Storytelling with data in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a clear story about monthly sales performance across regions to share in the next team meeting.

📊 Data: You have monthly sales data for four regions (North, South, East, West) over six months. The data includes Month, Region, and Sales Amount.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau dashboard that shows monthly sales trends by region, highlights the best and worst performing regions, and tells a clear story with simple visuals.

Sample Data

Month	Region	Sales Amount
January	North	12000
January	South	15000
January	East	10000
January	West	13000
February	North	14000
February	South	16000
February	East	11000
February	West	12500
March	North	13000
March	South	17000
March	East	11500
March	West	13500
April	North	15000
April	South	18000
April	East	12000
April	West	14000
May	North	16000
May	South	19000
May	East	12500
May	West	14500
June	North	17000
June	South	20000
June	East	13000
June	West	15000

1

Step 1: Connect Tableau to the sales data source containing Month, Region, and Sales Amount columns.

Use Tableau's 'Connect' feature to import the data table.

Expected Result

Data is loaded and visible in Tableau's data pane.

2

Step 2: Create a line chart showing monthly sales trends for each region.

Drag 'Month' to Columns, 'Sales Amount' to Rows, and 'Region' to Color on the Marks card.

Expected Result

A multi-line chart appears showing sales trends for North, South, East, and West regions over six months.

3

Step 3: Format the line chart for clarity: use distinct colors, add axis titles, and set month order correctly.

Assign distinct colors to each region, rename axes as 'Month' and 'Sales Amount ($)', and sort months chronologically.

Expected Result

Chart is easy to read with clear labels and color-coded lines.

4

Step 4: Create a bar chart to show total sales by region over the six months.

Drag 'Region' to Columns and SUM([Sales Amount]) to Rows; sort bars descending by sales.

Expected Result

Bar chart displays total sales per region, with South region highest and East lowest.

5

Step 5: Add a dashboard and place the line chart and bar chart side by side.

Use Tableau's Dashboard tab, drag both charts onto the canvas, arrange horizontally.

Expected Result

Dashboard shows monthly trends and total sales by region together.

6

Step 6: Add a text box with a clear title and a short summary highlighting key insights.

Add text: 'Monthly Sales Trends by Region' and summary: 'South region leads sales consistently; East region lags behind.'

Expected Result

Dashboard tells a clear story with visuals and text.

7

Step 7: Test dashboard interactivity by filtering months or regions to explore data.

Add filters for 'Month' and 'Region' to dashboard; test selections.

Expected Result

User can filter data to focus on specific months or regions.

Final Result

Line Chart: Month on X-axis, Sales on Y-axis

↓

Bar Chart: Total Sales by Region

✓South region consistently has the highest sales each month.

✓East region has the lowest sales across all months.

✓Sales generally increase month over month in all regions.

✓The dashboard clearly shows trends and total sales for easy comparison.

Bonus Challenge

Add a calculated field to show the percentage growth in sales month-over-month for each region and visualize it.

Show Hint

Create a calculated field using Tableau's LOOKUP function to compare current month sales with previous month sales, then display as a line chart.