Trend analysis in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Trend analysis

Dashboard Goal

Understand how sales have changed over the first half of the year to spot growth or decline trends.

Sample Data

Month	Sales	Region
January	100	North
February	150	North
March	130	North
April	170	North
May	160	North
June	180	North

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: SUM([Sales])
  Result: 890
• Line Chart: Sales Trend Over Months
  X-axis: Month (January to June)
  Y-axis: Sales
  Marks: Line connecting sales values by month
  Purpose: Shows how sales increase or decrease each month
• Calculated Field: Monthly Sales Change
  Formula: ZN(SUM([Sales])) - LOOKUP(ZN(SUM([Sales])), -1)
  Purpose: Shows change in sales compared to previous month
• Bar Chart: Monthly Sales Change
  X-axis: Month
  Y-axis: Monthly Sales Change
  Purpose: Visualizes increase or decrease in sales month to month

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+-----------------------+
|      Total Sales      |   Sales Trend Line    |
|       (KPI Card)      |       (Line Chart)    |
+----------------------+-----------------------+
|    Monthly Sales      |                       |
|       Change Bar      |                       |
|        Chart          |                       |
+----------------------+-----------------------+

Interactivity

A filter for Region allows selecting which region's sales data to view. When a region is selected, all components update to show sales and trends only for that region.

Hovering over the line chart shows exact sales values per month.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Region = North, which components update?

• All components update to show data only for the North region.
• Total Sales KPI recalculates sum for North.
• Sales Trend Line redraws with North region sales.
• Monthly Sales Change recalculates for North.
• Monthly Sales Change Bar Chart updates accordingly.

Key Result

Dashboard shows total sales and monthly sales trends with change analysis for selected region.