Unit 5

Tableau Architecture:
Tableau has a highly scalable, n-tier client-server architecture that serves mobile clients, web clients, and
desktop-installed software.

Tableau Desktop is the authoring and publishing tool that is used to create shared views on Tableau Server.

Tableau Server is an enterprise-class business analytics platform to level up thousands of clients. Tableau
Server presents powerful mobile- and browser-based analytics and workings among a company’s presented
data strategy and security protocols.

Tableau Server Architecture

Data Layer

One of the basic characteristics of Tableau is to support your choice of data architecture. Tableau does not
need your data to be stocked in any single system, proprietary or otherwise. Nearly all companies have a
heterogeneous data environment, data warehouses live alongside databases and data cubes and flat files,
such as Excel, are still very much in use. You do not have to get the entire data in memory until you choose to
do so. If your existing data platforms are fast and scalable, then Tableau permits you to directly control your
investment by utilizing the power of the database to respond to problems. If this is not the case, then Tableau
provides simple options to improve your data to be fast and responsive with your fast in-memory data engine.

Data Connectors

It consists of a number of optimized data connectors for databases. There are also common open database
connectivity (ODBC) connectors designed for any system without a native connector. Tableau offers two
modes in support of interacting with data— live connection or in-memory. Clients can switch between alive and
in-memory connections as they desire.

Live Connection

The data connectors of Tableau control your available data infrastructure by transferring
dynamic SQL or MDX statements directly to the source database, except for importing all data. If you have
provided a quick and analytics-optimized database, such as Vertica, then you will get the advantages of that
investment by connecting live to your data. This leaves the detailed data in the source system and sends the
aggregate outcomes of the query to Tableau. In addition, this means that Tableau can effectively utilize
unlimited amounts of data—in fact, Tableau is the front-end analytics client to several of the largest databases
in the world. Tableau optimizes every connector to receive the advantage of the unique characteristics of every
data source.

In-memory

Tableau presents a fast, in-memory data engine to optimize for analytics. You can connect to your data and
after that, with one click, extract your data to get it in-memory in Tableau. Tableau’s data engine entirely
consumes your complete system to attain fast answers to queries on millions of rows of data on commodity
hardware. Since the data engine can use disk storage, as well as RAM and cache memory, it is not confined to
the quantity of memory on a system. It is not essential that an entire dataset be loaded into memory to attain its
performance objectives.

Tableau Server Components

Now, let us take a look at the components of Tableau Server in this section:

 Application Server: The application server handles login processes, permission management,
authentications, and authorizations.
 VizQL Server: The VizQL server is utilized to turn the data source’s queries into visuals.
 Data Server: The data server facilitates metadata administration, driver deployment, and extract
management by centralizing them.
 Backgrounder: The backgrounder controls background processes and refreshes scheduled
extracts.
 Gateway or Load Balancer: A gateway is a type of web server that allows clients to connect with
the components of Tableau Server by routing their requests over HTTP.
 Clients (Web Browsers and Mobile Apps): Mobile browsers and applications may be used to
interactively see the server dashboards. Tableau Server is supported by web browsers such as
Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
 Clients (Tableau Desktop): Tableau Desktop is a business analytics solution that allows users to
access a variety of data sources and create visuals.
Advantages of Tableau Server

 Scales up: Is multi-threaded

 Scales out: Is multi-process enabled
 Provides integrated clustering
 Supports high availability
 Is secure
 Runs on both physical and virtual machines

Features of Tableau

Tableau is considered as one of the best Business Intelligence and data visualization tools and has managed
to top the charts quite a few times since its launch. The most important quality of this tool is that it makes
organizing, managing, visualizing and understanding data extremely easy for its users.

Data can be as complex and mysterious as we can imagine and requires proper tools to extract meaning from
it. Such tools enable us to dig deep into the data so that we can discover patterns and get meaningful
insights. Tableau provides us with a set of tools that equip us to do data discovery, data visualization and
insight sharing at a detailed level.

One interesting aspect of Tableau that has been a key player in making it everyone’s favorite BI tool, is its
easy drag-and-drop functionality. You do not need to come from a technical background or know a lot of
coding to be able to work on Tableau. You can easily master this tool by understanding and learning its UI-
based features and functionalities to create dashboards and analyze reports.
Given below are the top features of Tableau:

1. Tableau Dashboard
Tableau Dashboards provide a wholesome view of your data by the means of visualizations, visual objects,
text, etc. Dashboards are very informative as they can present data in the form of stories, enable the addition of
multiple views and objects, provide a variety of layouts and formats, enable the users to deploy suitable filters.
You even have the option to copy a dashboard or its specific elements from one workbook to another easily.

2. Collaboration and Sharing

Tableau provides convenient options to collaborate with other users and instantly share data in the form of
visualizations, sheets, dashboards, etc. in real-time. It allows you to securely share data from various data
sources such as on-premise, on-cloud, hybrid, etc. Instant and easy collaboration and data sharing help in
getting quick reviews or feedback on the data leading to a better overall analysis of it.

3. Live and In-memory Data

Tableau ensures connectivity to both live data sources or data extraction from external data sources as in-
memory data. This gives the user the flexibility to use data from more than one type of data source without any
restrictions. You can use data directly from the data source by establishing live data connections or keep
that data in-memory by extracting data from a data source as per their requirement. Tableau provides
additional features to support data connectivity such as automatic extract refreshes, notifying the user upon a
live connection fail, etc.

4. Data Sources in Tableau

Tableau offers a myriad of data source options you can connect to and fetch data from. Data sources ranging
from on-premise files, spreadsheets, relational databases, non-relational databases, data warehouses, big
data, to on-cloud data are all available on Tableau. One can easily establish a secure connection to any of
the data sources from Tableau and use that data along with data from other sources to create a combinatorial
view of data in the form of visualizations. Tableau also supports different kinds of data connectors such as
Presto, MemSQL, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Cloudera, Hadoop, Amazon Athena, Salesforce, SQL
Server, Dropbox and many more.

5. Advanced Visualizations (Chart Types)

One of the key features of Tableau and the one that got its popularity is its wide range of visualizations. In
Tableau, you can make visualizations as basic as a:
 Bar chart
 Pie chart
and as advanced as a:
 Histogram
 Gantt chart
 Bullet chart
 Motion chart
 Treemap
 Boxplot
and many more. You can select and create any kind of visualization easily by selecting the visualization type
from the Show Me tab.
6. Maps

Yet another important feature of Tableau is the map. Tableau has a lot of pre-installed information on maps
such as cities, postal codes, administrative boundaries, etc. This makes the maps created on Tableau very
detailed and informative. You can add different layers of geology on the map as per your requirements
and create informative maps in Tableau with your data. The different kinds of maps available in Tableau
are Heat map, Flow map, Choropleth maps, Point distribution map, etc.
7. Robust Security

Tableau takes special care of data and user security. It has a fool-proof security system based on
authentication and permission systems for data connections and user access. Tableau also gives you the
freedom to integrate with other security protocols such as Active Directory, Kerberos, etc. An important point to
note here is that Tableau practices row-level filtering which helps in keeping the data secure.

8. Mobile View
Tableau acknowledges the importance of mobile phones in today’s world and provides a mobile version of the
Tableau app. One can create their dashboards and reports in such a manner that it is also compatible with
mobile. Tableau has the option of creating customized mobile layouts for your dashboard specific to your
mobile device. The customization option gives the option for adding new phone layouts, interactive offline
previews, etc. Hence, the mobile view gives Tableau users a lot of flexibility and convenience in handling their
data on the go.

9. Ask Data
The Ask data feature of Tableau makes it even more favored by the users globally. This feature makes playing
with data just a matter of simple searches as we do on Google. You just need to type a query about your data
in natural language and Tableau will present you with the most relevant answers. The answers are not only in
the form of text but also as visuals. For instance, if what you searched for is already present in a bar graph,
the Ask data option will search and open the bar graph for you instantly. Such features make data more
accessible to users who can easily dig deep into data and find new insights and patterns.

10. Trend Lines and Predictive Analysis

Another extremely useful feature of Tableau is the use of time series and forecasting. Easy creation of trend
lines and forecasting is possible due to Tableau’s powerful backend and dynamic front end. You can easily get
data predictions such as a forecast or a trend line by simply selecting some options and drag-and-drop
operations using your concerned fields.

Miscellaneous Features of Tableau

Along with the list of key features that we just covered, Tableau is loaded with a lot of other
important as well as useful features listed below:
 Cross database join
 Nested sorting
 Drag-and-drop integration
 Data connectors
 Prep conductor
 Text editor
 Revision history
 Licensing views
 ETL refresh
 Web Data connector
 External service integration
 Split function
Features of Latest Tableau Version: Tableau 2019.4
As of now, Tableau 2019.4 is the latest version out on the roll. This version of Tableau brings
with it some new features. Have a look at the list of features included in the new Tableau 2019.4.

 Improved tables (Tables up to 50 columns, horizontal scrolling, sorting by dimensions and

measures)
 Webhooks support
 View recommendations
 Sandboxed extensions
 LinkedIn sales navigator connector
 Improved maps, activity feed, Ask data, SAP HANA connectors
 Tooltip editing in the browser

Downloading and Installing Tableau Public

1- Visit the URL https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/download on your web browser. Once the window opens,
enter your email id when asked, and click on the “Download the App” button.

2- The file will start downloading in “.exe” format. You can view the download progress on the bottom-left
corner of the tab.

3- Once the progress is 100 percent, open the file. Accept the terms and conditions by selecting the checklist
boxes and click on the “Install” button.
4- Once the installation is complete, open Tableau and start the screen of Tableau Public as shown below.

Downloading and Installing Tableau Desktop

1- Enter this URL https://www.tableau.com/products/desktop on your web browser.

2- Click on the “TRY NOW” button in the top-right corner of the website as shown below.

3- Once you click on the “TRY NOW” button, you will be redirected to a page that will ask you to feed in your
official email address. After filling in the email address, click on the “DOWNLOAD FREE TRIAL” button.
4- The latest version of Tableau Desktop will start downloading, and you will be able to view the download
progress in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

5- Once downloaded, open the file. Accept the terms and conditions, and click on the “Install” button.

6- A pop-up option will appear asking for the approval of the administrator to install the software. Click on
“YES” to approve and move further.

7- On approval, the installation will start. On the completion of the installation, open Tableau.

8- This is the final stage that asks for registration. Click on “Activate Tableau” and enter your license details or
credentials.

9- Click on “Start Trial Now” and wait for the registration process to complete.

10- Once it is completed, open the Tableau screen as shown below.

Tableau Data Source Connection
If you want to connect to a Data Source in Tableau there are many ways. In this session, we will take a glance
at Basic as well as advanced connection types.

Basic Connection
To examine your tableau data, firstly you have to connect Tableau to one or more data sources. A Tableau
data source can be as easy as an Excel workbook, or as elaborate as a SQL Server or Oracle data warehouse.
After connecting, the data fields become presented in the Data window on the left side of the workbook. This
connects to Tableau data sources tutorial explains the kinds of data supported and how to build and maintain a
basic connection.

Supported Data Sources

Tableau supports many tableau multiple data sources like multi-dimensional databases, SQL databases etc.

How to connect to a Tableau data source?

 To build views of your data, you must first connect Tableau to a data source.
 You can connect to any supported data source with the Connect to Data dialog box.
 Select Data > Connect to Data or press Ctrl + D on your keyboard. You can also select the Connect to
Data option on the start page.

In this connect to the data page, select the type of data you want to connect to and you will also select a saved
data connection (TDS files) open a Tableau Server Data Source.
A data source specific dialog box opens that allows you to complete the connection process.
To connect to tableau data in another way you have to import from a workbook. A workbook has several
worksheets, each of them can be attached to a different tableau multiple data sources. To import a connection
from a workbook click the Import from Workbook button at the bottom of the Select Saved Connection tab in
the Connect to Data dialog box.

Once the connection is set up the tableau data sources fields show on the left side of the workbook in the Data
window.

Connecting to a Custom SQL Query

Relational data sources you can connect to a specific query rather than the entire data source. This can be
useful when you know correctly the information you require and understand how to write SQL queries.

 Select Custom SQL in the connection dialog box.

 Type or paste the query into the text box. The button in the upper right corner of the text box opens a
larger editing window for more complex queries.
Only the suitable fields show in the Tableau Data window when you end with the connection.
If your SQL query indicates duplicate columns, you could get errors when you are trying to utilize one of the
columns in Tableau. This will also happen even the query is valid.

How to export database connection to Tableau

After connected to a Tableau data source now we have to export the connection data as an alternate route
which permits rapid connections without opening the connection dialog box.

If you frequently connect to the similar data source several times or if you have joined custom fields to the Data
window like calculated fields, and binned fields or added joined tables. For the following connections to that
source, use the alternate route or shortcut so that you don’t have to re-establish the custom fields.
 Step 1: Connect to your data
Learn all about the Start page and how to connect to your data.

Step 2: Drag and drop to take a first look

Get to know the Tableau workspace, learn the language of Tableau, and start
examining your data.

Step 3: Focus your results

Ask deeper questions and use additional tools to refine your views and gain insights
about your data.

Step 4: Explore your data geographically

Learn how to plot your data on a map to see if you can spot any trends.

Step 5: Drill down into the details

Drill down into the details of your data and learn how to create a Top filter.

Step 6: Build a dashboard to show your insights

Learn how to build and format a dashboard to display the visualizations you created.

Step 7: Build a story to present

Learn how to build and format a story to present your findings.

Step 8: Share your findings

Share your findings with your organization on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, or
share them with the world on Tableau Public.

The Tableau Interface: The Ribbon

The so-called “ribbon” is the top-most menu that you see on almost all software programs. In
this case, we have 10 different tabs on Tableau’s default ribbon:

 File
 Data
 Worksheet
 Dashboard
 Story
 Analysis
 Map
 Format
 Window
 Help
Let’s quickly go through each of them.

File

As with most programs, the File tab contains functionalities related to opening, closing, and
saving files:

If you would like to, you can also exit Tableau from here, but you don’t need to do that now –
we’re just getting started.

Data

Data, on the other hand, is the place in the Tableau interface where you will find functionalities
related to the data source you are using:
Here you can add a new data connection. For example, you may connect an SQL file. Further,
you can replace an existing one, or simply edit the data source of the worksheet you are
working with.

Worksheet

Next, we have the worksheet tab. It can be helpful when we want to create a new Tableau
sheet, hide or show a chart’s title, caption, summary, and so on.

We already have a new sheet (created using the little icon at the bottom left corner). You can do
the same thing from the worksheet tab as well. Such repetition is common for most programs.

Functionalities available in the ribbon can be accessed in other places of the Tableau interface.
In fact, you will rarely use the ribbon, but it is good to have an overview and be aware that these
functions are there as well.
Dashboard and Story

Next, we have the Dashboard and Story tabs, but we won’t dwell on them for too long. You can
learn more about them in our dedicated Tableau tutorials.

Analysis

The Analysis tab is where you can tweak your visualization in terms of labels, show figures as a
percentage of the total, add trend lines, legends, filters, and more.

Here, we have some interesting functionalities related to the way we perform our analysis and
some of the tools we’ll incorporate into it.
Map

‘Map’ is a tab that is helpful when we use Tableau’s geographic visualization capabilities. This is
one of the most powerful and impressive features the software has to offer, so chances are that
you will be using it soon.

Format

Through the Format tab, we adjust the way our visualization appears.

From here, we can modify its font, font size, axis, backgrounds, labels, size, and so much more.
 Window and Help

Window and Help are two of the standard tabs in Tableau’s interface that we find in most
programs as well. For this reason, we are not going to spend much time on them.

However, one thing we should mention is that Tableau Public has a nice and
open community full of users who will be able to help you and whose work you can look at if
needed:

All users of Tableau Public who save their work make it publicly available. Therefore, this can
be a useful place where you can search for a given issue you need help with and see what
comes up. For example, if you click on “Community” and search for “Geography”, you’ll be able
to see what work others have saved previously.

The Tableau Interface: The Toolbar

Next up, we have the Toolbar ribbon. Essentially, this is a row of buttons that will be useful
when conducting your data analysis. Some of the commands you’ll find here are:

 Show Start Page

 Undo and Redo
 New Data Source
 New Worksheet
 Clear Sheet

These are just some of the functionalities, however, so feel free to experiment as you go. Hover
over a button you’re curious about with your cursor and you’ll see its purpose, as well as a
handy shortcut you can access the functionality with more efficiency.

Show Start Page

The Show Start Page button will take you to – you guessed it – the start page in the Tableau
interface. You can open your most recent workbooks, as well as connect Tableau with sources
like Excel, or even integrate programming servers.

If you’ve just downloaded Tabeau, the Start page will be empty. Think of it as a blank canvas
you can fill in with all your fascinating data viz projects.
 This screen should be somewhat familiar to you as many other software programs use the
same convention – most notably, most of the Microsoft Office package, including Excel.

Undo and Redo

You’re probably already familiar with Undo and Redo. Most of the typical Windows
shortcuts can be used here as well. As you might already know, the shortcut for undo is Ctrl + Z.

Save

On the right, we have other useful buttons such as Save, which intuitively allows you to save the
progress of your work. It’s a very important command and we recommend using it liberally –
after all, you don’t want to lose your work.

New Data Source

Quite intuitively, clicking on New Data Source opens the Connect functionality:

This is practical if you’d like to connect Tableau with SQL and Python, for example, into your
current worksheet without having to go back to the Start page.

Other Toolbar Commands

The other buttons we have here are New Worksheet, Clear Sheet, Swap Rows and Columns,
and so on:

For now, it would be best if you simply gain an idea of how various objects are positioned within
the Tableau interface. For a more in-depth overview of the Toolbar, feel free to refer
to Tableau’s Workspace breakdown on their website.

The Tableau Interface: The Data and Analytics Panes

On the left side of Tableau’s screen, we have 2 vital panes – Data and Analytics.

Data

The Data pane is quite important: it shows us what data we’ve loaded, which Tableau then
classifies into 2 types:

 Dimensions
 Measures
 To put it slightly differently, this is a distinction between categorical and numerical data. The
data in the Dimensions field cannot be aggregated as it is qualitative in nature. Quite the
opposite, Measures can be aggregated and are quantitative in nature.

Analytics

Tableau is a very powerful tool for data science and its capabilities are all-embracing. The
Analytics pane is where you can add analytics objects to your worksheet. The pane is divided
into 3 parts:

 Summarize
 Model
 Custom

In this pane, you can add features such as reference lines, box plots, and forecasts to your
workspace.

The Tableau Interface: Shelves

Finally, here in the middle, we have 3 important sections, otherwise known as shelves:

 Pages
 Filters
 Marks

The Pages shelf (1) lets you break a view into a series of pages so you can better analyze how
a specific field affects the rest of the data in a view.

Meanwhile, we use Filters (2) when working with filters and customizing which features of the
current database you want to display or hide at a certain time.

Last but not least, the Marks shelf (3) contains functionalities related to coloring, size, labels,
and so on.

The Tableau Interface: The Workspace Area

The work area is where we’ll create our visualizations, dashboards, and stories, and this is one
way to create a chart:

You have certainly noticed that the Columns and Rows part of the sheet started showing us the
variables we’ve added to the workspace area:
Meanwhile, the Show Me button on the right allows us to adjust the type of visualization we use:

It is a very cool feature because Tableau tells us what types of visualizations we can choose
from. Not all charts will be available depending on the data we’re working with.

If you’d like to switch to a different chart, all you need to do is select the respective type and
Tableau makes the adjustment automatically.

The Tableau Interface: Next Steps

The Tableau interface allows you to navigate and quickly get the results you are looking for.
There’s more than what we’ve covered in our tutorial, however, due to the intuitive nature, you’ll
get the hang of the basic terminology in no time.

Tableau is a powerful tool that will get your analytics and visualization skills to the next level –
especially once you learn how to use it alongside programming languages such as SQL. It can
lead to a successful career as a data analyst or Tableau developer if that’s the area you’re
interested in.

What Is Tableau Used For and its advantages?

Tableau is a tool used for data analysis and data visualization. It is a powerful software suitable
for driving business intelligence and improving data storytelling skills. With Tableau, you can
analyze huge amounts of data without wasting time sorting through unnecessary information.
Moreover, extracting meaningful insights is made easier as the software eliminates the lengthy
steps of gathering and manually importing data. Because of Tableau’s easy-to-navigate
interface, loading datasets and spreadsheets is a simple process and you can even integrate
other programming tools such as SQL and Python.

The main reason people use Tableau is its data visualization features. You can create many
different types of charts, graphs, maps, tables, etc. By visualizing your data in a comprehensive,
aesthetically pleasing way, you further enhance the important information that you’ve
discovered. In addition, you can better present it to your company’s stakeholders, who are most
likely as well versed in data science as you are. Good visualizations make the data easier to
understand and you’ll only put forward the details that are truly valuable, rather than presenting
random noise.

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Tableau?

While Tableau is a very powerful tool for data analysis, it has its disadvantages such as poor
versioning, pricing, limited data preprocessing, as well as requiring coding know-how for
complex data analysis.
For starters, Tableau doesn’t offer support rollback for older versions. Essentially, revision
history is only possible if you’d have a newer version of the software.

That brings in the next disadvantage, which is its pricing. While Tableau is relatively affordable
compared to some of its competitors, it’s certainly not the cheapest. Most small companies
would be stretching their budget to incorporate it into their workflow, not including the staff
training required. Even for the average consumer, licensing can be pricey, especially if you’re a
beginner in data science. The good news is that there is an open-source version, called Tableau
Public, however, that has its limitations as well, so it all depends on your needs.

Every data scientist worth their salt knows how important data cleaning is. Tableau,
unfortunately, does not have many options, which is certainly a disadvantage. If you’re working
with unprocessed data, then you might need to resort to other software to clean it before you
can import it into Tableau.

And finally, if you want to take your data viz skills to the next level, you have to have some
programming knowledge – particularly in SQL. It is essential if you want to integrate the two
tools and analyze data from multiple sources.

Tableau - Bar Chart

A bar chart represents data in rectangular bars with the length of the bar proportional to the
value of the variable. Tableau automatically produces a bar chart when you drag a
dimension to the Row shelf and measure to the Column shelf.

Simple Bar Chart

Bar Chart with Color Range

Stacked Bar Chart

Tableau - Line Chart

In a line chart, a measure and a dimension are taken along the two
axes of the chart area. The pair of values for each observation
becomes a point and the joining of all these points create a line
showing the variation or relationship between the dimensions and
measures chosen.

Simple Line Chart

Multiple Measure Line Chart

Line Chart with Label

Each of the points making the line chart can be labeled to make the values of the measure
visible. In this case, drop another measure Profit Ratio into the labels pane in the Marks
card. Choose average as the aggregation and you will get the following chart showing the
labels.
 Tableau - Pie Chart
A pie chart represents data as slices of a circle with different sizes and colors. The slices are
labeled and the numbers corresponding to each slice is also represented in the chart. You
can select the pie chart option from the Marks card to create a pie chart.

Simple Pie Chart

Choose one dimension and one measure to create a simple pie chart.

Drill-Down Pie Chart

You can choose a dimension with hierarchy and as you go deeper into the hierarchy, the
chart changes reflect the level of the dimension chosen.
 Tableau - Crosstab
A crosstab chart in Tableau is also called a Text table, which shows the data in textual form.
The chart is made up of one or more dimensions and one or more measures. This chart can
also show various calculations on the values of the measure field such as running total,
percentage total, etc.

Simple Crosstab
Using the Sample-superstore, let's plan to get the amount of sales for each segment in each
region. You need to display this data for each year using the order dates available. To
achieve this objective, following are the steps.

Step 1 − Drag and drop the dimension order date to the columns shelf.

Step 2 − Drag and drop the dimensions region and segment to the rows shelf.

Step 3 − Pull the measure Sales to the labels Shelf under Marks.

The following chart appears which shows the Crosstab.

Crosstab - Color Encoded

You can get the values color encoded in the crosstab chart by dropping the measure field
into the Color shelf as shown in the following screenshot. This color coding shows the
strength of the color depending on the value of the measure. The larger values have a
darker shade than the lighter values.

Crosstab with Row Percentage

In addition to the color encoding, you can also get calculations applied to the values from
the measure. In the following example, we apply the calculation for finding the percentage
total of sales in each row instead of only the sales figures. For this, right-click on SUM
(Sales) present in the marks card and choose the option Add Table Calculation. Then,
choose the percent of total and summarize it as Table (Across).
 Tableau - Scatter Plot
As the name suggests, a scatter plot shows many points scattered in the Cartesian plane. It
is created by plotting values of numerical variables as X and Y coordinates in the Cartesian
plane. Tableau takes at least one measure in the Rows shelf and one measure in the
Columns shelf to create a scatter plot. However, we can add dimension fields to the scatter
plot which play a role in marking different colors for the already existing points in the
scatter graph.

Simple Scatter Plot

Using the Sample-superstore, let's aim to find the variation of sales and profit figures as the
two axes of the Cartesian plane is distributed according to their Sub-Category. To achieve
this objective, following are the steps.

Step 1 − Drag and drop the measure Sales to the Columns shelf.

Step 2 − Drag and drop the measure Profit to the Rows shelf.

Step 3 − Pull the dimension Sub-Category to the labels Shelf under Marks.

The following chart appears which shows how profit and sales is distributed across the Sub-
Category of products.

Drill-Down Scatter Plot

The same scatter plot can show different values when you choose a dimension with
hierarchy. In the following example, we expand the Sub-Category field to show the scatter
plot values for the Manufacturers.