TDS-C01 Tableau Desktop Specialist Questions and Answers

Explanation

A Pareto chart is a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where individual values are represented in descending order by bars, and the ascending cumulative total is represented by the line.

On the primary axis, bars are used to show the raw quantities for each dimension member, sorted in descending order.

On the secondary axis, a line graph is used to show the cumulative total in percent format.

A Tableau story point is an individual container in a story that holds a sheet or dashboard. It's like a slide in a presentation, and a story is a sequence of these points that can be used to convey a data narrative, showing how facts are connected and guiding the audience through a sequence of analysis steps.

Padding lets you precisely space items on dashboard, while borders and background colors let you visually highlight them. Inner padding sets the spacing between item contents and the perimeter of the border and background color; outer padding provides additional spacing beyond the border and background color.

The only incorrect option is - Click on Dashboard in the Menu bar, select Tooltip, and then use the italics option.

This option doesn't exist. See below:

The rest of the options do exist, and therefore are correct:

Explanation

We can very much blend multiple measures into a single axis. Such charts are called Combined-Axis / Blended-Axis charts. Follow along:

Measures can share a single axis so that all the marks are shown in a single pane. To blend multiple measures, drag one measure or axis and drop it onto an existing axis.

Instead of adding rows and columns to the view, when you blend measures there is a single row or column and all of the values for each measure is shown along one continuous axis. For example, the view below shows quarterly sales and profit on a shared axis.

Note: If you drag a measure on to the canvas and only see a single ruler indicator instead of the double ruler indicator shown below, Tableau creates dual axes instead of a blended axis. For more information about how to create dual axes, see Compare two measures using dual axes.

To display the complete list of potential data connections when connecting to a server in Tableau, you should select "More" under the "To a Server" option. This action will provide a comprehensive list of server types and data sources that Tableau can connect to.

Explanation

A histogram is a chart that displays the shape of a distribution. A histogram looks like a bar chart but groups values for a continuous measure into ranges, or bins.

Standard deviation is an aggregation that is available without requiring a table calculation or calculated field. Standard deviation is a statistical measure that shows how much variation there is from the average value in a set of data. Standard deviation is one of the predefined aggregations in Tableau that can be applied to any measure by selecting it from the context menu of the measure or from the drop-down menu on the Marks card6 The other options are not aggregations that are available without requiring a table calculation or calculated field. Running total, sample covariance, and percent of total are all examples of table calculations, which are computations that are applied to the values in an entire table or partition of a table. Table calculations can be created by selecting them from the context menu of a measure or by using functions in a calculated field7

Explanation

To reach the correct answer, follow these steps:

1) Drag Order Date (Discrete Year) to the Column shelf, and Region to the Row Shelf as shown:

2) Drag Profit to Text in the Marks Shelf as shown:

3) Click on Analysis as shown -> Totals -> SELECT ROW GRAND TOTALS

The following will be the final view:

You could also Filter by Region to only Focus on Canada, but that's your choice:

THEREFORE,

2012 = 4,888

2011 -> 2014 = 17,817

a calculated field that has a formula of SUM(Sales)/SUM(Profit) is a measure, because it returns a numeric value that can be aggregated and used for analysis. A parameter is a user-defined variable that can be used in calculations or filters. A dimension is a categorical field that can be used to group or slice data. A set is a subset of data based on some condition.

According to the Tableau Desktop Specialist Exam Guide, a packaged workbook (.twbx) includes background images, extract files, and custom shapes. A PDF copy of the workbook and Tableau Datasource Customization (TDC) files are not included in a packaged workbook.

Video is NOT a valid object type while creating dashboards in Tableau! All others are valid object types.

Measure Names is a dimension. Latitude, Longitude, and Number of records are all measures.

You can change the device layout of a dashboard by using the Dashboard pane or the Dashboard menu. The Dashboard pane allows you to select a device type and customize the layout for that device. The Dashboard menu allows you to create a new device layout or copy an existing one. The Format menu and the Layout pane do not have options for changing the device layout1

According to the official Tableau documentation:

From the official documentation, the following are the major advantages of using Tableau Data Extracts:

From Tableau 2020.2 onwards, .hyper is the recommended way since it is faster than .tde!

All answers except November are examples of Date Values (continuous in nature).

See below:

You can see that the option in Green symbolizes our correct answer, i.e only a Month. In our case that month is November (the correct answer).

All other options are combinations of a year with one other value (like a month, quarter, or day). So this is how by looking at an option you can know if its a date part or date value!

Explanation

The INNER JOIN keyword selects all rows from both tables as long as there is a match between the columns. Consider 2 tables "Orders" and "Customers".

If there are records in the "Orders" table that do not have matches in "Customers", these orders will not be shown!

According to the official Tableau documentation:

Tableau packaged workbooks have the .twbx file extension. A packaged workbook is a single zip file that contains a workbook along with any supporting local file data and background images. This format is the best way to package your work for sharing with others who don’t have access to the original data. For more information, see Packaged Workbooks.

In Tableau, to create a reference line, one of the axes in the view must contain an aggregated measure. Reference lines are typically used to add context or additional information to the data in a view, and they are often based on some form of aggregate such as the average, median, sum, etc., of a measure.

According to the Tableau Desktop Specialist Exam Readiness, a line chart will be created whenever you place measures on one shelf, and a date dimension on the other. This is because Tableau automatically recognizes date fields and treats them as continuous dimensions.

Explanation

Whenever you add a measure to your view, an aggregation is applied to that measure by default. This default is controlled by the Aggregate Measures setting in the Analysis menu.

If you decide you want to see all of the marks in the view at the most detailed level of granularity, you can disaggregate the view. Disaggregating your data means that Tableau will display a separate mark for every data value in every row of your data source.

To disaggregate all measures in the view:

Clear the Analysis >Aggregate Measures option. If it is already selected, click Aggregate Measures once to deselect it.

Explanation

If you chose 111,060 you were SO close to the correct answer but made a small mistake - you didn't change the aggregation to AVERAGE! This is one of the common mistakes many test takers make, so keep this in mind.

To reach the correct answer, follow the steps below:

1) Draw Assortment to the Column shelf, and drag Year to the Rows Shelf. Then Drill down further on Year to accomodate Quarters and Months as well!

Although this seems enough, DON'T FORGET to change the aggregation like in the next step, which will completely change the values!

The correct answer as you can see is 1,461 - Sales for Harware Assortment in 2017 Q4, October

It is very much possible to specify the formatting at a WORKBOOK level (all sheets) instead of a single worksheet level.

You can quickly change how fonts, titles, and lines look in every view in a workbook by specifying format settings at the workbook level, instead of the worksheet level.

For example, you might want to use a specific font, size, and color so that all views adhere to your company's brand. You might also want to remove grid lines from your views—or make them more noticeable by increasing their pixel size or color.

You can also change the theme used by your workbook. Themes control items like the default font, colors, and line thickness. When you create a new workbook, it automatically uses the Default theme, which uses visual best practices.

Change fonts in your workbook:

You can change all fonts in your workbook or you can change fonts for only certain areas, such as just worksheet titles.

1) On the Format menu, select Workbook.

2) The Format Workbook pane replaces the Data pane on the left and provides a series of drop-down lists where you can change all font settings in a workbook, as well as the font settings for titles of worksheets, stories, and dashboards.

Note: If you have made font changes at the worksheet level, such as on a filter card or a worksheet title, changing the font at the WORKBOOK level will overwrite those changes.

Reset a workbook to its default settings

When you make changes to your workbook's font settings, a gray dot appears next to the setting in the Format Workbook pane. You can quickly switch back to default settings using the Reset to Defaults button.

1) On the Format menu, select Workbook.

2) In the Format Workbook pane, click Reset to Defaults.

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

Explanation

Phew! Tricky one for sure. This question tests multiple concepts and will help you revise them. We'll be using filters, as well as quick table calculations (percent of total) for this one.

1) Firstly, let's drag Country and Institution to the Rows shelf, and year (discrete) to the Columns shelf. Then, drag Publications to the Text Icon in the Marks Shelf. The following is our view:

Explanation

This question is directly from the Official Tableau Desktop Specialist exam guide.

Since we are talking about the AVERAGE home values for the United States in 2016, the question is directly offering us a hint that the answer has something to do with aggregation and that too the values tell us that we're working with MEASURES.

Date part and Date values don't really make much sense given the question, and neither does geography.

Therefore, the answer naturally is "An aggregated measure".

We know that continuous fields will always create an axis, so options stating 'header' are automatically eliminated. For our question, see below:

Graphical user interface, text, application, email, Teams Description automatically generated

Had the question asked us to place this pill on the Rows shelf instead, we would've gotten a different answer:

Graphical user interface Description automatically generated with low confidence

As a general best practice, your pie chart should contain 2 to 5 categories. Anything more than that is not easy for the eyes to distinguish. This is a common question and mentioned in Tableau's own eLearning module as well!

See how to build a pie chart:

The two types of aggregations that can be applied to string fields in Tableau are Count Distinct and Minimum. Count Distinct counts the unique values of a field, and Minimum finds the smallest value in a field based on the alphanumeric order. String fields do not support numeric aggregations like Sum or Average.

A bullet graph is a variation of a bar graph developed to replace dashboard gauges and meters. A bullet graph is useful for comparing the performance of a primary measure to one or more other measures. Below is a single bullet graph showing how actual sales compared to estimated sales.

We can create a Bullet graph with just 2 measures! This method requires the LEAST number of fields possible to create this type of chart.

The best way to tackle such questions in the exam is to click the "SHOW ME" button on top right, and hover over the chart we want to create.

In our case, it is a Bullet graph.

Therefore, we need 2 measures at least to create this chart, and 0 or more dimensions.

You can use a story to present a data narrative to lead your audience to your conclusions, or to assemble a sequenced analysis to share with collaborators. A story is a sequence of visualizations that work together to convey information. You can create stories to tell a data story, provide context, demonstrate how decisions relate to outcomes, or to simply make a compelling case4

When creating a group by selecting headers in a Tableau view, the newly created grouped dimension replaces the original dimension field on either the Rows or Columns shelf. This grouping action aggregates the selected headers into a single group, and this new group dimension is automatically placed in the view, replacing the original dimension. This functionality allows for more simplified and customized categorization within the data visualization, enhancing the ability to analyze and interpret data according to specific groupings.

According to the official documentation:

Joins are a more static way to combine data. Joins must be defined between physical tables up front, before analysis, and can’t be changed without impacting all sheets using that data source. Joined tables are always merged into a single table. As a result, sometimes joined data is missing unmatched values, or duplicates aggregated values.

Joins -

1) Are displayed with Venn diagram icons between physical tables

2) Require you to select join types and join clauses

3) Joined physical tables are merged into a single logical table with a fixed combination of data

4) May drop unmatched measure values

5) May duplicate aggregate values when fields are at different levels of detail

6) Support scenarios that require a single table of data, such as extract filters and aggregation

Explanation

By default, all of the above mentioned are stored in Documents -> My Tableau Repository

For Standard Deviation and Variance, we don't need to use quick table calculations, since they are available by default. See below:

However, as seen in the types of quick table calculations available in Tableau, Rank and Moving Average belong to only this category.

Explanation

For a manual sort, no matter how the data changes, the values will always stay in the sort order you kept stuff in.

From the official website:

To create a packaged data source (.tdsx file) in Tableau, you would right-click on the data connection in the Data pane and select the option to add it to saved data sources. This action packages the data source with the metadata that you've defined in Tableau, such as calculations, groups, and sets, so that you can easily share it with others. This does not package the data itself, which is a separate step if you're working with local file-based data.

Explanation

Line charts connect individual data points in a view. They provide a simple way to visualize a sequence of values and are useful when you want to see trends over time, or to forecast future values.

Please refer to the images below:

Explanation

We can perform filter, URL and highlight actions out of the above given choices on a dashboard. Please refer to the image below:

Top of Form

The correct answer is Toggle the highlighting ON/OFF. If selected, whichever value you choose from this legend will be highlighted in the view. However, if it is deselected, then even if you choose a value in the Legend, it will NOT be highlighted.

See below:

Chart, bar chart Description automatically generated

Bottom of Form

Explanation

Since we need to focus on 1 country -> Japan, let's filter on it first as follows:

1) Drag Country to the filter shelf, and choose only Japan. Click OK.

2) Read the Question Carefully, we need to break down the visualisation by Region, then by Country, and then by State. So let's do that:

Drag Region to the column shelf, followed by Country. Drill down into Country to include states as well.

Then drag Quantity to the Row Shelf, and change the Aggregation to AVERAGE.

The following is our visualisation:

Now that you think of it, EVEN IF YOU REMOVE THE REGION, THE ANSWER REMAINS THE SAME. Such elements will be present in the actual exam too, just to make the question sound a little difficult, but actually it is pretty straightforward :)

To show how Internet Usage values change from year to year as a percentage, you should apply the "Percent Difference" quick table calculation to the Internet Usage field. This calculation compares each value to the previous value and computes the difference as a percentage, which is ideal for analyzing the rate of change over a sequential time period such as consecutive years.

There are three benefits of using an extract as compared to a live connection to a data source:

A live connection to a data source can be slow due to network and user traffic, whereas a connection to an extract improves performance. An extract is a snapshot of data that is stored locally on your computer or on Tableau Server. An extract can reduce the load on the data source and speed up queries.

Extracts are stored in memory (RAM), resulting in faster query performance as compared with live data connections. When you use an extract, Tableau loads the data into memory and optimizes it for analysis. This allows Tableau to perform calculations and aggregations faster than with live connections.

Calculated fields perform better in workbooks connected to extracts than in workbooks with live connections to a data source. Calculated fields are custom fields that you create using formulas or expressions. When you use an extract, Tableau can process calculated fields more efficiently than with live connections.

**IMPORTANT QUESTION AND EXPLANATION, PLEASE READ**

3 ways to group data -

1) Marks

2) Labels

3) Dimensions shelf.

*IMPORTANT*

If we Group the data by selecting the marks, then they remain separate marks in the view and then have the same colour. Also, a new group is created in the Dimensions shelf. Example -

Using the sample superstore dataset, first plot a bar chart showing sales for each sub-category:

Here, if we Select Phones, Chairs and Storage by selecting the MARKS (Bars), and then group them:

They remain seperate marks (BARS) but are grouped by the same colour.

Now, if we didn't do this, and rather grouped by selecting their Labels (Names):

Then they no longer remain separate Marks (bars) but are rather consolidated into a single Bar:

Finally, we can group directly from the Dimensions shelf as follows:

Now choose Phones, Chairs and Storage and Click Group:

You will now automatically have a new Dimension as follows:

Beginning in version 10.5, when you create a new extract, it uses the .hyper format instead of the .tde format.

Extracts in the .hyper format take advantage of the improved data engine, which supports the same fast analytical and query performance as the data engine before it, but for even larger extracts.

Although there are many benefits of using .hyper extracts, the primary benefits include the following:

1) Create larger extracts: You can create extracts with billions of rows of data. Because .hyper extracts can support more data, you can consolidate .tde extracts that you previously had to create separately into a single .hyper extract.

2) Create and refresh extracts faster: While Tableau has always optimized performance for creating and refreshing extracts, version 2020.3 supports faster extract creation and refreshes for even larger data sets.

3) Experience better performance when interacting with views that use extract data sources: Although smaller extracts continue to perform efficiently, larger extracts perform more efficiently.

You can change the scope of a reference line by choosing one of the following options: Per Pane, Entire Table, or Per Cell. The scope determines how many reference lines are added to the view and how they are calculated. Per Pane adds one reference line for each pane in the view. Entire Table adds one reference line for the entire table in the view. Per Cell adds one reference line for each cell in the view

Explanation

Measures contain numeric quantitative values hence that option is incorrect.

Reference 1: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datafields_typesandroles.htm

Reference 2: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/dates.htm

To apply bold text formatting to rows or columns independently in Tableau, you should use the Rows tab or the Columns tab on the Format Font pane. This approach provides control over the formatting of text within individual rows or columns. By selecting the appropriate tab (Rows or Columns), you can apply formatting settings, including bold text, to only the selected rows or columns. This is a crucial feature for enhancing the readability and visual appeal of specific parts of a Tableau worksheet, allowing for emphasis on particular data points or categories.

Explanation

The word 'static tool' gives it away.

According to the official website :

Explanation

When you track data in Excel spreadsheets, you create them with the human interface in mind. To make your spreadsheets easy to read, you might include things like titles, stacked headers, notes, maybe empty rows and columns to add white space, and you probably have multiple tabs of data too.

When you want to analyze this data in Tableau, these aesthetically pleasing attributes make it very difficult for Tableau to interpret your data. That’s where Data Interpreter can help.

In Tableau, a Density map (also known as a heat map) uses automatically generated sizes for the data points that cannot be resized by using the Marks card. This chart type is designed to display density of data points on a map, where the size and color of the data points represent the concentration of data in that area.

Explanation

You can export the data in a Tableau data source, including all or part of the records from your original data. Alternatively, you can export only the portion of data used to generate the view.

Since the question mentions the data used to build the view, we'll focus on that :

*Export data in the view to Microsoft Access or .csv*

Export the data that is used to generate the view as an Access database (Windows only) or .csv file (Mac only).

1) In Tableau Desktop, select Worksheet > Export > Data.

2) Select a location and type a name for your Access database or .csv file.

3) Click Save.

4) If you're on Windows, the Export Data to Access dialog box displays to give you the option to immediately use the new Access database and continue working in Access without interrupting your work flow.

No, by default, animations are not enabled in Tableau.

We can animate visualizations to better highlight changing patterns in your data, reveal spikes and outliers, and see how data points cluster and separate.

Animations visually transition between filter, sort, and zoom settings, different pages, and changes to filter, parameter, and set actions. As visualizations animate in response to these changes, viewers can more clearly see how data differs, helping them make better informed decisions.

When you author animations, you can choose between two different styles: simultaneous or sequential. Here are examples of each type.

1) Simultaneous animations

The default simultaneous animations are faster and work well when showing value changes in simpler charts and dashboards.

2) Sequential animations

Sequential animations take more time but make complex changes clearer by presenting them step-by-step.

To Animate visualizations in a workbook:

1) Choose Format > Animations.

2) If you want to animate every sheet, under Workbook Default, click On. Then do the following:

For Duration, choose a preset, or specify a custom duration of up to 10 seconds.

For Style, choose Simultaneous to play all animations at once or Sequential to fade out marks, move and sort them, and then fade them in.

3) To override workbook defaults for a particular sheet, change the settings under Selected Sheet.

Explanation

By default, measures placed in a view are aggregated by SUM, which means that the data for that field in all of the rows is combined. Measures can also be aggregated as average, median, count, or count distinct.

You can drag the filter by clicking on the 2 lines on top, and then dragging the filter as shown:

Dates in Tableau will behave differently depending on whether they are a Datepart (blue) or a Datevalue (green). This affects how the axes display/behave and also how visualisations such as line charts will display. The difference essentially boils down to Dateparts behaving like a dimension as opposed to a measure which is how Datevalues behave. This means that Dateparts behave like discrete categories on the view whereas Datevalues are more like continuous numeric values.

Dateparts are discrete and they behave the same as dimension filters. If all dates are used on the filter then each individual date will be a datepart that can be selected/excluded. This is the same for each level of date, if datepart months is placed on filters January to December will be tick-able options in the filter. This also means that conditions and top/bottom filters can be applied to datepart filters like any other dimension filter.

Datevalues placed on filters behave like measure filters. A min and a max date can be set and there is a relative dates option which allows you to choose things like only show the previous 3 months or years etc.

Explanation

You can create a group to combine related members in a field. The icon associated with a group is a paper clip!

From the data pane, simply right click on the dimension, choose geographic role, and then select the appropriate role as follows:

When we create a reference line, we get the following 3 options for the scope:

The following options are available when an image is Exported:

NOTE: When we Copy an image rather than exporting it, then the image is copied to the clipboard in the TIFF file format! However, it is not available when EXPORTING an image.

Explanation

To interactively display information from the web INSIDE a dashboard, you can use a URL action with a web page object.

For example, you might have a dashboard that shows profits by country. In addition to showing the profit data in your dashboard, you also want to display supplemental information about the countries from a web site.

Explanation

Explanation

A geographic role associates each value in a field with a latitude and longitude value.

Assigning a geographic role based on the type of location (such as state versus postcode) helps ensure that your data is plotted correctly on your map view. For example, you can assign the City geographic role to a field that contains a list of city names.

To assign a geographic role to a field:

In the Data pane, click the data type icon next to the field, select Geographic Role, and then select the geographic role you want to assign to the field.

When you assign a geographic role to a field, Tableau adds two fields to the Measures area of the Data pane: Latitude (generated) and Longitude (generated).

These fields contain latitude and longitude values and are assigned the Latitude and Longitude geographic roles. If you double-click each of these fields, Tableau adds them to the Columns and Rows shelves and creates a map view using the Tableau background map.

Measure names and values CANNOT be deleted in Tableau like other columns can. These are auto-generated.

Calculated Fields, and Number of records can both be deleted.

In Tableau, when creating a combined axis chart, after dragging the first measure to the Rows shelf, you should drag the second measure directly onto the existing axis in the view. This will combine both measures on the same axis, allowing them to share a scale and an axis, which is the essence of a combined axis chart.

In Tableau, a story is a sequence of visualizations that work together to convey information. You can create stories to tell a data narrative, provide context, demonstrate how decisions relate to outcomes, or to simply make a compelling case.

A story is a sheet, so the methods you use to create, name, and manage worksheets and dashboards also apply to stories (for more details, see Workbooks and Sheets). At the same time, a story is also a collection of sheets, arranged in a sequence. Each individual sheet (worksheet or dashboard) in a story is called a story point.

When you share a story —for example, by publishing a workbook to Tableau Public, Tableau Server, or Tableau Online—users can interact with the story to reveal new findings or ask new questions of the data.

You can use Wildcard Search to set up search criteria to automatically include tables in your union. Use the wildcard character, which is an asterisk (*), to match a sequence or pattern of characters in the Excel workbook and worksheet names, Google Sheets workbook and worksheet names, text file names, JSON file names, .pdf file names, and database table names.

When working with Excel, text file data, JSON file, .pdf file data, you can also use this method to union files across folders, and worksheets across workbooks. Search is scoped to the selected connection. The connection and the tables available in a connection are shown on the left pane of the Data source page.

Important question!

Explanation

Tableau SERVER enables us to create workbooks and views, dashboards, and data sources in Tableau Desktop, and then publish this content to our own server.

Moreover, as a Tableau Server administrator you will control who has access to server content to help protect sensitive data. Administrators can set user permissions on projects, workbooks, views, and data sources.

Since Sales is a measure, it can easily be depicted via size.

To drill down and change the level of detail, Country is the correct choice since it will contain STATE. We can then depict the various states by different shapes such as circle, square etc.

Finally, the Profit can be depicted via a color! Eg - Red for poor and green for excellent profits!

Extracts would be more beneficial for analyzing historical prices where we won't be making use of any real time data being streamed. Same is the case for enormous datasets having billions of rows (extracts will be more efficient in analyzing subsets of such large data).

As for live stock prices, flight updates, real time updates from production or mission critical systems - having a live connection is the most logical choice, since we need access to the most fresh and recent data possible at all times!

According to the official Tableau documentation:

An example of an area chart is shown below:

Explanation

By default, all filters that you set in Tableau are computed independently. That is, each filter accesses all rows in your data source without regard to other filters. However, you can set one or more categorical filters as context filters for the view. You can think of a context filter as being an independent filter. Any other filters that you set are defined as dependent filters because they process only the data that passes through the context filter.

You may create a context filter to:

1) Improve performance – If you set a lot of filters or have a large data source, the queries can be slow. You can set one or more context filters to improve performance.

2) Create a dependent numerical or top N filter – You can set a context filter to include only the data of interest, and then set a numerical or a top N filter.

An Individual Axis in Tableau is obtained by adding a continuous into Rows or Columns Shelf.

Example:

In order to show Individual Axis in Tableau First, we drag and drop the Color from Dimension shelf to Column Shelf. Next, we drag and drop the Sales Amount from measures shelf to Rows Shelf. Since it is a continuous value, the Sales Amount will be aggregated to default Sum. Once you drag them, following Chart report will be generated.

Next, we drag and Drop one more measure value, i.e., Total Product Cost from Measures Region to Rows Shelf. Because it is a Measure value, Total Product Cost is aggregated to default Sum. From the below screenshot, you can observe that Tableau has created an individual axis for each measure (continuous field).

In fact, the opposite of this is true.

Trick : Whenever you think of joins -> Think that after the join is created, we get 1 single flat combined (joined) table. This flat combined table is created prior to us creating our visualizations. This happens at the physical layer.

If you ever think about relationships, know that all tables will remain distinct and separate, and relationships sit at the logical layer. At run time, when you bring in the dimensions and measures to create your viz, Tableau very smartly creates the necessary joins, relates the tables and sends queries to these tables to get the resultant data back in the most meaningful way possible. This allows you to focus on using your data and revealing insights from it and focus less on the data preparation aspect!

Refer to logical layer vs physical layer from the official documentation: https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/datasource_datamodel.htm

Explanation

Yes, it is possible to disable highlighting for the entire workbook.

For more information : https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/actions_highlight.htm

This is one of the most common questions on the Tableau Desktop Specialist Exam.

Wrong options -

1) Don't use backgrounds - This is not a solution. What if we want to use backgrounds? We can't just stop using backgrounds to solve this problem.

2) Decrease the font size - Do you think using a smaller font will make the text more readable? No right? Hence, this is wrong too.

All other options are ways recommended to make your text more readable!

Explanation

If you chose 2, then you were very close but probably didn't plot the actual Percent Difference on your view. ( One of the marks is just over the line).

Firstly, Drop the Week ID onto the column shelf, and convert it to continuous since we need both Year and Quarter as mentioned in the question.

2) Next, Drop assortment to filters shelf so that we can focus on Electronics!

3) This should be your view now. Click on the Show Mark Labels icon as shown:

The final view is as follows, with 3 points below 0 ( i.e negative )

Distribution Pane

Explanation

This is the Analytics pane! Read more from the official documentation below:

Explanation

Sets are custom fields that are created within Tableau Desktop based on dimensions from your data source. They are subsets of your data, which can be created manually or computed. Either dimensions or measures can be used to determine what is included or excluded from a set using conditional logic, but to CREATE a set we use dimensions.

Reference : https://interworks.com/blog/rcurtis/2016/10/26/tableau-deep-dive-sets-introduction-sets/

The calculated field formula LEFT("Sales Data", 5) will correctly produce the output "Sales" from the string value "Sales Data". The LEFT function in Tableau returns the specified number of characters from the start of the string. Here, the first 5 characters of "Sales Data" are "Sales".

Explanation

Follow along:

1) Drag Assortment and Year ID (choose Discrete Month) to Columns shelf, and Sales to the Columns Shelf.

For sales, click on the pill -> choose Quick Table calculation -> Year over Year growth.

The view should now look like:

It is clear that October with -55.3% had the lowest Year on Year growth.

Explanation

Here's how to add image files to your repository:

1) Find image file on the internet. I try to find consistent image formats if I plan to use a set of shapes such as logos or flags.

2) Download the image to your computer.

3) Drag images into your My Documents -> My Tableau repository -> Shapes folder.

4) Open Tableau and your new shapes will automatically be included in your "edit shapes" menu.

Lot of students have been seeing this question in the exam lately, and wanted me to include this question so here it is. Follow along -

1) Click on Worksheet in the Menu bar, followed by Tooltip and select the bold option

2) Click on Tooltip in the Marks card, and select bold.

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

3) Right click, click format and then under the default worksheet formatting, choose Tooltip and make it bold.

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There exists no option to Bold the tooltip contents by clicking Analysis. Hence, it is an incorrect choice.

Explanation

Joins combine tables by adding more columns of data across similar row structures. This can cause data loss or duplication if tables are at different levels of detail, and joined data sources must be fixed before analysis can begin.

Inner join

Left Join

Blends, unlike relationships or joins, never truly combine the data. Instead, blends query each data source independently, the results are aggregated to the appropriate level, then the results are presented visually together in the view.

According to the official documentation, the following are the requirements for using relationships:

1) When relating tables, the fields that define the relationships must have the same data type. Changing the data type in the Data Source page does not change this requirement. Tableau will still use the data type in the underlying database for queries.

2) You can't define relationships based on geographic fields.

3) Circular relationships aren't supported in the data model.

4) You can't edit relationships in a published data source.

5) You can't define relationships between published data sources.

6) Your workbook must use an embedded data source for you to be able to edit relationships and performance options in the Data Source page in Tableau Online or Tableau Server.

Treemaps use automatically generated sizes that cannot be resized by using the Marks card. A treemap is a type of visualization that shows hierarchical data as a set of nested rectangles. Each rectangle represents a dimension member and its size is proportional to a measure value. Tableau automatically calculates the size of each rectangle based on an optimal aspect ratio for readability and comparison. You cannot manually adjust the size of each rectangle by using the Marks card or any other option in Tableau10 The other chart types do not use automatically generated sizes that cannot be resized by using the Marks card. Pie charts use angles to show proportions of a whole, not sizes. Histograms use bins and frequencies to show distributions of a measure, not sizes. Area charts use filled areas to show trends over time or categories, not sizes. You can adjust the size of these chart types by using the Marks card or other options in Tableau

Explanation

When you connect to a data source, Tableau automatically separates date fields into hierarchies so you can easily break down the viz. You can also create your own custom hierarchies. For example, if you have a set of fields named Region, State, and County, you can create a hierarchy from these fields so that you can quickly drill down between levels in the viz.

When you double-click a continuous numeric measure named Sales in Tableau, it automatically creates a bar chart. Tableau's default behavior for a single measure is to display it as a bar chart, with the measure values represented on the Y-axis and an automatic range on the X-axis.

Explanation

Stacked bar charts will usually have lesser number of bars compared to a normal bar chart:

Normal bar chart - 9 bars

Stacked Bar Chart - 3 bars

We can easily see a 'part-of-a-whole' methodology being used here as well - we are seeing the breakdown of Segments within each Category.

To easily visualize trends over time - This is the definition of a line chart.

To visualize each discrete category using a separate bar - This can be accomplished using a simple bar chart, why use a stacked one?

Explanation

Extracts are advantageous for several reasons:

1) Supports large data sets: You can create extracts that contain billions of rows of data.

2) Fast to create: If you're working with large data sets, creating and working with extracts can be faster than working with the original data.

3) Help improve performance: When you interact with views that use extract data sources, you generally experience better performance than when interacting with views based on connections to the original data.

4) Support additional functionality: Extracts allow you to take advantage of Tableau functionality that's not available or supported by the original data, such as the ability to compute Count Distinct.

5) Provide offline access to your data: Extracts allow you to save and work with the data locally when the original data is not available. For example, when you are traveling.

To work with the MOST up-do-date data, use a live connection instead!

According to the Tableau Desktop Specialist Exam Readiness, to create a calculation that returns a customer name followed by a comma, a space, and then the customer’s age, you should use the formula [Customer Name] + “,” + STR([Age]). This is because you need to concatenate strings using the + operator, and convert the numeric field [Age] to a string using the STR() function.