'ProductCategory' as the linking field between Sales and Survey data sources.

Expected Result

Blended data source created linking sales and satisfaction by product category.

6

Step 6: Create a combined view showing total sales and average satisfaction side by side.

Rows: 'ProductCategory'; Columns: SUM('SalesAmount'), AVG('SatisfactionScore') from blended data.

Expected Result

Dashboard view with columns: ProductCategory, Total Sales, Avg Satisfaction Score.

7

Step 7: Build a dashboard with the combined view and add clear titles and labels.

Add worksheet to dashboard; title: 'Sales and Customer Satisfaction by Product Category'.

Expected Result

Dashboard ready for presentation with clear, accessible visualization.

Final Result

--------------------------------------------------
| Sales and Customer Satisfaction by Product Category |
--------------------------------------------------
| ProductCategory | Total Sales | Avg Satisfaction |
|-----------------|-------------|------------------|
| Electronics     | $550        | 4.25             |
| Furniture       | $1150       | 3.95             |
| Clothing        | $350        | 4.05             |
--------------------------------------------------

✓Furniture has the highest total sales but the lowest average satisfaction score.

✓Electronics and Clothing have similar satisfaction scores above 4.0.

✓Sales and satisfaction scores vary independently by product category.

Bonus Challenge

Add a time filter to the dashboard to analyze sales and satisfaction by month.

Show Hint

Use the 'OrderDate' field from the Sales data source to create a date filter and apply it to the blended view.