Data model best practices in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Data model best practices

Dashboard Goal

This dashboard helps you understand key best practices for building a clean and efficient data model in Tableau. It shows how to organize data tables, relationships, and calculations for better performance and easier analysis.

Sample Data

Order ID	Customer	Region	Product	Sales	Order Date
1001	Alice	East	Chair	250	2024-01-15
1002	Bob	West	Desk	450	2024-02-10
1003	Charlie	East	Chair	150	2024-03-05
1004	Diana	South	Table	300	2024-01-20
1005	Eva	West	Desk	500	2024-03-15
1006	Frank	North	Chair	200	2024-02-25

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 1850
  Description: Shows total sales amount from all orders.
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Region]
  Data:
  • East: 400
  • West: 950
  • South: 300
  • North: 200
  
  Description: Visualizes sales distribution across regions.
• Table: Data Model Best Practices Checklist
  Content:
  • Use star schema with fact and dimension tables
  • Define clear relationships between tables
  • Use calculated fields sparingly
  • Filter data early to improve performance
  • Use descriptive field names
  • Keep data granularity consistent
  
  Description: Lists key best practices for data modeling in Tableau.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+-----------------------+
|      Total Sales      |    Sales by Region    |
|      (KPI Card)       |      (Bar Chart)      |
+----------------------+-----------------------+
|          Data Model Best Practices Checklist           |
|                      (Table)                           |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

The dashboard includes a region filter slicer (not shown in layout) that lets you select one or more regions. When you select a region, the Total Sales KPI and Sales by Region bar chart update to show data only for the selected regions. The checklist table remains static as it shows general best practices.

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only the 'West' region, which components update and what are their new values?

• Total Sales KPI: Updates to 950 (sum of sales for West region)
• Sales by Region Bar Chart: Shows only 'West' bar with value 950
• Best Practices Checklist Table: Remains unchanged

Key Result

A dashboard showing total sales, sales by region, and key data model best practices with interactive region filtering.