tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51939194047658922132024-03-13T03:45:23.646-07:00 VizCandyat play in the world of visual analytics with TableauUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-14366480482488560902019-10-03T09:24:00.000-07:002019-10-03T12:06:15.015-07:00So long and thanks for all the dashboardsA little bit about me; first, I used to work in the department of farts and figures. I'm a single mom of an elder adult with two lovely grandchildren; I hold a graduate degree in demography: bachelours in sociology; and am a Tableau-obsessed enthusiast.<br />
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This post is about my journey as a cancer patient in the Canadian Public Health Care System and our use of Tableau throughout. I say 'our' because this post is co-authored by the brilliant and wonderful Bridget Cogley, whom many of you already know. Bridget is doing most of the typing of this post, as my cancer is a particularly cruel form of the brain. She has been supporting me throughout and we've had many long conversations about the Canadian and American health care systems. As well, all of the data gathering and dashboard work was done by Bridget with the careful eye (and arm) of Kelly. And Bridget is the one that poked me...many times over.<br />
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My Experience with the Canadian Health System</span><br />
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I was first diagnosed on April 2016, had 2/3 of a lung removed in June 2016, and still had 89% lung capacity. Yes, I am damn proud of my lung capacity. I was then diagnosed with lung-to-brain metastasis in October 2016. Then the fun began. You'd think the surgery would have been bad enough, but no, more was to come. Fortunately, I did not have traditional chemo to begin with, so I remained fairly strong. I began a series of stereotactic radiotherapy on 5 separate tumours over the next 2 years.<br />
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So, throughout this whole period, I kept the same primary care doctor. In fact, I had multiple doctors on my team who coordinated with my oncologist. I've had access to novel immunotherapy treatments, CT, MRI scans, and numerous top-line stereotactic radation treatments. I didn't have to chase the appointments. Every appointment was handled by a scheduler and they called me. I was never denied any treatments, but did opt to not pursue a few to keep my quality of life. Every decision was about care. Because that's the Canadian heathcare system. You walk in the door and you get told when to show up, but even that is negotiated. Your GP diagnoses you initially. From there you get taken over by all the people who will take care of you. All doctors get access to all information about my condition and health history. All procedures are well documented and shared. I can get the same documents, sometimes within the next day, as well.<br />
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I started this journey one day with two kindnesses and one cruelty. I had an appointment that day with both my dentist and my doctor. Unfortunately the tests came back with a mass in my lung. That's the cruelty. But all throughout this experience, my medical professionals have been nothing but kind. All decisions about my care, what treatments I would and would not pursue have centered only on the outcomes and toll it would take on my energy, never the financial cost. My money went towards comfort - a couch here, a bed there, and things that made me happy like a fabulous garden my friends and family helped create with me - instead of towards copays and deductibles that still make no sense to me.<br />
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The Canadian Health Care System</span><br />
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My healthcare costs were $50 every month and have been for the last 10 years, excluding things like dental care, long term, and disability. And that's all folks. Had I been working, even that $50 would be paid by my employer and a portion deducted from my paycheck. All prescriptions are reduced in cost and not a hardship. It's not a full system, it doesn't cover prescriptions, long term care, and disability fully, but enough. If I enrolled in a hospice centre, it would be $52 a day. As it is right now, I pay nothing for prescriptions under the palliative program, and I get a lot of prescriptions.<br />
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I'm explaining all of this in micro-detail because I want my fellow American friends to understand how a social-democratic country dispatches healthcare <i>with care in mind</i>. America is also a social-democratic country [universal education]. And yet, you're still behind on healthcare. You have a ratcheted system that helps some and not others. Under the Canadian system, YOU CAN STILL HAVE YOUR FUCKING DOCTOR. I still have my doctor after 35 years. I would hate for my friends to become ill and not have the love and care I've had.<br />
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Care is all it's about. And care is all about kindness.<br />
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Me as a patient</span><br />
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My next message is to cancer patients.<br />
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The first 4 days of being a cancer patient, I did not speak to anyone. I had to wrap my head around it and I was quite paralyzed. I didn't cry. I just couldn't move. After those 4 days, I knew I had to start calling people and I knew they would start crying and that's when I'd start crying. So, some would be angry and some would outright deny it. Talking to people is more of a strain on the person with cancer. I don't have a husband, so I didn't have anyone to buffer for me.<br />
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Once I was over that phase. I was really over it. I could start getting on with the business I had to do. As an analyst, I had to find the data and research. Bridget helped me by finding all the medical papers. Fortunately, Bridget has librarian friends and both of us know how to conduct proper research, so I wouldn't offend my caregivers with my questions. I was lucky to have Bridget or another person to ask questions or take notes for me. At each step, I had a very clear understanding of what my odds were going forward. And at no point did I reduce my level of chocolate intake. In fact, since, I have notably increased all chocolate and Dilly bar consumption. Now that I've done the research, it doesn't make any sense to starve or anything.<br />
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If you feel like you need to monitor your exercise or diet, go right ahead, but don't let others obligate you into it. You can also toss supplements, as they are usually unhelpful or incongruent with cancer medications. Above all, have kindness and love in your life at this point, because you will be exhausted like you've never known possible. Each new stage or change, you'll turn around and experience a new level of fatigue that you cannot have imagined beforehand. With cancer in your system, there will be a lot of sleep. You don't gain, you only lose. Same with exercise. In addition to fatigue, I had nerve pain that become chronic. That means a lot of complicated meds you have to take care of. For the first 2 years, I was able to take care of it.<br />
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At a certain point, I recognized a change and was informed that the cancer had spread to my brain. That diagnosis was particularly devastating, as now I belonged to the ghost people. Death imprints an ache and a terminal diagnosis creates a separation of you from the living. It's hard to live while knowing you're dying. One moment, you think of the future. The next, you realize there isn't that future.<br />
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I focused on comfort. I learned to garden, living each day to tend to that. And I couldn't have imagined doing this without Bridget Cogley.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Dying well</span><br />
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Do you know that we humans like to die alone? Yeah, I guess we're like other animals; like to just curl up and go. Not be a bother. Do you think that's it? Or is it that we can't let go if we're aware of a tether. Dad died with me. I whispered in his ear:<br />
<i>Thank-you.</i><br />
<i>I love you.</i><br />
<i>It's okay.</i><br />
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And while I was gently touching his arm, because he was so thin, I was afraid any pressure would hurt, he took a few more breaths, and then didn't. An honor. He shared it with me.<br />
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I was aware of death and what it could look like. I enrolled early in the palliative program and Bridget was with me for each major treatment. We researched, tracked symptoms, and isolated them to parts of the brain. As I got sicker, Bridget took on more. We worked with the palliative program and home care that's available to every Canadian. My son came and the three of us shifted towards the end.<br />
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Brain tumors are unpredictable. I don't want my last days with a personality that isn't mine. I wanted to laugh, to enjoy the days, and fart around in the garden as much as possible. We added in a variety of medications to use as needed to manage symptoms and tracked what worked and what didn't in a Tableau dashboard. It was the only way to see the patterns and to get more good days.<br />
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These are real medications and doses. I hope other patients and caregivers in hospice see this dashboard and understand what hospice at home and medication use could look like. <a href="https://www.tableaufit.com/the-death-of-an-analyst/" target="_blank">Bridget has written about the making of this on her blog</a>. I've lovingly given her permission to use this and do what she wants with it.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Coda</span><br />
<i>63% of Canadians with a terminal illness want to die at home. Only about 15% do. Kelly Martin died on September 30, 2019 in her home with her son and me (Bridget) at her side and her mother on the phone. A true honor she gifted us knowingly. We used this dashboard to provide care and communicate with providers. It was crafted in a couple of hours, edited with Kelly's feedback, and used to provide a better death. Seeing the data can truly be life-changing. </i><br />
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<i>She wanted to leave this post for other patients </i>from a patient<i>. Most in her situation are not able to; they're often too sick. This post is her last transmission before the earth is destroyed. </i><br />
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So long, and thanks for all the dashboards.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-67944282890031312542016-07-14T19:27:00.000-07:002016-07-19T07:25:58.170-07:00Where Does Inspiration Come From?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a kid, I used to fantasize about being able to transport myself anywhere with a blink and a nod like Jeannie on <b>I Dream of Jeannie</b> or to clean my room with the wiggle of my nose like Samantha on <b>Bewitched</b> or to someday have Uhura's job from <b>Star Trek</b>.<br />
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Yes, it did seem like Uhura was a glorified switchboard operator (an un-glorified, mind-numbingly boring job that I did eventually do), but mostly I was fascinated by the computer screens all around her.<br />
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<a href="http://www.rudyvessup.com/star-trek-2-holographic-glass-ui/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAoict1MIds/VwNGn6KNh0I/AAAAAAAADAY/wvHYn91uJ74VT4Ep_QXIazQxW4iFKHCKQ/s320/star_trek_holographic_glass_interface1%2B%25281%2529.jpg" title="Tableau Dashboards" width="320" /></a>Since that time, I've continued to pay attention to the computer screens in Sci-Fi movies (never could get too excited about the panels in Star Wars) and the ones on Star Trek have gotten more and more intricate and beautiful over the years.<br />
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It seems I'm not the only one fascinated by Sci-Fi computer screens. There's <a href="https://scifiinterfaces.wordpress.com/category/the-cabin-in-the-woods-2012/" target="_blank">websites</a> dedicated to this strange fetish. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-irENXnYEtIo/VwNGWgAqRoI/AAAAAAAADAU/y3EGIGBs7CUGAlQ4Fuj8fhBgsLdEmRE3g/s1600/high_on_believing__peter_quill_x_reader_x_yondu__by_mugglewitch75-d9tdv4v.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-irENXnYEtIo/VwNGWgAqRoI/AAAAAAAADAU/y3EGIGBs7CUGAlQ4Fuj8fhBgsLdEmRE3g/s320/high_on_believing__peter_quill_x_reader_x_yondu__by_mugglewitch75-d9tdv4v.jpg" title="Tableau Dashboards" width="320" /></a>I was recently blown away by the computer screens in Guardians of the Galaxy (great '70s music from my youth as well). I was particularly tickled by the seemingly mashed together glass screens on Yondu's spaceship, never mind that I fell in love with his skin color. Not too many men can pull off that color and still be pretty-as-an-angel-manly.<br />
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Check out the whole project by <a href="http://territorystudio.com/projects/guardians-of-the-galaxy-2/" target="_blank">Territory Studio</a>.<br />
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You <b>have</b> to scroll through the different dashboards on the site - some are stunningly beautiful and intricate, using colors I would never have thought would work. But mostly it's the placement of items, the balance and detail that are fascinating. Pay particular attention to the space <b>without</b> elements. Why is it empty? (Yes, someday there will be a quiz on this.)<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LCszlakHnSU/VwNMwiT92aI/AAAAAAAADA4/ASs-NaQriYAEgtUdX2F3TA6csRi9cQeJA/s1600/Films_Guardians_Milano_M_016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LCszlakHnSU/VwNMwiT92aI/AAAAAAAADA4/ASs-NaQriYAEgtUdX2F3TA6csRi9cQeJA/s1600/Films_Guardians_Milano_M_016.jpg" title="Beautiful dashboards" /></a><br />
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Recently, I came across a cool project by Audi. It's a brochure that you get when you buy the car and by sliding your smart phone over the chips on the brochure, your phone will display information about your vehicle.<br />
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<a href="http://www.projectgallery.de/brochurehack/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X6drFgEPNRM/VwNTyLepTmI/AAAAAAAADBg/lpdFyqCyJXkogcnLiJpQvSUGErdRFZUGQ/s1600/audi.png" /></a></div>
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I recommend watching the video, it's amazing.<br />
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I've done some dashboard work for automotive manufacturers and learned about how computerized our vehicles have become. Not just the GPS information, but the number of sensors and volume of information collected is amazing.<br />
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I've had numerous friends and family members show me the dashboards that they are able to view while inside the car, but I know there's a lot more information that isn't shared. Wouldn't it be cool if you could have a dashboard about your driving experience/behaviour collected from all those sensors? Not necessarily one you would use while in the car, but one that you could check out on your pc or tablet.<br />
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So.... I built a concept dashboard based on a bit of my experience from a dashboard for a client, a bit from my love of spaceship screens, a bit from the Audi project, and a bit from the information that I think I'd be interested in knowing.<br />
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This just scratches the surface of the type of info I'd like to be able
to interact with, but making realistic mock data is a huge pile of work. Probably the most
important piece would be MPG, and I think that would warrant a whole
dashboard to itself - as well as a connection to weather data. For that I would use a land map rather than the hexmap (thanks to Brittany Fong, aka <a href="https://blog.databender.net/2015/03/07/im-a-hex-machine/" target="_blank">DataBender</a> and Matt Chambers, aka <a href="http://sirvizalot.blogspot.ca/2015/11/hex-tile-maps-in-tableau.html" target="_blank">SirVizALot</a> who've made hexmapping an art project).<br />
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Inspiration is a truly personal thing; what floats my boat may not work for you. Your sources do not have to be in the 'data viz' or dashboard world. Pay attention to other design sources or image layouts, use of color, font, logic, etc. These things all translate to training your eye and pushing yourself out of your rut (we all get in ruts - ever notice how many people have the same hair style they had in high school?).<br />
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Have fun!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-87286192945897468612016-06-07T00:50:00.000-07:002016-06-07T00:50:40.691-07:00Hey Tableau Analyst. What does the Data Say?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I like a lot of charts. I have nothing against any particular chart and have probably used and abused all of them at one time or other. I'm not a stickler for rules and I don't demand best practices of myself or my charts. <br />
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I try to find the best possible way to SEE the results. That's in the context of the dashboard as a whole and mostly, most importantly, the chart chosen depends on the <b>data's distribution</b>.<br />
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Before I begin to analyze and investigate the data, I can't tell you what chart(s) I'll settle on for the dashboard. And halfway through building a dashboard, many charts will get discarded or radically changed [I don't draw my dashboards out first either]. <br />
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The example below shows how sometimes the chart you think would be perfect, may not be the best chart possible. Fortunately, you're a Tableau analyst. You have the tool that allows you to explore your data FAST. You don't have to decide on a chart and then put your data in it. It's ok to not know which chart will be right at the beginning of the process - it's a discovery process.<br />
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I hope that what you take away from this is the fact that none of these charts are right or wrong, but that this is the process you sometimes have to go through in order to get the best view of your results. In this case, the Small multiples worked because aside from the '18-34 year old males', the groups were so closely distributed that it was difficult to see trends, differences, patterns.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-12319984005172440382016-03-17T14:07:00.001-07:002016-04-07T10:22:59.630-07:00Top 10 Dashboard Don'ts<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aVIc96qtgG8/VusRxdl47nI/AAAAAAAAC9Q/SV53hM3wdhAC7dqaHyis1jg26QeI_ONRg/s1600/hair%2Bon%2Bfire.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aVIc96qtgG8/VusRxdl47nI/AAAAAAAAC9Q/SV53hM3wdhAC7dqaHyis1jg26QeI_ONRg/s400/hair%2Bon%2Bfire.gif" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">10. Don't build to committee</span> If a bunch of people sat around a room and drew out the dashboard on a whiteboard before you've even analyzed the data.... run screaming from the room. This dashboard will end up being an '18 months to deployment product' and I promise you will want to slit your wrists with a spoon at some point, so pretend your hair's on fire and get out now.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">9. Don't build to spec</span> This is similar to the Don't above, but usually comes in the format of an e-mail with a list of charts someone wants built to put in their PowerPoint presentation. Example: 1. Pie chart of sales by state, 2. stacked bar chart of profit by state, 3. bubble chart of 10 million customers colored by height... (I'm using the most outrageous examples, but hey, this sh*t happens.). So build the appropriate chart that helps to <i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>see</b></span></i> the results and if you have to, build the chart they asked for to show the difference.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">8. Don't build on Excel pivot tables</span> If you are given a workbook with 18 datasources that are all basically Excel pivot tables, throw it out and ask for access to the original data source. Or pretend your hair's on fire and recommend the assignment be given to an analyst you don't like. Let them try and figure out how to filter across all those sources and automate the updates.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">7. Don't build Excel charts </span> If you are given a bunch of Excel charts and colored tables to replicate in Tableau, ignore them. This will only lead to frustration and you may end up missing insight that the data contains, but has gone unnoticed because it hasn't been explored. So ignore these charts, explore the data, build charts that are appropriate and build a real dashboard that helps people <b><i><span style="font-size: large;">see</span></i> </b>the results.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s1PgMumf7qk/VusQWi0h3bI/AAAAAAAAC9E/s0tNkntiILgYhigjkc4d1duhmzAxqWiYg/s1600/slide_423060_5430258_compressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s1PgMumf7qk/VusQWi0h3bI/AAAAAAAAC9E/s0tNkntiILgYhigjkc4d1duhmzAxqWiYg/s320/slide_423060_5430258_compressed.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">6. Don't show off</span> Substance trumps Sparkle. EVERY. TIME. Keep it as simple as you can. That goes for color, fonts, chart types, images, interactivity and hacks. Hacks are great, but if you can't remember how you did it three months later, it's probably too complex. I use the 'If I get hit by a bus' rule (or for you more optimistic types, 'If I win the lottery' rule) and think about the poor analyst who will get handed this complex work when I'm gone. Unless you know and don't like that analyst, in which case, you're just evil.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Don't try to use all the data</span> in the universe and then complain about performance. C'mon.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Don't title your charts by chart type</span> For example, a trend chart of 12 months of sales should not be titled <b>Line Chart: Sales</b>. Your title should just include the subject and perhaps the time dimension (eg. Monthly Sales) or take the opportunity to use the title to communicate with the user more directly (eg. How have Sales been, blah, blah, blah?).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Don't ask too much of a chart </span> Don't try to answer the meaning of life, the universe, and everything with one poor chart. It's why waterfall charts are often a waste of time; people ask for them, but very few seem to understand them or use them. If you've thrown the kitchen sink at a chart - for example, dual axis charts with images, color, and size indicators - you'll probably just confuse people. Even if you can make it look cool.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9s9U7WnkqCQ/VusZcBQe1dI/AAAAAAAAC9w/KxJClOZv6h897Agr-EgGqZEYNvjfTiw_A/s1600/42.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9s9U7WnkqCQ/VusZcBQe1dI/AAAAAAAAC9w/KxJClOZv6h897Agr-EgGqZEYNvjfTiw_A/s200/42.png" width="199" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Don't use red and green together</span> It's not Christmas and it's not a traffic light we're building. Here's a question for you: do you know if any of the senior executives are color blind? Because if they are, and they use your dashboard, all they are seeing is a sea of baby poo. Besides, red/green is just so hard to un-ugly; you're whole dashboard can be ruined.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">1. Don't heed any of this advice </span>if you don't want to. If you like what you built and it works for you and your users, then bravo. Job well done. Sincerely, and with no snark, I truly mean this. Don't let the rules or other's advice impede your creativity.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ-5Ey_jL60/VusWhoXEdJI/AAAAAAAAC9c/KRRmIa6XyPsrfhmuNrBbjA-x-vRbziuTg/s1600/seriously.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ-5Ey_jL60/VusWhoXEdJI/AAAAAAAAC9c/KRRmIa6XyPsrfhmuNrBbjA-x-vRbziuTg/s640/seriously.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-79147434755508511382015-12-30T22:41:00.001-08:002016-01-07T01:15:15.954-08:00Unbend Your Mind for Visual Analysis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4LZxRX3nBuw/Vd4IrGNhBGI/AAAAAAAACzU/gTKUPsn77zk/s1600/MeHuh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Visual discovery with Tableau" border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4LZxRX3nBuw/Vd4IrGNhBGI/AAAAAAAACzU/gTKUPsn77zk/s320/MeHuh.jpg" title="Visual analysis with Tableau" width="216" /></a></div>
Blank stares, then... Huh?<br />
<br />
That's what I get when I say 'Visual analysis'. People tend to think I'm talking about making a chart. I am, but more than that, I'm talking about doing your <b>data discovery visually</b> with Tableau.<br />
<br />
Chris Stolte gave a great talk on this a few years ago and I put it at the bottom of this blog as a <a href="http://www.tableau.com/videos/zen" target="_blank">Lunch n Learn</a>. I highly recommend you watch to see his brilliance in action.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Recently I was given a Tableau workbook to enhance/fix/re-jig that had over a dozen data sources and a dozen charts. Now a dozen charts is nothing for Tableau, yet the dashboards were taking forever to load and the filters were and weren't working in seemingly magical ways.<br />
<br />
It took me a while to figure out the underlying logic of the workbook and then I realized that the analyst who had put it together was using the same mindset they had when the only tool they had for analysis and presentation was Excel. <br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Excel logic goes like this:</span></h2>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--SYQv81mg9o/VoTLdTpwGJI/AAAAAAAAC6A/rmf8Z9kYECc/s1600/Excel%2BProcess.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Excel charts" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--SYQv81mg9o/VoTLdTpwGJI/AAAAAAAAC6A/rmf8Z9kYECc/s1600/Excel%2BProcess.png" title="Excel data analysis process" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">1</span> We get a problem or request <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2 </span> We think of the chart we'll create in Excel<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3</span> Then we go about getting the data into the table shape we need and perform the calculation(s) on the measure as needed<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">4 </span> Then we make the chart<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oSV1LejS0BY/Vd4cJ6qGoOI/AAAAAAAACz0/hul-HLYC8Aw/s1600/Excel%2Bexample%2Bcharts.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oSV1LejS0BY/Vd4cJ6qGoOI/AAAAAAAACz0/hul-HLYC8Aw/s400/Excel%2Bexample%2Bcharts.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So the person who had built the Tableau dashboard had essentially created a bunch of pivot tables and put them on separate worksheets and then connected each of them to Tableau to make the charts.<br />
<br />
This is not crazy - rather, this would be the most efficient way to do it in Excel world. Make a bunch of tables, then make the charts.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, how to unbend the old Excel mindset?</span><br />
<br />
FREE YOUR MIND AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">♫</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Connect to all the data just as you would to make a pivot table.<br />
<br />
But don't try to make just one specific chart!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Visual Analysis logic goes like this:</span></h2>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">1</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>We get a problem or request <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zqVEfFG3pnc/VoTL3SQlpII/AAAAAAAAC6I/NCKloGBUmMc/s1600/Tableau%2BProcess.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Tableau visual exploration" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zqVEfFG3pnc/VoTL3SQlpII/AAAAAAAAC6I/NCKloGBUmMc/s1600/Tableau%2BProcess.png" title="Tableau data analysis process" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2 </span> Connect to the data<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3</span> Explore the data VISUALLY. Very quickly you can make a ton of charts - click through Show Me - add dimensions - play - see what the data has to say. Discover what the data has to say in relation to your problem/question/goal.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">4 </span> Then combine the charts on a dashboard to communicate the results.</div>
<br />
<br />
Did you notice that big difference in these two processes? <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Visual Analysis doesn't begin with the presumption of the outcome or answer.</span><br />
<br />
Wrap your head around that for a moment. I'll bet you didn't think that you were presuming the outcome with the Excel process. But by reducing the data into a certain state for a predetermined presentation table or chart, you may have missed a lot of insight.<br />
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How often do you get asked by someone to give you a stacked bar or pie chart of xxx data? That's because they have a hunch that that chart will show them the answer to a problem. Sometimes it might. But if you visually explore the data with Tableau, I'll bet you find a whole bunch of new insights. Simply because it was never so quick or easy with other tools. They weren't designed for this.<br />
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So watch Chris's <a href="http://www.tableau.com/videos/zen" target="_blank">video</a>. Give it a think. And don't be afraid to go crazy with your data!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-91277818154097836432015-10-11T13:07:00.001-07:002015-10-27T09:37:33.567-07:00How Deep is Your LAN?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3tM50khr_eI/VQclyrTkakI/AAAAAAAACpU/0HmRmXHdqfo/s1600/iStock_000010820393Large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3tM50khr_eI/VQclyrTkakI/AAAAAAAACpU/0HmRmXHdqfo/s1600/iStock_000010820393Large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
If yours' is like most organizations, the LAN filing system is in a constant state of chaos threatening imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
The structure starts out ok at the upper levels - where rules exist, but gets more and more bogged down as you dive closer to your department or team's shared folders.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, there's absolutely no logic within your department/team folder - it's based on each person's internal logic.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, there's too much logic - too many folders to keep going down until you reach the final folder which only houses one document.<br />
<br />
This problem of categorical organization isn't limited to business LAN structures, it occurs everywhere humans need to create structure or taxonomies. (That's because there's two types of humans: <b>Groupers </b>and <b>Lumpers</b>. Groupers like to give everything a group whereas Lumpers like to lump everything together into one group.)<br />
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Why does this matter and what does it have to do with Tableau?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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Well, if you're in a team or department that is sharing workbooks outside of Tableau Server, you've probably thought you could place the workbook in the team's LAN folder and have everyone use it there. Or maybe you don't have Tableau Server and are sharing the workbook with everyone viewing through Tableau Reader. Or maybe you are saving and working on your workbooks from a folder on the LAN.<br />
<br />
So what's wrong with that? Nothing, unless they (or you) open it from the LAN. Here's the thing: when you open a Tableau packaged workbook (which is really a zip file), Tableau drops a copy of that zip file on your C:temp folder. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L9YQQqmJKgA/VhrArDWChzI/AAAAAAAAC3E/tsQ3SYUShtE/s1600/down%2Bthe%2Blan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L9YQQqmJKgA/VhrArDWChzI/AAAAAAAAC3E/tsQ3SYUShtE/s640/down%2Bthe%2Blan.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In that zip file is your data (if you've created an extract - please, please tell me you created an extract) and any images you may have used in dashboards. When you open to a dashboard or a view, Tableau queries the data source (the extract!) and pulls all the values into the charts/tables. Each time you filter or zoom or go to a new view or dashboard it queries the source again to bring only the values specified for the view(s). <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BpbSwRFEsFc/Vhgqt_n8VmI/AAAAAAAAC20/SBVJ5Ih9tsM/s1600/folders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BpbSwRFEsFc/Vhgqt_n8VmI/AAAAAAAAC20/SBVJ5Ih9tsM/s320/folders.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
So if you want to get the full value<span style="font-size: large;"> 'In Memory' </span>speed - use Extracts and save and work from the folders on your C:drive that Tableau installed when you installed the software. If you're sharing workbooks, tell the other person to save it in their C:drive and then open it. And when you create an extract and it asks you where to save it, save it in the Data Sources folder.<br />
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If you don't, then rather than having 'In Memory' speed, you're getting LAN depth * Your network speed and will probably experience lot of 'not responding' or at the least a lot of time watching the spinner and not much time visualizing your data.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-79679005826506219702015-09-01T21:53:00.000-07:002015-12-30T22:43:10.398-08:00Building Dashboards for the Smartphone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXcRebwczCI/VeZu3TJAmwI/AAAAAAAAC0c/CwU7AO6y2cs/s1600/Story%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mobile Dashboards" border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXcRebwczCI/VeZu3TJAmwI/AAAAAAAAC0c/CwU7AO6y2cs/s320/Story%2B1.png" title="Tableau Mobile Dashboard" width="192" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>This post was originally shared on <a href="https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2015/8/tips-building-dashboards-smartphone-43225?hootPostID=a574036513b0348965dc18bee24209e8" target="_blank">Tableau's blog</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I rarely get requests for Tableau dashboards on smartphones,
probably because they are usually a secondary concern. That is, most business
dashboards don’t automatically translate well to the phone format, so they are
not high on the priority list. Here are a few things I’ve learned when making
these wee dashboards that might be of help to you.</span><o:p style="font-family: inherit;"></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Determine Dashboard Focus and Context</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Because of the small canvas and the fact that the user is on
a mobile device, it’s important to zero in on exactly what the user needs to
see, and how. Mobile dashboards tend to have a specific, limited function. For
example:</span><o:p style="font-family: inherit;"></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“When I’m on the run, I might need to see [blank].” </i></span><br />
<blockquote>
<i style="font-family: inherit;">“I would have loved to have
been able to announce that we exceeded target this month while I was in the VP
meeting.”<o:p></o:p> </i><br />
<blockquote>
<i style="font-family: inherit;">“It would be handy before I head into the office or to the client, to see if
[blank] has increased or decreased.”<o:p></o:p> </i> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Because of space, you can’t provide a lot of information or
detail. It’s not as simple as squeezing down a dashboard that you’ve built to
be utilized via PC, and it can be very difficult to provide enough context for specific
numbers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p>
For example, the value of sales in the month of December is
of limited value without a chart showing the trend for sales, or regional
sales, or the number of orders contributing to those sales, or the variance
over last month, etc., all of which can’t necessarily be represented on such a
small canvas. So make sure you add a chart or something to that one number that provides context.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Interactivity:
There’s an App for That<o:p></o:p> </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Tableau.TableauApp&hl=en" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="61" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxcYE69Asuo/VeZ4zQ0cs3I/AAAAAAAAC1U/B8HgEhJWA5s/s200/button-google-play.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/tableau-mobile/id434633927?mt=8" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtOsGGYIEL8/VeZ4zCHXSGI/AAAAAAAAC1Q/BdFQ_KApmjU/s1600/itunes-button.png" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let’s face it. Smartphones can be annoying. Squeezing and
expanding things to get them to fit or read the way you want can be
frustrating. Adding a lot of filters or interactivity to your dashboards may
only further frustrate your users and may even cause the untimely death of an
innocent smartphone. Fortunately,
there’s an app for that. The Tableau Mobile app optimises filters for this
medium, making them pop and easy to use. It also allows for logical scrolling,
swiping, pinching, and zooming.</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/MobileDimensions/Dimensions?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-grPpHWKW-jA/VeZ2dELRwFI/AAAAAAAAC0w/Oi2r9PsZn8A/s320/Dimensions.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view dashboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately, my phone won’t run the app. When the robot
wars come, my phone will find itself impaled on a stick in front of my house as
a warning to other robots, Vlad-style. For now, my phone is the best-worst case
to use when building dashboards for this medium. If you are in an organization
with users with many different brands, sizes, and ages of phones, you will have
to deal with trying to find a size and level of interactivity that meets the
majority of your users’ phones as well. If everyone’s on a big, fat Galaxy
Note, well, lucky you! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here’s a resource workbook with CSS dimensions for
current mobile devices that might be helpful in deciding the size of your
dashboards.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Utilize Story Points</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Story points work very smartly on a smartphone. This style is
particularly great for a group of related dashboards, although they don’t
necessarily have to have a story. This example has many dashboards with
different focuses, allowing the user to swipe through the story points to find
the specific measures they need.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For these dashboards, I chose a size of 350 x 600 for the story
and 320 x 460 for the dashboards. On my
phone (which has dimensions of 360 x 598), the top of the story points are cut
off, but I can still tap them. And there is plenty of room for my chubby
fingers to slide the view up and down. I added the text box with a border to
the dashboard as a guide while placing the elements, but decided to leave it in
the finished product as I did find it helpful as a guide when viewing.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/MobileExampleStory/MobileStory?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Mobile Tableau Dashboards" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FMUuWiKSoPU/VeZ2ea-t7TI/AAAAAAAAC1A/gfHDnXcsCJw/s1600/Mobile%2BStory.png" title="Mobile Dashboards" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view dashboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With respect to interactivity, I kept the filters to a
minimum—no more than three per dashboard and specific only to the charts within
the dashboard (no global filters). This reduces confusion and helps with performance.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the sales map dashboard, the map interacts quite smoothly
and the tool-tips behave nicely, appearing and disappearing when you want them
intuitively. I don’t know how much smaller you’d want to go with a map, which
limits the amount of information you can add.
In this case, the tooltip would be a good spot to add additional fields
and values.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The city sales dashboard (the last story point) is probably
the most challenging in this bunch. There are two drop-down filters and two
chart actions. The sales trend chart has skinny little bars which allow the user
to filter on a time period. I don’t recommend using this chart if you like the
people you’re building this for. I left it in as an example of the frustration
you can experience. Try it out on your phone. The fat city bars are much easier
to use as a filter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Consider Wide or Long Dashboards</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/MobileExampleAcross/DashboardWide?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Mobile Tableau Dashboards" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CHmiJvq4lBE/VeZ2ekV1KiI/AAAAAAAAC1E/rUgjKgkiwbE/s1600/Mobile%2Bacross.png" title="Mobile Dashboards" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view dashboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/views/MobileExampleDownLight/DashboardLong?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Mobile Dashboards" border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IK7n_lgsRH0/VeZ2enN__LI/AAAAAAAAC08/FIv16yCO3iE/s640/Mobile%2Bdown.png" title="Tableau Mobile Dashboards" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view dashboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another option is to lay out your charts on one dashboard
horizontally or vertically. The horizontal
example uses most of the same charts laid out on one dashboard 1320 pixels
wide. The bordered text boxes break it into four screen views. Again, the
filters and actions only apply to charts within these views.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This format is fairly easy to interact with, but I wouldn’t
want to have too many more charts as the load time could slow down.<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The vertical example (320 x 1860) is similar to the wide
dashboard with a slightly different style. It’s on a light background, with a
blue header bar delineating the screen views rather than a border. Personally,
I find the dark background easier on my eyes, but I do prefer the vertical
scrolling over horizontal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p>
I hope these examples help you with some of the decisions
you’ll need to make next time you build a smartphone dashboard. But more than
anything, I hope you’ll be inspired to get creative and not be afraid to tame
and rule your smarty-pants phone.</span><o:p></o:p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-78669388941365232902015-07-09T23:59:00.002-07:002016-01-26T10:09:13.075-08:00Dashboard Kitsch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nId_xPnSsyg/VYRW8ho8DvI/AAAAAAAACtQ/d7FEt7jIYbg/s1600/Zombie-Garden-Gnomes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nId_xPnSsyg/VYRW8ho8DvI/AAAAAAAACtQ/d7FEt7jIYbg/s320/Zombie-Garden-Gnomes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;">Kitsch</b><span style="background-color: white;"> (/ˈkɪtʃ/; loanword from German) is a low-brow style of mass-produced art or design using popular or cultural icons. </span><b style="background-color: white;">Kitsch</b><span style="background-color: white;"> generally includes unsubstantial or gaudy works or decoration, or works that are calculated to have popular appeal.</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Kitsch">wikipedia</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--AwBCbAPL1M/VYRbqg2DytI/AAAAAAAACtY/svZH4WxOgj0/s1600/The%2BCollector.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--AwBCbAPL1M/VYRbqg2DytI/AAAAAAAACtY/svZH4WxOgj0/s320/The%2BCollector.jpg" width="320" /></a>A gnome or two in your garden can be cute, even enchanting. But when you have a whole herd of zombie gnomes on your lawn, you have gone to the dark side, my friend. I'm suggesting that you are dangerously close to becoming a 'Collector'.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
The Collector isn't your average collector of a few interesting trinkets or articles for investment or re-sale... rather, they've become a caricature of their obsession. While they may have a few gems in that mountain of gaudy treasure, unfortunately, those gems are lost in the kitschiness of the whole.<br />
<br />
Check out this kitschy dashboard. I can't imagine that anyone viewing it in a business environment wouldn't find it tacky. Never mind that it doesn't present the information in a manner that is immediately understood.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WZrJrW311nw/VYXOfP5d45I/AAAAAAAACtw/hmQUbyu2Jp0/s1600/kitsch%2Bscorecard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WZrJrW311nw/VYXOfP5d45I/AAAAAAAACtw/hmQUbyu2Jp0/s640/kitsch%2Bscorecard.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dashboard for the Executive who lives in his car</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If I was presented with this dashboard, I would be concerned that my analyst was more concerned with getting kudos for the cool factor, than actually knowing how to analyze data and present me with important or actionable information.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-duBZc80tZ-Q/VYXS0k1PJKI/AAAAAAAACuE/TsicmiQHHJI/s1600/kitsch%2Bdashboards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-duBZc80tZ-Q/VYXS0k1PJKI/AAAAAAAACuE/TsicmiQHHJI/s320/kitsch%2Bdashboards.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Memo to Management:</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If someone is trying to sell you on reports, dashboards or software solutions that contain any of these items - you are being hosed by a slickster.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dashboards do not need bling. They need to engage yes, but kitsch isn't what does it.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If someone tells you that you need these types of charts because bar charts are boring, know that this is a red herring. Boring has nothing to do with the bar chart; it's the analyst that lacks the skills or creativity to build a dashboard that allows you to SEE the information and interact effectively. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sincerely, a sincere analyst who has nothing to gain. <i>See</i> <a href="http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/04/when_only_the_g.html">when only the glib win</a>.</span></blockquote>
<a href="https://econsultancy.com/blog/62844-24-beautifully-designed-web-dashboards-that-data-geeks-will-love/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p5_KSrI_yIU/VZHqE9suTuI/AAAAAAAACv0/QnNDx9wPPfc/s640/donuts.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Donuts and Pies</span></h2>
<br />
Unfortunately, donut charts are all the rage right now (among graphic designers building dashboard templates). They use them because they do add interest as part of the overall design of a dashboard. Unfortunately, these dashboards are not about analyzing data or allowing the user to gain insight and the donuts are merely kitsch; they have popular appeal, but no real substance.<br />
<br />
<b>We don't use a type of chart because it looks cool, we use it when it's the best possible way to present the results.</b> Personally, I like the look of these dashboards (including pies and donuts), but I have yet to build a dashboard like this for actual use in a business setting. Simply because they haven't worked. They are easily replicated in Tableau, but when it comes to applying real data with a real need for information, they fall short. Mostly because there is a demand for real estate when you are building a dashboard - pieces of information vying for attention. <b>We decide their placement primarily based on importance and communication flow.</b><br />
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Icons</span></h2>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.osmguy.com/2014/03/salary-vs-mlb-players-salary-visualization/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="378" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJwE_K2nFos/VZ9M3fYVkDI/AAAAAAAACw8/0ARjUt7-nIY/s400/osm%2Bguy.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;">Click to view<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Using icons on business dashboards requires the same considerations as chart types. Use icons sparingly and then ask yourself "<b>Does this really help the user understand the message?</b>" Or have you passed the line into kitsch?<br />
<br />
<br />
This dashboard by Ryan Sleeper is an example of using icons that help the user immediately identify and differentiate between the subjects.<br />
<br />
Using icons in this manner would be completely appropriate on a business dashboard. However, watch that you only use a field with a few categories - too many and the user will get confused.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This dashboard by Matt Francis is another way to use icons that could work for business dashboards.<br />
<br />
This dashboard addresses a serious, sobering subject and the use of the bus icons to display the number of children who die every day from Malaria has quite an impact.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/profile/ugleymatt#!/vizhome/Malaria_0/Malaria" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="617" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7zJfM2551do/VZ9Ld1F6III/AAAAAAAACwo/NXAFYm0IIb4/s640/school%2Bbuses%2Band%2Bmalaria.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;">Click to view<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The bus image is useful for two reasons. First, we immediately relate to the number of children that a bus can hold so we understand the volume at a glance. Secondly, we can all imagine happy, lively children inside school buses so we have an emotional response to the issue.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Appropriate Kitsch</span></h2>
<br />
Can you ever have kitsch on your dashboard?<br />
<br />
Hell yes!<br />
<br />
There are lots of kitschy dashboards on Tableau Public. But they are often about pop culture, and the audience is the web (not a management team), so it works. They're fun and playful and some are even over the top, but they aren't pretending to be a business dashboard. What I love about them is that these analysts are exercising their creativity bone in an appropriate venue.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/s/gallery/hello-etsy" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="254" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5l4hq-Zgohk/VYesu3BUghI/AAAAAAAACu4/819GvPAG-Lo/s400/hello%2Bkitty.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This Hello Kitty styled dashboard by <a href="http://www.jewelloree.com/2013/09/17/pop-viz-hello-etsy-aka-the-cutest-viz-ever/">Jewel Loree</a> is particularly delightful and kitschy, but it's also very well thought out and polished.<br />
<br />
And informative. If I was in the market for Hello Kitty brass knuckles, this would be my go to viz for pricing information.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableau.com/profile/paul.banoub3999#!/vizhome/DonutDashboard/DonutDashboard" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qi56SvzgCcc/VZ9L-rovjTI/AAAAAAAACww/K0e0EOgWJAQ/s400/donuts.png" width="398" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This Donut dashboard by Paul Banoub relies on the donut icons to identify donut types.<br />
<br />
Yes, it's kitschy! Appropriately so. Personally, I wouldn't be able to find my favorite donut without the images.<br />
<br />
The dashboard is also quite simple and clear - the user instantly gets the message "How fattening is my donut?"<br />
<br />
These dashboards are fun and kitschy, but their authors have still put some time and thought into making them more than mountains of gaudiness, so the message still gets through.<br />
<br />
That's what we need to keep in mind anytime we're building dashboards, <span style="font-size: large;"><b>"Am I helping the user understand the message? Or am I drowning out the message with my design?"</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
Lastly, please don't stop experimenting and playing because of anything you've read here. I've personally over and under cooked many a dashboard and will continue to do so. That's how we learn. Plus, the wonderful thing about Tableau dashboards is that you can go back and touch them up in an instant without anyone the wiser. <wink. wink><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-35298040544614824732015-06-21T15:06:00.000-07:002015-06-22T12:43:03.349-07:00How to Build a Dashboard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sduYNx92_go/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sduYNx92_go?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yup. Just like that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.gapingvoidart.com/gallery/information-knowledge/?utm_source=Gapingvoid+Daily+Cartoon&utm_campaign=94ddf78eaa-1279+%22Information+Knowledge%22+June+19%2C+2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c141d052e6-94ddf78eaa-262138514" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="504" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WmxTrRgNS-w/VYhlC7APQxI/AAAAAAAACvM/QDkpw5TQRl0/s640/information.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-48979985869418847532015-04-03T12:57:00.004-07:002015-04-03T12:57:41.880-07:00Global Human Development and Debt<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span id="goog_631537191"></span><span id="goog_631537188"></span><span id="goog_631537184"></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://public.tableausoftware.com/views/HDIWorldHumanDevIndex/HDI?:embed=y&:display_count=no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KG5-g5eWthA/VR7lwITBeBI/AAAAAAAACqE/w5aNOJuvOQw/s1600/HDI%2Bmap.jpg" height="292" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CLICK ME! CLICK ME!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The United Nations Development Program held a visualization contest last month. The objective was to visualize the Human Development data in infographic or interactive form; displaying country snapshot as well as an overview through time of all countries. They provided quick access to a plethora of data including the Human Development Index and sub-indices. I chose to incorporate country debt into the analysis to view the impact of efforts to reduce heavily indebted countries' debt load since 2005. <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/dataviz-competition">http://hdr.undp.org/en/dataviz-competition</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-9804424472076213112015-03-08T23:01:00.002-07:002015-03-08T23:01:08.504-07:00Drill Down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kaFdpuyRgPY/U8LR1Krav6I/AAAAAAAACQQ/hbJJm-soiAw/s1600/OneMoreThing4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kaFdpuyRgPY/U8LR1Krav6I/AAAAAAAACQQ/hbJJm-soiAw/s1600/OneMoreThing4.png" height="128" width="320" /></a></div>
Have you noticed how rarely you hear the term Data Mining these days? That's because a lot of people now know that it is a complex thing, and not just filtering a pivot table in Excel. <br />
<br />
The funny thing is that 'Drill Down' is just the opposite. People ask for it - make a big deal of it - in dashboard building, not realizing that this is a simple thing in Tableau. There's a few ways to provide the 'Drill Down', but it's important to first ask what exactly do they mean by 'Drill Down'. Usually, it's one of three things:<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ssOEhegTYfs/VP0qzNAQyiI/AAAAAAAACn4/RXm4DO6BH6U/s1600/detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ssOEhegTYfs/VP0qzNAQyiI/AAAAAAAACn4/RXm4DO6BH6U/s1600/detail.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Most Common Meaning</span></h2>
Most often, people are asking for a dashboard or series of dashboards that provides charts and information going from overview to detail. Easy peasy.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">A Pivot Table</span></h2>
This is what they're used to seeing and they are afraid that they won't recognize the numbers, or be able to check the numbers, or not have a means to get at the detailed numbers they may need on an ad-hoc basis. <br />
<br />
There's a simple solution to this... build your dashboards as you would logically, to visually make sense of the information and communicate it. <br />
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Then create a dashboard that has one big ole table on it and a bunch of filters. The people that are comfortable with this mode will be satisfied and hopefully in time, they will have confidence in the dashboard numbers.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">All The Data</span></h2>
This is similar to the pivot table request above although it usually comes from an analyst. They are accustomed to being blocked from data. Period. They often want all the data so that they can export it out to check or do more analysis in Excel. For new Tableau users, they just don't realize that all the data is in there for them to access and they are leary of your promise that they have access to all the data.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LppZYu70PTM/VP0v4xHZX_I/AAAAAAAACoI/ETdJ3DRO_hw/s1600/detail3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LppZYu70PTM/VP0v4xHZX_I/AAAAAAAACoI/ETdJ3DRO_hw/s1600/detail3.jpg" height="344" width="640" /></a><br />
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Show them how they can view and copy out all the data in the data source internally.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8zJH7DWSdRs/VP0wVTI9hdI/AAAAAAAACoQ/h7wZy0Jl9Mc/s1600/detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8zJH7DWSdRs/VP0wVTI9hdI/AAAAAAAACoQ/h7wZy0Jl9Mc/s1600/detail2.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></div>
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Or show them how they can view and copy out all the data in a chart or table from the dashboard.<br />
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Or simply send them the link to this post, so that you can be sure you both know what kind of 'Drill Down' you're talking about.<br />
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ps. For some more heinous visuals, check out <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?q=drill+down&espv=2&biw=1684&bih=795&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tjX9VKj_KIOuogTZl4C4BQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ#imgdii=_">google 'drill down'</a>. Seriously BI, you've got some explainin' to do.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-26139866889288834512015-02-06T21:41:00.004-08:002015-02-06T21:41:55.977-08:00The Elusive Executive Dashboard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPxbWC_uHPo/VMlI7jQmFqI/AAAAAAAACkI/vvXAQOREx-0/s1600/wrong.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPxbWC_uHPo/VMlI7jQmFqI/AAAAAAAACkI/vvXAQOREx-0/s1600/wrong.png" /></a></div>
Some things you should never, ever, EVER google.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Assless chaps</i> is one and the other is <i>Executive Dashboards</i>.<br />
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Both searches may start out innocent enough, but will make you want to tear your eyes out. An <i>Assless chaps</i> search will at least give you a giggle, if not haunt your nightmares for years.<br />
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But an <i>Executive Dashboard </i>search will leave you exhausted and diminish your will to live. If you're analyst anyway.<br />
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You'll realize that in 2015, at least 20 years into the BI movement, and there's still little in the way of good dashboarding out there and that is the reason why you are always being asked to replicate the crap. Pardon my language, but it's sooooo frustrating. <big whine there><br />
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Since I love to share my misery, let's play Where's Waldo with this search. How many crap dashboards do you have to search through until you find a good one?<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Here's the first 9 dashboards. See any non-crap?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1p1PiAKH-DI/VMlGj38dyhI/AAAAAAAACj0/QIg4SIcaW2c/s1600/wrong%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1p1PiAKH-DI/VMlGj38dyhI/AAAAAAAACj0/QIg4SIcaW2c/s1600/wrong%2B1.png" /></a></div>
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Nope. Not Yet.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a3bfomxsTNM/VMlGyGBIarI/AAAAAAAACj8/E_7v5eEkALE/s1600/wrong%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a3bfomxsTNM/VMlGyGBIarI/AAAAAAAACj8/E_7v5eEkALE/s1600/wrong%2B2.png" /></a><br />
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More crap.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9JGvpdrR2yM/VMl2Yz-NcsI/AAAAAAAACkc/sUzNtBNDirM/s1600/wrong%2B3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9JGvpdrR2yM/VMl2Yz-NcsI/AAAAAAAACkc/sUzNtBNDirM/s1600/wrong%2B3.png" /></a></div>
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That's 27 dashboards and still not one good one.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yyhp6aEgB9A/VMl22jCY7YI/AAAAAAAACkk/yYc10SGWxa8/s1600/wrong%2B4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yyhp6aEgB9A/VMl22jCY7YI/AAAAAAAACkk/yYc10SGWxa8/s1600/wrong%2B4.png" /></a></div>
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Nope.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fA8c-2F6bI4/VMl3Js0SIGI/AAAAAAAACks/2fEQSohtDdI/s1600/wrong%2B5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fA8c-2F6bI4/VMl3Js0SIGI/AAAAAAAACks/2fEQSohtDdI/s1600/wrong%2B5.png" /></a></div>
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We've now gone through 45 crap dashboards.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f16Tr-jGYk4/VMl3csKacnI/AAAAAAAACk0/UkRMzvnPC8o/s1600/wrong%2B6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f16Tr-jGYk4/VMl3csKacnI/AAAAAAAACk0/UkRMzvnPC8o/s1600/wrong%2B6.png" /></a></div>
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Still nothing.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kzek5rpBNC0/VMl4Cd7DL0I/AAAAAAAACk8/P3VdI4XQJkg/s1600/wrong%2B7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kzek5rpBNC0/VMl4Cd7DL0I/AAAAAAAACk8/P3VdI4XQJkg/s1600/wrong%2B7.png" /></a></div>
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Wait. Did you see it!!! Please tell me you saw it. It's number 57 in the upper right corner. It's a Stephen Few style dashboard. We hit the jackpot here because there's also a <a href="http://www.juiceanalytics.com/">Juice Analytics</a> dashboard in the middle. These guys know what they're doing.</div>
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Now search <i>Dashboard Design Templates</i> and you'll get a lot of this. These are web-site templates built by graphic designers. They look cool and there's some good design elements here, but there's a lot that's wrong and just won't work in the business world with real data. And they're awfully fond of pies and donuts and color that doesn't signal anything other than "Look at me! I'm pink!".</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dTcyoqDcA8M/VMl46kt21VI/AAAAAAAAClI/J1NUkG1ype8/s1600/wrong%2B8.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dTcyoqDcA8M/VMl46kt21VI/AAAAAAAAClI/J1NUkG1ype8/s1600/wrong%2B8.png" /></a></div>
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BTW: I don't recommend you forward this post to your boss. It will likely be interpreted as a passive-aggressive means of telling him/her that you think their dashboard ideas are crap.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-29746547188871548492015-01-15T01:07:00.001-08:002015-12-30T22:46:57.183-08:00The Nuclear Energy Option<br />
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<a href="http://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/8DK8H7Z7N?:display_count=yes" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dashboards" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aYbH0JPWz_c/VLeCGqjiYoI/AAAAAAAAChs/mz4HkhhRp18/s1600/frustration.jpg" title="Tableau Dashboard" /></a></div>
WE NEED MORE POWER!<br />
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The energy demand in developing countries like China and India is growing at a phenomenal pace. At the same time most countries are looking to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/un-climate-summit-a-game-changer-for-global-warming-1.2775281" target="_blank">reduce carbon emissions and their dependence on fossil fuels</a>.<br />
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Unfortunately, there's no magical Scotty in engineering with the ability to bend the laws of physics and deliver that power without consequences. There is no perfect option.<br />
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I recently saw a documentary on nuclear energy called <a href="http://pandoraspromise.com/" target="_blank">Pandora's Promise</a>. It made a pretty compelling case for the nuclear option, but I wasn't completely convinced. So, I decided to find some data and look at it myself... because that's what analysts do.<br />
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Personally, I'm not crazy about nuclear energy, but I do have a better understanding as to why countries are increasing their electric capacity with nuclear. And not just countries. Gov Jerry Brown of California (which has an economy larger than many small countries) plans to have 50% of the state's electricity produced by renewables within 15 years.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 26.25px;"><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/gov-jerry-brown-wants-half-californias-power-be-green-2030-296801" target="_blank">"I envision a wide range of initiatives: more distributed power, expanded rooftop solar, micro-grids, an energy imbalance market, battery storage, the full integration of information technology and electrical distribution and millions of electric and low-carbon vehicles," Brown said in his speech in Sacramento.</a></span></blockquote>
I hope the renewable technology exists to support those millions of vehicle's power needs, but I can't help but wonder if this goal may need to include nuclear power. Either way, it's commitments like this that will drive the research and development in both renewable and nuclear energy.<br />
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Big thanks and hugs to Andy Kriebel at <a href="http://vizwiz.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">VizWiz</a> for his keen eye and suggestions on this viz. It is so incredibly helpful to get a kind editor look at your work and Andy's got a passion for <a href="http://www.datavizdoneright.com/" target="_blank">Data Viz Done Right</a> so his edits are right on the mark.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-14007504614754810492014-12-12T14:36:00.000-08:002014-12-16T20:38:15.009-08:0010 Freebie Holiday Toys for Tableau Analysts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-agul2AHraZU/VIlvFCU62_I/AAAAAAAACbQ/3w04g94xPBA/s1600/santadali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-agul2AHraZU/VIlvFCU62_I/AAAAAAAACbQ/3w04g94xPBA/s1600/santadali.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Happy Holidays! </span><br />
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Here's a few, very simple, free tools that will help make your<br />
dashboarding work just a little easier. Click on the images to<br />
go to the respective sites for download.<br />
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<a href="http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/addin-reshaping-data-excel" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g83iI69Zns8/VIkjThtlV0I/AAAAAAAACaE/snGCaHfCS1M/s1600/TableauAddIn.jpg" height="283" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">1 Tableau Data Reshaper Add-In</span><br />
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Reshapes your table data, UnPivots, fills in values and opens your data in Tableau.<br />
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<a href="http://xltools.net/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XK5CmS56V5Q/VIkjT3XY1JI/AAAAAAAACaI/rD3lfpWxDk0/s1600/XLTools.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">2 XL Tools</span><br />
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This is a great little add-in that has data cleansing and cell combining features.<br />
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<a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred-addin/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dzkprm7UBKQ/VIkjTChW_dI/AAAAAAAACZ8/ug-FZD9H_LM/s1600/FRED.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30yOi7C1bSo/VIkjR75KR2I/AAAAAAAACak/t7jjTNP1Q7k/s1600/ColorPic.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">3 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Data (FRED) Add-In </span><br />
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Very handy for up-to-date US data and some International data.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">4 ColorPic</span><br />
See a color you like - grab it with this tool and enter the RGB values in your custom colors or add the HEX to your Preference file.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><a href="http://colorbrewer2.org/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wsMp_d5qt2Q/VIkjR-ueTAI/AAAAAAAACZw/me__Nq-cFc4/s1600/Color%2BBrewer.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">5 Color Brewer</span><br />
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Very valuable advice and handy map color palettes.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPgRzsTy7jI/VIkjRxNvo7I/AAAAAAAACZs/apQdn-p6I7A/s1600/ColorSchemer.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">6 Color Schemer</span><br />
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Great for creating color palettes and then 'export to text' allows you to quickly copy/paste the HEX values to your Preference file.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">7 Images</span><br />
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1,000 basic black and white images. Actually only 200, but in 5 sizes, which is great as you then don't have to worry about image distortion.<br />
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<a href="http://deathtothestockphoto.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rY6s4EIbu3I/VIkjSowBiOI/AAAAAAAACZ0/2B4su_7E09k/s1600/DeathToIstock.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">8 Death to the stock</span><br />
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These aren't typical data visualization images, but they make for some nice headers or images for StoryPoints.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">9 NotePad++</span><br />
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The best.<br />
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<a href="http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/excel-geocoding-tool-v2/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tyOmj0sgS60/VIkmGUCPMVI/AAAAAAAACaw/Y9jlQ2wmB5c/s1600/JuiceGeocoder.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">10 Juice GeoCoding Tool</span><br />
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This odd little tool will provide you with lat/lon coordinates for addresses. Very handy if you don't have a ton of addresses. I have used it on a batch of 200 and it did just fine.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-68625889543771226042014-10-20T00:32:00.001-07:002014-11-03T10:59:30.742-08:00Playing Nice with Tableau or How to Build a Dashboard That Your Co-Workers Can Maintain If You Get Hit By a Bus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6K7ey6y5dug/VCHyQ2SUlkI/AAAAAAAACU4/MRcMpDSLHfc/s1600/world%2Bdomination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6K7ey6y5dug/VCHyQ2SUlkI/AAAAAAAACU4/MRcMpDSLHfc/s1600/world%2Bdomination.jpg" height="400" width="372" /></a></div>
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We all like to think we're indispensable at work, but we're not. We're just not.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">So get over yourself, Simon.</span><br />
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Have you ever built the most clever Excel dashboard/database/reporting system that you knew would keep you in the money for years? <br />
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You know you did, Simon. Yes, and it was forever referred to as the "Simon Chan Report". After the accolades, you settle in to maintain the damned thing, month after month, year after year. And it's taking up a lot of your time because it has become so complex (named ranges, linked fields, complex multi-layered formulas, vba) that any new request for change will take weeks to implement. It really has no business being an Excel report.<br />
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What usually happens with these "Simon Chan Reports" is that they get handed off to some poor analyst in another department to maintain with little or no documentation. Then guess what happens? The report doesn't work. So it gets re-built, often from scratch, which takes months or forensic-like deconstruction of the maniacally insane logic of the bloody-Simon-bloody-Chan-Report.<br />
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Fortunately with Tableau the innards are pretty transparent and it's fairly easy to figure out what another analyst has done to get the results you're seeing. But even with Tableau, there are ways to unintentionally obfuscate. So, while you're building your report, it's important to keep in the back of your mind the fact that some other analyst will have to maintain or change your workbook.<br />
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Here's some tips to consider:<br />
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Aliases</span></h2>
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<b>The ability to add aliases for your dimension categories is a great feature</b> and causes no confusion that I can think of, but aliasing your Measure Names field is tricky. I often get workbooks that have a detail crosstab full of measures and dimensions. When someone has given a bunch of those measures alias's I have to dig to figure out which of the alias's matches to which measure and then remember that for every other chart that I may build.<br />
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This case isn't bad, but in the real world there can be many data sources with hundreds of measures. I've also hidden many of the shelves in this example because I frequently encounter this in others' workbooks. People hide and move things according to their personal preference. That's fine, but now I have to go through the steps to bring them back into the view so I can figure out the logic (another bug-a-bear).<br />
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A considerate analyst would leave all the shelves in view where it started, and instead of aliasing measures, make copies and re-name them. It's that simple, only a couple of extra steps; right click > copy > rename.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qUN9oI1wSSo/VETGqBnN-LI/AAAAAAAACWc/-pYJnXL-P6g/s1600/caption.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qUN9oI1wSSo/VETGqBnN-LI/AAAAAAAACWc/-pYJnXL-P6g/s1600/caption.png" height="335" width="400" /></a><b></b><br />
<b><b><br /></b></b>
<b>The Caption dialogue is one of the sweetest bits of information,</b> it explains everything that's going on in your view. <br />
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Leave it open for other users to see information on complicated views (right-click anywhere on the grey area and add it as you would the Title). <br />
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You can also leave notes for others or explain complicated logic for yourself. We've all opened an old workbook and thought "Ooooo, that was cool. I wonder how I did that?"<br />
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This is also a great place to note the alias's that you've used.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YktuSgpsClY/VETP9Ovkc5I/AAAAAAAACWs/QdzxPnFh_L0/s1600/comments.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YktuSgpsClY/VETP9Ovkc5I/AAAAAAAACWs/QdzxPnFh_L0/s1600/comments.png" height="142" width="400" /></a><b></b><br />
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<b>Frequently when I download a workbook from someone's blog, I discover that they have left notes</b> in the formula of their calculated fields - what a pleasure. I am doing my best to adopt this practice as often as possible, especially when I am building something for clients whose analysts will use the workbooks as templates.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments</b></span></h2>
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<b>Put notes or copy calculations in the default comments. </b>Right click your field > Default Properties > Comment. Then when you hover over a field the comment will display and remind you of what you did in that calculation.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nMl1phaxDlY/VFP68Ud-vNI/AAAAAAAACXo/xUwInN7yMQ4/s1600/10-31-2014%2B2-09-02%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nMl1phaxDlY/VFP68Ud-vNI/AAAAAAAACXo/xUwInN7yMQ4/s1600/10-31-2014%2B2-09-02%2BPM.png" height="192" width="400" /></a></div>
This can be extremely helpful or extremely annoying, depending on <i>my</i> mood (I'm sure your much more patient than me). I am frequently going back to months old workbooks looking for that <b>just right formula</b> that I need right now. And it's a lot like hunting for the car keys; your frustration grows exponentially as the seconds tick by, and you end up going back to the same spot over and over again, until you have to blame someone for hiding the keys on purpose.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qxc8qBg9Ic/VFQDifsCSaI/AAAAAAAACYI/U5PBXAw7MvQ/s1600/actions2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qxc8qBg9Ic/VFQDifsCSaI/AAAAAAAACYI/U5PBXAw7MvQ/s1600/actions2.png" height="236" width="640" /></a><b>When you've finished your dashboard, number your worksheets</b> and then hide them. This is also really helpful when you're in the Actions dialogue, especially if you have multiple/complicated actions. As you can see from my naming convention, I'm not fussy, but it gets the job done. <br />
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The <Sheet Name> value almost never ends up in my titles.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Tidy Up After Yourself</span></h2>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hAnO3d2mSTo/VFQOCm83iaI/AAAAAAAACYY/dU2u7nIEyN4/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hAnO3d2mSTo/VFQOCm83iaI/AAAAAAAACYY/dU2u7nIEyN4/s1600/Picture1.png" height="420" width="640" /></a><b></b><br />
<b><b><br /></b></b>
<b>I think almost all work has 3 stages; fun, muck, and shiny. </b> With dashboard building, initially it's so much fun getting into the data, making charts, seeing what's there, hitting the Show Me over and over, digging in and finding the gems.<br />
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<b>Then the muck starts.</b> You slow down, you have 75 worksheets and now you to deal with inter-dependent logics, arranging all the pieces into a cohesive and interactive narrative. It's not that rolling around in the muck isn't fun, but it takes some careful consideration. <br />
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<b>Suddenly it starts to flow. </b>Everything is coming together almost magically, you fine tune and tweak, mercilessly kill your darlings, and add your finishing touches. This is Shiny. It's tempting to send it off the minute you've finished, to share your excitement (and meet your deadline, as shiny often occurs at 2am), but you aren't really finished are you?<br />
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This is the time to tidy the hell up.<br />
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<b>Get rid of 'test' fields that shouldn't be used.</b> When I'm in draft mode, building fields and testing, I'll often name these fields beginning with x (eg. [xDate Value Max]). When the field works and is in the view I remove the x. Then at the end of the project, I can easily find all the x fields and delete the ones that didn't make the cut.<br />
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I get lazy with parameters, though. As I'm often copying worksheets into workbooks to use as templates or for formulas, I sometimes forget to delete unused parameters. But deleting fields is pretty error proof - or at least you get a chance. Once you've gotten rid of unused worksheets, you can safely delete the old fields and parameters. If the field is in use on a dashboard/worksheet, you'll get a notification warning you.<br />
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<b>Rename badly named fields,</b> eg. Calculation 1, Calculation 2, Calculation (copy), etc. Remember, if you've left the controls on tool-tips, users will see the underlying badly (and confusing to them) field names.<br />
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Refresh your extracts and optimize them.<br />
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Customize your filters - remove all the extra controls you don't want your user to see.<br />
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Put blank text boxes over areas you don't want your user to click.<br />
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Add notes.<br />
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If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know and I'll add it. I'm sure I haven't thought of everything.<br />
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Note: Simon Chan is completely fictional. Well, I'm sure there are Simon Chan's out there that don't feel fictional, but in this case, Simon Chan is based on an amalgamation of many different analysts with different names, who have built these types of Excel reports (myself included).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-82307207320058235192014-08-29T00:40:00.000-07:002015-03-05T14:15:19.219-08:00Bad Charts Delight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G5wRwL7xzO8/U_4RjVho7TI/AAAAAAAACSs/6n5wg0Zpni4/s1600/BadCharts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G5wRwL7xzO8/U_4RjVho7TI/AAAAAAAACSs/6n5wg0Zpni4/s1600/BadCharts.jpg" height="245" width="320" /></a></div>
I know you love them. C'mon, admit it. Pies, donuts, bubbles,... anything stacked or layered. You love 'em. We all do. There's something about these bad chart choices that are appealing to us. If they didn't tickle our insides we wouldn't see so many of them on infographics and dashboards.<br />
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Yet we know (yes, we do) that these are bad choices for conveying information. Our job as dashboard builders is to create a cohesive and accurate information message that can stand alone in a room without us there to interpret.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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While these charts may be our secret guilty pleasure, for many of the managers, directors and vp's, these are the standard charts they're used to and that they want to see. You will spend days building the perfect dashboard and then in the final meeting someone will tell you that it's nice, but... they "<i>just want to see"</i> a pie chart (or bubbles, or stacked bar) showing....yada, yada, yada.<br />
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My advice is to head them off at the pass. Put a pie chart or bubble on the dashboard at the start. But use it as a filter or design element. Pick a main dimension field with very few categories. If it has 2-3 use a pie chart, if 3-5 use a bubble chart. But don't use one with more than 5 categories, even that may be pushing it.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZHMj1eEji0/U__4iXtY-eI/AAAAAAAACTI/6QH6UKOo5-k/s1600/8-28-2014%2B8-48-05%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZHMj1eEji0/U__4iXtY-eI/AAAAAAAACTI/6QH6UKOo5-k/s1600/8-28-2014%2B8-48-05%2BPM.jpg" /></a>Here's an example using packed bubbles as a filter. The reason packed bubbles are considered <i>'bad'</i> charting is because we have trouble discerning and comparing the sizes of the circles. A sorted bar chart would do a superior job of instantly communicating the difference between categories, but for some reason they don't delight. Bubbles delight.<br />
<script src="https://public.tableausoftware.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
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The dashboard below has a pie chart with a couple hundred different slices. Oh. Yes. I. Did. <br />
<br />
The tool-tip does provide the % value for each slice, but it is really intended just to give a sense of the place of the chosen country in relation to the rest of the world. Choose a less wealthy country and you'll discover one of the dreaded dangers when using pie. You never know when one of these will turn up (_|_) and everyone in the meeting will start giggling.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcK-2j89nAY/VAAmYwMFQDI/AAAAAAAACTY/OajDkgCLxbo/s1600/8-29-2014%2B12-03-04%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcK-2j89nAY/VAAmYwMFQDI/AAAAAAAACTY/OajDkgCLxbo/s1600/8-29-2014%2B12-03-04%2BAM.jpg" /></a>I've also used the semi-bad stacked area chart. Using it with the country dimension makes it impossible for the user to figure out the real changes occurring for each country. In this case, I've used it to show the total trend for each region and to highlight one country in comparison to the rest of the world. <br />
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I've set the selected country to display against the 0 axis, rather than in order of size or name. Can you see the difference? This is the problem with all stacked trend area or bar charts. You can really only tell what is going on with the category at the bottom.<br />
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So there you go. You can have your donuts, pies, bubbles and layers. Just carefully.<br />
<br />
Cheers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-62074475867992592222014-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:002014-09-25T11:10:22.362-07:00Optimize Your Extract<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kaFdpuyRgPY/U8LR1Krav6I/AAAAAAAACQM/4Vgs4nAgRBg/s1600/OneMoreThing4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kaFdpuyRgPY/U8LR1Krav6I/AAAAAAAACQM/4Vgs4nAgRBg/s1600/OneMoreThing4.png" height="160" width="400" /></a></div>
It's a little thing, and I frequently forget to do it, but it makes a huge difference.<br />
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Basically, Tableau takes your calculations and stores the fields in the extract so it doesn't have to re-compute them every time the view gets opened.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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So if you're building dashboards and creating a lot of calculated fields it's a good idea to remember to optimize the extract as you go along.<br />
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<a href="http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v8.1/pro/online/en-us/extracting_optimize.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N63_IkcpUOU/U8LXDAshijI/AAAAAAAACQc/PfZTCLwx5no/s1600/Optimizing+Extracts.png" height="460" width="640" /></a>I didn't realize until today that having filters set to <b>Show Only Relevant Values</b> was costly, so from now on I'll create a calculated field to speed things up.<br />
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Cheers!<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-48803402186363384762014-06-27T13:44:00.000-07:002014-09-25T11:10:51.865-07:00Are You a Tabaholic?<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/08/physics_of_pass.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PD5oXzgdk3Q/U63HqLXREII/AAAAAAAACPU/_GKijZdAH_k/s1600/Kool-aid.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathy Sierra, 2005 click to read more</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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Someone recently implied, quite publicly, that Tableau users are 'dumb'. I'm not even going to provide the link to the interview because this type of nonsense marketing is becoming more common. Get quoted saying something negative about Tableau and hopefully you'll get people to check out your product. Is that really 'smart' marketing?<br />
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Kathy Sierra wrote about this phenomenon a while back:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">
You don't really have passionate users until someone starts accusing them of "drinking the koolaid." You might have happy users, even loyal users, but it's the truly passionate that piss off others enough to motivate them to say something. Where there is passion, there is always anti-passion... or rather passion in the hate dimension.
If you create passionate users, you have to expect passionate detractors. You should welcome their appearance in blogs, forums, and user groups. It means you've arrived. Forget the tipping point--if you want to measure passion, look for the koolaid point.</blockquote>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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Personally, I don't mind being referred to as dumb. I love being underestimated - it happens to me all the time because I'm a little odd. It's my secret weapon. 'Promise a ham sandwich and deliver roast pig' (Joss Whedon reference for you diehard browncoats). Tableau enables me to do this, with all the trimmings.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">10 Signs You Too Are TabAddicted</span><br />
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<ol>
<li>You use the word 'viz' in real world conversations. For example, talking to family and friends about Game of Thrones. "Yeah, the red wedding was awesome; I did a viz about it". Conversation dies.
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</li>
<li>You have Tableau friends you have never met in the real world.
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</li>
<li>You can't read the paper without being 'viz' inspired and heading to your computer to hunt down data on the subject.
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</li>
<li>When asked for help by a colleague, you say "Check out my blog, I did a post about that" and you know you sound like a dork the instant the words leave your mouth.
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</li>
<li>It's 7 o'clock and you haven't left your desk all day, but your Tableau workbook has 56 tabs of visualizations, your eyeballs look like swirling lollipops and you look around to high-five someone, but everyone else has gone home like normal people.
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</li>
<li>You use Tableau-isms, such as Tablites, Tableaudown, and Tablites. Paul.<br />
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</li>
<li>You refer to other Tableau users by their twitter handles, eg. @russiansphinx, @datablick, @datapscientist.
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</li>
<li>You dream of charts IN COLOR.
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</li>
<li>You have nightmares of being chased by pac-man-like exploding pie charts.
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</li>
<li>Your spouse has informed you that he/she will smother you in your sleep if you go near your computer during the next holiday.
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The remedy?</span><br />
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Sorry, I don't have one. Shouldn't everyone be so lucky to have a tool that makes them kick-ass and obsessively in love with their work?<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-32515906868592619612014-05-12T17:19:00.002-07:002014-05-16T08:52:22.413-07:00Finishing Touches to Avoid Clickin' Confusion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PybDyKpsPk4/U26to3dIqXI/AAAAAAAACKs/zEm6DbRZwnI/s1600/4-18-2013+11-22-20+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PybDyKpsPk4/U26to3dIqXI/AAAAAAAACKs/zEm6DbRZwnI/s1600/4-18-2013+11-22-20+AM.jpg" height="306" width="640" /></a></div>
How often do you find users get confused clicking around on your viz? Surprisingly, a lot, right? You think it's fairly simple, just click to filter. But most people double-click. Telling everyone not to double-click is pointless. So they double click and zoom in on a chart and are completely baffled as to how to get out of it (it's not entirely intuitive). Or they click on a chart that doesn't zoom, but it highlights and dims all the other values (which you don't want).<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2U4H3T8lwg/U26xbiLjRTI/AAAAAAAACK8/z7tDZMSFkIk/s1600/5-10-2014+3-44-24+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2U4H3T8lwg/U26xbiLjRTI/AAAAAAAACK8/z7tDZMSFkIk/s1600/5-10-2014+3-44-24+PM.png" height="74" width="320" /></a><br />
Here's a very simple solution. There's probably a better option, but this is quick. Float a text box over your chart. Yup,that simple. I put a period in the text box so that it sizes - and will change the font color to match the chart background..<br />
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But what if you want them to be able to click on a chart to filter, but not have it zoom? Create a dual axis chart using symbol and bar, then put a text box over the bars. Click the circles to filter on the quarter. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">How To?</span><br />
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This trick uses <a href="http://drawingwithnumbers.artisart.org/older-but-still-useful-conditional-formatting/" target="_blank">Jonathan Drummey's 0.0 field </a>- create a calculated field with the value "0.0". The axis for the 0.0 field is fixed to make the shapes appear at the top of the chart.<br />
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Start: -1.0<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mO7MAV7Q-2A/U3AcouLUSRI/AAAAAAAACLM/R2FkJI0fgtA/s1600/5-11-2014+5-55-08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mO7MAV7Q-2A/U3AcouLUSRI/AAAAAAAACLM/R2FkJI0fgtA/s1600/5-11-2014+5-55-08+PM.png" /></a>For the shape, I used a radio icon and I don't know where I got it - I think it was part of Snagit's stamps, but you could also try some of these at <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/05/free-web-ui-resources/" target="_blank">Mashable</a>.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdSFlnX4un4/U3AdzgA1TjI/AAAAAAAACLU/qxvCOHkBOKw/s1600/5-11-2014+6-00-39+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdSFlnX4un4/U3AdzgA1TjI/AAAAAAAACLU/qxvCOHkBOKw/s1600/5-11-2014+6-00-39+PM.png" height="387" width="400" /></a><br />
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To ensure that the bars don't overlap the circles, I've added a distribution reference band, set for 120% of Maximum [Sales]. Set the label to none as well as the line and fill. The text box from the chart above covers this area.<br />
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The user can still double click on the radio buttons and cause double clicking chaos, but it'll be less likely.<br />
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I should note that the zoom controls are set to 'hide', but the ability to double-click zoom is still there.<br />
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In the help view on the map I've put instructions on how to re-set both the map and a chart.<br />
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Let me know if any of you have tricks on this one that will help users be less confused. Cheers!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-54176564581509311572014-04-28T10:43:00.001-07:002015-03-05T14:16:04.398-08:00Steal and Nod<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KeHOZkNnDQ/U0b1jZaMJhI/AAAAAAAACHA/5NDHGjTUi1M/s1600/dali7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KeHOZkNnDQ/U0b1jZaMJhI/AAAAAAAACHA/5NDHGjTUi1M/s1600/dali7.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ MASON COOLEY</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>To better understand technique, many art students will at some time be given the task of replicating the masters. It's a great way to learn and is useful for learning dashboard design in Tableau as well.<br />
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The Tableau Public community share an incredible amount of tips and how-to's as well as some amazingly innovative and clever tricks. A lot of people I talk to don't realize that you can download most of the workbooks people have posted (just look for the download note on the bottom right of the viz) and that the author knows that their work is out there for all to see and have graciously agreed to share it with you. You can open the workbook and look behind the curtain to see how they worked their magic. It's not considered stealing, so long as you give credit (the nod).<br />
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So next time you see a viz of the day or a blog post with a cool viz, download it and try to replicate it with your data. It's a great exercise - you will find that your learning grows in leaps and bounds this way. I think we all learn something much better when we've struggled with it, rather than just having someone show or tell us how.<br />
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A perfect resource for this is <a href="http://www.alansmitheepresents.org/2013/07/team-geiger-rides-again.html" target="_blank">Alan Smithee's 'Team Geiger' workbook</a>, there's a ton of charts to replicate. Another cool tool is <a href="http://drawingwithnumbers.artisart.org/older-but-still-useful-conditional-formatting/" target="_blank">Jonathan Drummey's Conditional Formatting workbook</a> - some of these tricks are no longer necessary with version 8, but there's many I still use. There's so many more I could recommend - the list is getting too long - so check out <a href="http://healthintelligence.drupalgardens.com/content/resources/data-and-visualization-sites" target="_blank">Ramon Martinez's site</a> for an exhaustive list of Tableau sites and data viz resources.<br />
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For dataviz inspiration (outside the Tableau community), check out <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/arnicas/" target="_blank">Lynn Cherney's Pinterest</a> - she has some amazing resources on there. And then there's <a href="http://www.periscopic.com/" target="_blank">Periscopic</a> - I have lost whole Saturday's on that site. Plus, they did a beautiful project on the <a href="http://www.watershed-watch.org/fraser-basin-livemap/#Water" target="_blank">Fraser River Basin</a>, which is in my backyard.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_F4t1n5ior8/U1MMBI5-r-I/AAAAAAAACI8/44tGlliDONY/s1600/4-19-2014+4-50-49+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_F4t1n5ior8/U1MMBI5-r-I/AAAAAAAACI8/44tGlliDONY/s1600/4-19-2014+4-50-49+PM.png" height="320" width="103" /></a>Another great inspiration resource is web design, especially for UI. One of my favorites, <a href="http://abduzeedo.com/" target="_blank">Abduzeedo</a>, posted a <a href="http://abduzeedo.com/ui-design-analytics?utm_content=bufferc631d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">great collection of analytics design</a> that are pretty cool. For the most part, these types of designs would never fly in the office (which is sad), but you could sneak some of the design elements in slowly and eventually build up acceptance. For some reason, this kind of design is considered great for the web, but in the office the standard is a pivot table. Different needs I guess. I do think Tableau is the perfect tool to bridge this gap. UI design is just one part of making data sensical, seeable and usable, but it's pretty important.<br />
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I've replicated a couple of the dashboards - well, as close as I could - and the exercise was well worth it. These are color combinations I would never have thought of using. I also don't get the attachment to donuts, but they work well here. Mostly though, the exercise was one of focusing on the little things - borders, shades - that are easy to ignore but do finish the work off nicely.<br />
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This one is by <a href="https://dribbble.com/shots/1423171-Some-Analytics?list=highlights" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Cosmin Capitanu</span></a>. I just love the color combinations and the pop-up for the max items. I couldn't think of a way to do this, but I'm sure there's some clever monkey out there that could. If anyone does come up with something, please let me know. My colors aren't an exact match, but they're close and I do like the combination.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CN64uZ-iqEQ/U1L7EaB8CRI/AAAAAAAACIk/g8jhNQpLLCM/s1600/Cosmin+Capitanu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CN64uZ-iqEQ/U1L7EaB8CRI/AAAAAAAACIk/g8jhNQpLLCM/s1600/Cosmin+Capitanu.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a>This of course is dummy data, so it's hard to get the logic of interplay. The bottom chart would not work well with real data as you never know what would get hidden, so I made it a stacked filled chart instead.<br />
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To get the axis to provide room for text on the bottom two charts, I used <a href="http://drawingwithnumbers.artisart.org/wiki/tableau/tricks-miscellaneous-techniques/" target="_blank">Jonathan Drummey's</a> trick of adding an invisible reference band to the chart - setting it to 40% of Total and not showing the value or line or fill.<br />
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To place the total pageviews text on the bottom chart, I used <a href="http://drawingwithnumbers.artisart.org/older-but-still-useful-conditional-formatting/" target="_blank">Jonathan's 0.0 conditional formatting</a> trick. I really like the use of shading and the background in this one - the free background image came from <a href="http://www.psdking.eu/548/15-free-blurred-backgrounds.html" target="_blank">PsdKing</a> and I placed a blank black text box behind the charts and in front of the image to get the same depth feel.<br />
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The hardest part was getting everything to align - I'm hoping <span style="font-size: x-large;">Snap-to-Grid</span> becomes part of Tableau soon. <wink> <wink>.<br />
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This dashboard by <a href="https://dribbble.com/shots/893499-Stats-Elements-Free-Fireworks-PNG" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">David Christian</span></a> is a great combination of color - orange and black usually doesn't look so cool unless it's halloween. David made this for mobile, but I was lazy and made a larger dashboard (it's a lot of fiddling for a small space).<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--6swu3uNoGw/U1MK23dtqRI/AAAAAAAACI0/OtYTBPOlZ40/s1600/4-19-2014+4-44-36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--6swu3uNoGw/U1MK23dtqRI/AAAAAAAACI0/OtYTBPOlZ40/s1600/4-19-2014+4-44-36+PM.png" height="320" width="193" /></a>I've used the superstore sample data here and didn't add too much interactivity, but could see where the option of selecting the different donuts to present the results in the charts below, would be a nice feature. Again, I was lazy.<br />
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About the donuts... they seem to be quite trendy don't they? Did you notice that they appear prominently on almost all of these dashboards? I think in most cases it's because they provide a nice design touch rather than are useful. Yes, you can make donut charts in Tableau; <a href="https://www.interworks.com/blogs/tmccullough/2014/03/06/tableau-cookbook-donut-charts" target="_blank">Tom Cullen at Interworks</a> provides detailed instructions. Again, I took the lazy route and placed a black circle image over top. Lots of nudging, and I wouldn't do this in the real world, but for this exercise it was good enough.<br />
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I also drew the little doodads below the donuts in Snagit, but you can make them quickly in PowerPoint - draw the shape, right click > Save as Picture.<br />
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I do hope you'll give this exercise a shot and discover how much detail these designers put into their work. Remember - you can download any of these workbooks to see how they were made. Cheers!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-21546863004020102152014-04-18T14:07:00.000-07:002015-03-05T14:16:35.430-08:00Why So Blue?<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/02/04/268981803/beck-on-morning-phase-the-all-songs-considered-interview#playlist" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y56VryITjM0/UzTJTf07YwI/AAAAAAAACFs/AVDrd6wttMs/s320/beck-peter-hapak-cdfef6850f781bc7f36402bd823f6f8387105882-s40-c85.jpg" /></a>I don't know if you've noticed, but I love blue.</div>
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In the olden days, before the internet and according to my son, when I lived in a cave and cooked over a pit with the newly discovered fire, we did all our charts in shades of grey. Because only the execs had color printers. As a result, people were so excited to create some colorful reports for the big giant heads that things got a little out of control. Some of the reports were so horrific in color, that I think they may have caused color blindness.<br />
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As a result, when I was asked to use color, I used blue. Blue is a reasonable choice - almost everyone likes blue - both men and women, and it's associated with calm and clarity. It doesn't conflict with other colors or make a statement. Also, if someone chooses to print your blueful report on a black and white printer, you can pretty much trust the shades of grey that will come out.<br />
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Then there's color combining. I'm not very good at that and find it especially difficult when I'm to use brand colors. Things can quickly get out of control when you are trying to use color to imply significance or range and then have to add 2 or 3 other colors that have are not responsible for anything other than making the brand recognizable. Somehow, you have to let the reader know that one color means good or bad, but the orange chart over here is orange because we like orange, even though both charts represent the measure sales. Same goes for the pink trend chart - we like pink too.<br />
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I'd suggest that if you do use a lot of colors - then use one dark color (blue or black) as your indicator/highlight/alert throughout the whole dashboard and stay away from diverging colors on the rest of the dash. That is, unless you are good at color and enjoy the challenge.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/was-vincent-van-gogh-color-blind-it-sure-looks-like-it-27576085/?no-ist" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/08_20_2012_color-vision-van-gogh.jpg" height="259" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to read Smithsonian post (image on right is color blind simulated)</td></tr>
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I'm fascinated by color blind people - I can't image the world that they see. I recently read this post regarding the possibility that Van Gogh was color blind. The image on the right is what they think he might have been seeing.<br />
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Isn't that amazing? I find the original deeper and richer and wondered if his other pieces would look so different.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KlS0lKQRZQ4/U0d7hhdhZqI/AAAAAAAACHQ/d07ryuxTs6Q/s1600/Red_vineyards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KlS0lKQRZQ4/U0d7hhdhZqI/AAAAAAAACHQ/d07ryuxTs6Q/s1600/Red_vineyards.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a>Can you imagine this sunlit harvest without red? It twists my brain trying to figure out what someone would be seeing that would translate into this.<br />
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Someone needs to invent color blindness glasses.<br />
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You can load images into this color blindness checker by<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b style="color: #515151; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://asada.tukusi.ne.jp/cvsconv/" target="_blank">Kazunori Asada</a> </b><span style="line-height: 22px;">that was used to produce the image above. This is incredibly handy for dashboarding. You can take an image of your dashboard and test if it still makes logical sense to a color blind person.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">I decided to look at some map options for diverging colors, to see how they might look to color blind people. Here's some standard diverging pallets and what they would look like to a person with color blindness. Note: the most common types are protanopia and deuteropia (approx. 5-8% men).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YLGYNPJv0cM/U0eK1almwfI/AAAAAAAACHw/PwbaFj8iub8/s1600/MAP+colors.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YLGYNPJv0cM/U0eK1almwfI/AAAAAAAACHw/PwbaFj8iub8/s1600/MAP+colors.png" /></a></span></div>
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For the most common types of color blindness, red and green result in golden greeny browns and yellows. For me, the most disappointing is the temperature (blue/green/yellow/red) color palette. It really loses it's effectiveness under all lenses. I like what happens under the tritanopia lens, but the red is a bit startling. I don't dislike any of thse color combo's but they aren't what I would have expected if I was using the these combos.<br />
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Here's what happens with blues (sequential and diverging):<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uf-PKnMjgyU/U0eQmKoRBMI/AAAAAAAACIE/iH_HpJX_dYc/s1600/WHY+blue+results.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uf-PKnMjgyU/U0eQmKoRBMI/AAAAAAAACIE/iH_HpJX_dYc/s1600/WHY+blue+results.png" /></a></div>
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Notice I left out the red? It seems that there's not much point if it just turns into the same color as green and red has such a strong association with 'bad' or 'look out' that I rarely use it. And I'll probably never use it to make something stand out again after seeing this. I do like what happens with the gold/blue and green/blue diverging and will consider using those in the future.<br />
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What makes me blue? When my work gets dismissed as 'pretty'.<br />
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I once had a badboss who regularly commented in meetings that once the dashboard was finished (in 6-8 months because this was a stack BI department), "...we'll give it to Kelly to make it pretty." My passive-aggressive response? "Just make it blue."<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-88305801163886148012014-04-04T20:00:00.000-07:002015-03-05T14:19:07.989-08:005 Tips to Good Vizzin'<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S3qdbUQ2XSw/Ug2SQXp5oJI/AAAAAAAABpc/L6TxS1oUTyQ/s1600/if_you_think_you_have_the_answer.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S3qdbUQ2XSw/Ug2SQXp5oJI/AAAAAAAABpc/L6TxS1oUTyQ/s400/if_you_think_you_have_the_answer.gif" height="313" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Before Tableau, I made a lot of dashboards in Excel. It has been quite difficult to free myself from the constraints that Excel (or other standard tools) forced upon me when it came to storytelling with data. Let me explain.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">In the past, with other tools, I would envision the outcome first and work backwards. Often I would be specifically asked for a certain type of chart showing certain information; sometimes I would be asked to investigate a problem, but I would still jump to the type of chart(s) I needed first and then go about getting my data into the state needed to put it in those charts.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BKorP55Aqvg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;">If I was part of a committee or project it could be even worse - a dozen people drawing a dashboard on a whiteboard before anyone has even collected the data or had any understanding of data, analysis, or dashboard development. Disastrous. This video nails it - how many times have you felt like Anderson? That you're trying to explain that blue is not red.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;">Today, with Tableau, I go about it differently. I don't start with the assumption that I need a particular chart and I don't assume that I know exactly which variables to consider, but I have some hunches to start with.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;">It does get more complicated when you're building a dashboard that tells a story and isn't just a bunch of charts crammed together. Here's some basic, simple tips that hopefully will help.</span></span><br />
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1. Know Thy Audience</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OIZnlHuKibA/UXbsy32uo-I/AAAAAAAABGY/eyqz2cC1NW4/s1600/Marx.png" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Who needs to know the answer to the problem? Just the VP? Or will others need to use what you've built to make or track changes? Don't try to just impress the VP and forget that he/she will be sending this to others if she/he finds it useful. Will it help them?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How will they use what you build? Laptop, mobile, live presentation? How are they used to getting information? If it's been static, printed reports, you will need to start slow and do a lot of handholding.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Keep it simple. Less is more. Is your audience used to dashboards or just seeing one chart?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Are they distrustful of anything other than tables of numbers? Will they want to see all the data? You could set up a dashboard that explains how to extract the data, providing them with basically a pivot table and multitudes of filters. Also, remember to include an "About the Data" dashboard where you provide all the details about the source, extraction, inclusions/exclusions, calculations, and definitions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Know Thy Data</span></span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WhV8m6qGBM/UaJuayRx1qI/AAAAAAAABQQ/KkAY0Hl3ELA/s1600/freqtbl.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WhV8m6qGBM/UaJuayRx1qI/AAAAAAAABQQ/KkAY0Hl3ELA/s1600/freqtbl.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WhV8m6qGBM/UaJuayRx1qI/AAAAAAAABQQ/KkAY0Hl3ELA/s1600/freqtbl.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U-MG0WHsRQw/UmnodBJiI8I/AAAAAAAABw8/YIpLHiUhqW0/s1600/diehard4+trovata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAE1WMj7bWk/UXbszFSzBYI/AAAAAAAABGc/zFWLyMg-8Mw/s1600/Einstein.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a><br />
Get in, get dirty with your data. Analyze the hell out of it. Understand the relationships between all your fields. Deal with your nulls - know where they are. Make a frequency table of all your numeric fields. Know what all the categories are in your dimensions. Replicate existing tables to test your results. Test your new calculations - make sure they behave properly when filtered or aggregated.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You need to know and understand your data's history. Where did it come from, what's the work process behind it, who and when is it entered, what does it include, what does it exclude? If you wrote the query that's great (don't forget to document), but if you didn't, you need to know all the details about it.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">3. Preguntas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U-MG0WHsRQw/UmnodBJiI8I/AAAAAAAABw8/YIpLHiUhqW0/s320/diehard4+trovata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U-MG0WHsRQw/UmnodBJiI8I/AAAAAAAABw8/YIpLHiUhqW0/s320/diehard4+trovata.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Start with What and keep asking Why. Exhaust your curiosity. You may not use all of the charts that you create in this exercise, but you will have all the ammunition that you need to put the story together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Put your questions in the Title of your views (charts and tables), this will help arrange the story when you put the charts on your dashboard. You can clean them up when you are finalizing the dashboard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember your audience - what would be important to them? What questions will each chart illicit from them?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAE1WMj7bWk/UXbszFSzBYI/AAAAAAAABGc/zFWLyMg-8Mw/s1600/Einstein.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAE1WMj7bWk/UXbszFSzBYI/AAAAAAAABGc/zFWLyMg-8Mw/s1600/Einstein.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">4. Talk, Talk, Talk</span></div>
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</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's 3 talks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When building your dashboard, think in 3s. Three charts, 3 filters, 3 sections, 3 colors, 3 fonts, etc. Less is great, but try not to go over 3 unless there is good reason to do so. This is where you begin; until your audience gets accustomed to the style and interactivity, this is the simplest approach. It's a suggestion - not a rule.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t66H3qFZ4wQ/UgtaojzWv5I/AAAAAAAABoc/yPpxT1T4hxo/s320/2013-08-14+3-15-03+AM.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t66H3qFZ4wQ/UgtaojzWv5I/AAAAAAAABoc/yPpxT1T4hxo/s320/2013-08-14+3-15-03+AM.gif" height="385" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Don't try to WOW them with everything, you will only overwhelm them. Initially, you only have a few seconds to draw them in. If people are overwhelmed or confused they are very likely to close your report in a few seconds and never go back to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once your audience gets more savvy with this reporting style, you can build more complex dashboards.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Imagine your dashboard is in an elevator with the CEO and it has three sentences to back up it's story.</span> So make sure your charts are related - start high level, then go to detail - or show 3 key measures that impact something.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Simple is hard. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Especially when you're in the thick of it. It's much easier to write a run-on sentence than it is to use proper grammar. It's easier to make 75 charts and stick them in a PowerPoint deck than it is to build a smart, clean, interactive dashboard. Remember this: <span style="font-size: x-large;">Complexity is often used as an excuse for </span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Obfuscation</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span> Someone else may think that you couldn't get to simplicity and not trust in your results.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Shuddup Already</span></div>
<div>
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3YpUPt8hqcc/UXbszKEtoLI/AAAAAAAABGg/7yGCgDJ4YRQ/s1600/Twain.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3YpUPt8hqcc/UXbszKEtoLI/AAAAAAAABGg/7yGCgDJ4YRQ/s1600/Twain.png" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Take some time away from your dashboard. At least overnight. Then when you open it up the next day, try to look at it from a bit of distance. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Look at the chart that grabs your attention first. Is this the chart you want the user to focus on first? Does the next chart relate logically?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Is it screaming at you? Start to take away stuff. Unbold, make white space, calm the whole thing down.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Did it seem like I was screaming at you about simplicity? Sorry about that. I'll shuddup now. Happy vizzing!</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-56661805261348395772014-02-08T21:21:00.000-08:002014-02-27T14:39:10.269-08:00Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/23/alberta-transitionionsenvironmentalregulationtoindustrybackedgro.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0hMt9sd6UQg/Uvacl6vWW9I/AAAAAAAACCw/_th49hXzNNU/s1600/src.adapt.960.high.1388369400699.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
There's a lot of news about the Keystone Pipeline lately. Will Obama give the go ahead or not? Man, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. This is not a simple black and white issue. Disclaimer: I'm a Canadian born in Northern Alberta and I have a lot of family members who work in the oil and gas industry or who benefit from it. I'm not for or against the Keystone Pipeline, I'm seriously conflicted.<br />
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If you want to learn more about this issue, check out Leslie Young's series on <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/571494/introduction-37-years-of-oil-spills-in-alberta/" target="_blank">Global News</a>. She's done a heck of a job getting this data and the series isn't biased. Another good source is the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/31/keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-everything-you-need-to-know" target="_blank">Guardian</a> (always best to go to Britain for unbiased North American news) or our beloved <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/world/story/1.1991120" target="_blank">David Suzuki</a> (who is one of the most credible environmental activists on the planet).<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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I've vizzed the data Leslie provided, which only contains spills in Alberta
and doesn't include some of the biggest pipelines that fall under
Federal jurisdiction. The results are disconcerting to say the least.<br />
<br />
Take note of the spills by Licensee. If you click on a company's name,
particularly one of the larger organizations (like BP), you'll notice
that they have very few spills recorded since 2008. I find this curious
and wonder if it isn't because they are sub-contracting for liability
reasons, or if they have replaced segments of older pipes, or their
spills would be under Federal jurisdiction and not reported here, or...?<br />
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<script type='text/javascript' src='http://public.tableausoftware.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'></script><div class='tableauPlaceholder' style='width: 1024px; height: 969px;'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Alberta Oil ' src='http://public.tableausoftware.com/static/images/Al/AlbertaOil/AlbertaOil/1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' width='1024' height='969' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='http%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableausoftware.com%2F' /> <param name='site_root' value='' /><param name='name' value='AlbertaOil/AlbertaOil' /><param name='tabs' value='no' /><param name='toolbar' value='yes' /><param name='static_image' value='http://public.tableausoftware.com/static/images/Al/AlbertaOil/AlbertaOil/1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /></object></div><div style='width:1024px;height:22px;padding:0px 10px 0px 0px;color:black;font:normal 8pt verdana,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;'><div style='float:right; padding-right:8px;'><a href='http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/about-tableau-products?ref=http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/AlbertaOil/AlbertaOil' target='_blank'>Learn About Tableau</a></div></div>
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<br />
The US needs the oil and Canada is going to provide it to someone, if not the US then China (and that deal is very scary). Canada's pretty much put all of it's economic interest in oil, and when that's gone, I'm sure we'll sell the water. Well, more of it.<br />
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Tar Sands oil is dirty, dirty oil (crude bitumen). A spill of this stuff has serious environmental impact (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mayflower_oil_spill" target="_blank">Mayflower</a>). And it seems to get out of the pipes frequently, despite Canada's strong environmental and safety regulations. Oh, and thanks to a couple of <a href="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2012/C-38%20factsheet.pdf" target="_blank">Omni-bills</a> in 2012 and 2013, we no longer have those strong regulations.<br />
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Our government has made a mockery of the Kyoto agreement; seems we're no longer concerned with emissions control or climate change. We're all culpable in this one (I'm presently enjoying strawberries trucked in from lord knows where); we're all heavily dependent on oil and unless we push our governments to invest in alternate fuel options, well, Canada will keep digging up the tar sands until it's all gone. We'll have rolled over the tipping point by then.<br />
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One argument is that the US doesn't want to be dependent on foreign oil or 'unethical' oil (nee Venezuela). This is a red herring. Canada's a foreign country to the US and if we look too closely at what will be happening up north, I'm sure it won't look too ethical either. Besides, how ethical is it for us to raise the temperature of the planet for our kids when we know of ways to avoid it?<br />
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I believe this deal will go through. Why? Follow the money. Always follow the money. There's a huge amount of money to be made and it's cheaper to pipe than ship by rail or truck (by about $30 a barrel). You'll hear about how dangerous train shipping is due to derailments, but the thing about train spills is that the volume is minimal compared to what leaks out of pipes. However, more trains full of gunk rolling through our towns and cities isn't very appealing either.<br />
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If I was American I'd be most concerned about the pipe leaks. They often don't get noticed until there's a lot of gunk visible. And given the increase in fracking in the last few years, I'd be worried about how much of this gunk could get into <a href="http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/a-mysterious-oil-spill-in-cold-lake-alberta-cant-stop-wont-stop" target="_blank">water systems</a> without being noticed (it sinks).<br />
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There isn't a good option here. I feel we've got ourselves in a pickle.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5193919404765892213.post-80463458494427955492014-01-23T23:56:00.000-08:002014-01-23T23:56:32.827-08:00Dilbert Tweets<script src="http://public.tableausoftware.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
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<a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-05-16/" target="_blank">Dilbert</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com