Storytelling with data in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Storytelling with data

Business Question

How can we tell a clear story about our sales performance across regions and product categories to help managers make better decisions?

Sample Data

Region	Product Category	Sales	Profit	Month
East	Furniture	1000	200	January
East	Technology	1500	300	January
West	Furniture	1200	250	January
West	Office Supplies	800	100	January
East	Office Supplies	700	150	January
West	Technology	1600	400	January
East	Furniture	1100	220	February
West	Furniture	1300	270	February

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 9200
  Description: Shows total sales across all regions and categories.
• KPI Card: Total Profit
  Formula: SUM([Profit])
  Result: 1890
  Description: Shows total profit across all data.
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Region]
  Result: East = 4300, West = 4900
  Description: Compares sales between East and West regions.
• Stacked Bar Chart: Sales by Product Category and Region
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Product Category] and [Region]
  Description: Shows sales distribution by product category within each region.
• Line Chart: Sales Over Time
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Month]
  Description: Displays sales trend for January and February.
• Data Table: Detailed Sales Data
  Shows all columns from sample data for detailed view.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|   KPI: Total Sales   |   KPI: Total Profit   |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|      Bar Chart: Sales by Region           |
+-------------------------------------------+
| Stacked Bar Chart: Sales by Category & Region |
+-------------------------------------------+
|        Line Chart: Sales Over Time         |
+-------------------------------------------+
|          Data Table: Detailed Sales        |
+-------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

A filter for Region allows users to select East, West, or both. When a region is selected, all components update to show data only for that region. For example, selecting 'East' updates KPIs, charts, and table to reflect East region sales and profit.

A filter for Month lets users choose January, February, or both, updating the line chart and other components accordingly.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Product Category = Furniture, which components update?

• Both KPI cards update to show total sales and profit for Furniture only.
• Bar Chart updates to show sales by region for Furniture.
• Stacked Bar Chart updates to show only Furniture sales (effectively a single color stack).
• Line Chart updates to show sales over time for Furniture.
• Data Table filters to show only Furniture rows.

Key Result

A sales dashboard telling the story of total sales, profit, and trends by region, product category, and time.