Distribution analysis (box plots) in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Distribution analysis (box plots)

Business Question

How are sales distributed across different product categories? We want to see the spread, median, and outliers of sales amounts to understand variability and identify any unusual sales values.

Sample Data

Order ID	Product Category	Sales Amount
1001	Furniture	250
1002	Furniture	450
1003	Furniture	300
1004	Technology	1200
1005	Technology	1500
1006	Technology	1100
1007	Office Supplies	80
1008	Office Supplies	60
1009	Office Supplies	90

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Median Sales - Shows the median sales amount across all categories.
  Formula: MEDIAN([Sales Amount])
  Result: 300
• Box Plot Chart: Sales Distribution by Product Category - Visualizes minimum, first quartile (Q1), median, third quartile (Q3), maximum, and outliers for sales amounts per category.
  Tableau Setup: Drag Product Category to Columns, Sales Amount to Rows, and select Box-and-Whisker Plot from Show Me.
• Data Table: Sales Details - Lists all sales records with Order ID, Product Category, and Sales Amount for reference.

Dashboard Layout

+-----------------------+-------------------------+
|      Median Sales      |  Sales Distribution     |
|       (KPI Card)       |  by Product Category    |
|         300           |      (Box Plot Chart)    |
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
|                   Sales Details Table               |
|                  (All sales records)                |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
    

Interactivity

A filter for Product Category allows users to select one or more categories. When applied, the Median Sales KPI, Box Plot Chart, and Sales Details Table update to show data only for the selected categories. This helps focus on specific product groups and compare their sales distributions.

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only the Technology category, which components update and what changes occur?

• The Median Sales KPI updates to show the median sales amount for Technology only, which is 1200.
• The Box Plot Chart updates to display the sales distribution for Technology category only, showing its quartiles and any outliers.
• The Sales Details Table filters to show only sales records where Product Category is Technology.

Key Result

A dashboard showing sales distribution by product category using box plots, median sales KPI, and detailed sales data.