Blending data sources in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Two data sources: Sales data with Order ID, Sales amount, and Customer ID; Customer data with Customer ID, Customer Name, and Region.

Cell	Value
A1	Order ID
B1	Sales
C1	Customer ID
A2	1001
B2	250
C2	C001
A3	1002
B3	450
C3	C002
A4	1003
B4	300
C4	C003
E1	Customer ID
F1	Customer Name
G1	Region
E2	C001
F2	Alice
G2	North
E3	C002
F3	Bob
G3	South
E4	C003
F4	Charlie
G4	East

Formula Trace

SUM([Sales]) by blending Sales data and Customer data on Customer ID

Step 1: Identify common field to blend: Customer ID

Step 2: Match Customer IDs from Sales data to Customer data

Step 3: Aggregate Sales by Customer ID

Step 4: Blend aggregated Sales with Customer data on Customer ID

Step 5: Calculate total Sales across all customers

Cell Reference Map

    A       B       C           E       F           G
1 |Order ID| Sales |Customer ID|Customer ID|Customer Name|Region
2 | 1001   |  250  |   C001    |   C001    |   Alice    | North
3 | 1002   |  450  |   C002    |   C002    |    Bob     | South
4 | 1003   |  300  |   C003    |   C003    |  Charlie   | East

Arrows:
B2,B3,B4 (Sales) linked to C2,C3,C4 (Customer ID) matched with E2,E3,E4 (Customer ID) to blend data.

Sales data columns A-C and Customer data columns E-G are linked by Customer ID to blend sales with customer details.

Result

    Customer ID | Customer Name | Region | Total Sales
1 |    C001     |    Alice     | North  |    250
2 |    C002     |     Bob      | South  |    450
3 |    C003     |   Charlie    | East   |    300

Total Sales across all customers: 1000

The blended data shows each customer with their region and total sales. The total sales sum is 1000.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What is the common field used to blend the two data sources?

A Sales

B Order ID

C Customer ID

D Region

Key Result

Blend data sources by matching on a common key field and aggregate measures accordingly.