Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a clear and effective sales performance dashboard to help the sales team quickly understand key metrics and trends.

📊 Data: You have monthly sales data by region, product category, and sales representative. The data includes sales amount, units sold, and sales targets.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard that shows total sales, sales by region, sales trends over time, and a comparison of actual sales vs targets. The dashboard should be easy to read and use best practices in design.

Progress0 / 7 steps

Sample Data

Month	Region	Product Category	Sales Rep	Sales Amount	Units Sold	Sales Target
2024-01	North	Electronics	Alice	12000	30	15000
2024-01	South	Furniture	Bob	8000	20	9000
2024-02	North	Electronics	Alice	14000	35	16000
2024-02	South	Furniture	Bob	8500	22	9500
2024-03	North	Electronics	Alice	13000	33	15500
2024-03	South	Furniture	Bob	9000	25	10000
2024-01	East	Clothing	Carol	7000	40	8000
2024-02	East	Clothing	Carol	7500	42	8500
2024-03	East	Clothing	Carol	7800	45	9000

1

Step 1: Connect Tableau to the sales data source and import the data.

Use Tableau's 'Connect' pane to select the data file or database containing the sales data.

Expected Result

2

Step 2: Create a calculated field for Sales Performance to compare Sales Amount to Sales Target.

IF [Sales Amount] >= [Sales Target] THEN 'Met Target' ELSE 'Below Target' END

Expected Result

3

Step 3: Build a bar chart showing total Sales Amount by Region.

Rows: Region; Columns: SUM(Sales Amount); Mark type: Bar; Sort bars descending by Sales Amount.

Expected Result

4

Step 4: Create a line chart showing monthly sales trends over time.

Columns: Month (continuous date); Rows: SUM(Sales Amount); Mark type: Line.

Expected Result

5

Step 5: Add a KPI indicator showing total sales vs total sales target with color coding.

Create a calculated field 'Sales vs Target %' = SUM([Sales Amount]) / SUM([Sales Target]) * 100; Use a text or gauge indicator with green if >=100%, red if below.

Expected Result

6

Step 6: Design the dashboard layout with clear sections: KPIs on top, charts below, filters on the side.

Use Tableau Dashboard pane to arrange components; add filters for Region and Product Category; ensure consistent fonts and colors.

Expected Result

7

Step 7: Apply best practices: use simple color palette, avoid clutter, add clear titles and labels, and ensure accessibility.

Use colorblind-friendly palette; add descriptive titles; use tooltips for details; check contrast ratios; enable keyboard navigation.

Expected Result

Final Result

---------------------------------------------
| SALES PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD                |
|-------------------------------------------|
| Total Sales: $86,800   | Target: $100,500  |
| Performance: Below Target (Red Indicator) |
|-------------------------------------------|
| Sales by Region (Bar Chart)                |
|  North  |█████████████  $39,000            |
|  South  |███████        $25,500            |
|  East   |█████████      $22,300            |
|-------------------------------------------|
| Monthly Sales Trend (Line Chart)           |
|  Jan |----*----| Feb |----*----| Mar |----*----|
|       $27k     $30k      $29k               |
|-------------------------------------------|
| Filters: [Region ▼] [Product Category ▼]   |
---------------------------------------------

✓North region has the highest sales but still below target.

✓Sales trend shows steady growth from January to March.

✓Overall sales are slightly below the combined target.

✓Dashboard layout helps users quickly find key metrics and filter data.

Bonus Challenge

Add a drill-down feature to the dashboard that allows users to click on a region bar and see sales details by sales representative.

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