Why INCLUDE LOD expression in Tableau? - Purpose & Use Cases

The Big Idea

Discover how a simple expression can save hours of manual work and reveal hidden insights!

The Scenario

Imagine you have a sales report and you want to see the total sales per product category, but also want to include details like sales per region without losing the overall category total.

The Problem

Manually calculating these totals means creating many separate calculations and constantly switching views. It's slow, confusing, and easy to make mistakes when trying to keep track of different levels of detail.

The Solution

The INCLUDE LOD expression lets you add extra detail to your aggregation without changing the main view. It automatically calculates values at a finer level and combines them smoothly, saving time and reducing errors.

Before vs After

✗ Before

SUM([Sales]) by Category and Region separately, then manually combine results

✓ After

{INCLUDE [Region] : SUM([Sales])} calculates sales per category including region details in one step

What It Enables

INCLUDE LOD expressions let you flexibly analyze data at multiple levels in one view, unlocking deeper insights effortlessly.

Real Life Example

A retail manager can see total sales by product category while also understanding how each region contributes, all in a single dashboard.

Key Takeaways

Manual aggregation across levels is slow and error-prone.

INCLUDE LOD expressions add finer detail without extra complexity.

This makes multi-level analysis fast, accurate, and clear.