Tableau Cloud basics - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

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

📋 Request: Your manager wants a simple interactive dashboard on Tableau Cloud to monitor monthly sales performance by region and product category.

📊 Data: You have sales data including Date, Region, Product Category, and Sales Amount for the last 12 months.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau Cloud dashboard with filters for Region and Product Category, showing monthly sales trends and total sales.

Sample Data

Date	Region	Product Category	Sales Amount
2023-06-01	North	Electronics	12000
2023-06-01	South	Furniture	8000
2023-07-01	East	Electronics	15000
2023-07-01	West	Furniture	7000
2023-08-01	North	Furniture	9000
2023-08-01	South	Electronics	11000
2023-09-01	East	Furniture	6000
2023-09-01	West	Electronics	13000
2023-10-01	North	Electronics	14000
2023-10-01	South	Furniture	7500
2023-11-01	East	Electronics	16000
2023-11-01	West	Furniture	8500

1

Step 1: Connect to the sales data source in Tableau Desktop by importing the provided data table.

Use 'Connect' > 'Text File' or 'Excel' depending on your data format, then load the data.

Expected Result

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

2

Step 2: Create a new worksheet named 'Monthly Sales Trend'.

Drag 'Date' to Columns, right-click and select 'Month' as date level; drag 'Sales Amount' to Rows; drag 'Region' to Color.

Expected Result

A line chart showing monthly sales by region appears.

3

Step 3: Create a second worksheet named 'Sales by Product Category'.

Drag 'Product Category' to Rows; drag 'Sales Amount' to Columns; set mark type to Bar.

Expected Result

A bar chart showing total sales by product category appears.

4

Step 4: Create filters for 'Region' and 'Product Category' on both worksheets.

Drag 'Region' and 'Product Category' to Filters shelf; show filter controls on the dashboard.

Expected Result

Interactive filters for Region and Product Category are available to users.

5

Step 5: Create a new dashboard named 'Sales Dashboard' and add both worksheets.

Drag 'Monthly Sales Trend' and 'Sales by Product Category' worksheets onto the dashboard canvas; arrange side by side.

Expected Result

Dashboard shows both charts with filters visible.

6

Step 6: Publish the dashboard to Tableau Cloud with appropriate project and permissions.

Use 'Server' > 'Publish Workbook'; select Tableau Cloud destination; set permissions for your team.

Expected Result

Dashboard is accessible on Tableau Cloud with interactive filters working.

Final Result

┌───────────────────────────────┐  ┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Monthly Sales Trend            │  │ Sales by Product Category      │
│                               │  │                               │
│  ┌───────────────┐            │  │  ┌───────────────┐            │
│  │ Line Chart    │            │  │  │ Bar Chart     │            │
│  │ (Sales by     │            │  │  │ (Sales by     │            │
│  │ Month & Region)│           │  │  │ Product Cat.) │            │
│  └───────────────┘            │  │  └───────────────┘            │
│ Filters: [Region ▼] [Product ▼]│  │ Filters: [Region ▼] [Product ▼]│
└───────────────────────────────┘  └───────────────────────────────┘

✓Sales vary by region and product category each month.

✓Electronics generally have higher sales than Furniture.

✓Interactive filters allow quick focus on specific regions or categories.

Bonus Challenge

Add a calculated field to show Year-to-Date (YTD) sales and include it in the dashboard.

Show Hint

Create a calculated field using Tableau's DATE functions and WINDOW_SUM to accumulate sales from the start of the year.