Tableau as a Dashboard Platform
While recently at the Tableau User Conference, I wondered about the feasibility of using Tableau to produce ‘proper’ dashboards – that is, a dashboard with sparklines, and the right level of information, not just four revving gauges and a 3D pie chart.. I chose to (mostly) recreate the dashboard that I created in Excel for the Chandoo dashboard competition. Below is a screenshot of the result – you can click through to see the live dashboard with tool tips, filtering, and highlighting.
It was pretty easy to create – you can download the workbook if you have Tableau Public and see the elements that I used. The most difficult part was aligning everything. The ease of publishing it to the web, the interactivity that is possible, and the shallow learning curve (at least for a project like this) makes Tableau a winner for deploying corporate dashboards in my mind. Add to that the speed improvements and functionality that are coming up in Tableau 6.0, and I think you’ll begin to see a lot more Tableau deployed dashboards.
Dan Murray
Alex…this is nice work. Not easy to do and requires some talent. I’m sorry I didn’t take more time to seek you out and speak with you during the conference. I realize we were at the same table at least one morning but never really connected with an offline conversation. Keep up the good work!
Alex Kerin
Thanks Dan – I remember you at breakfast – maybe next year.
I meant to mention in the post that this is a proof of concept dashboard – i.e. it’s a bit too highly colored, and isn’t the best layout, but I wanted to get lots of charts in there, including ones small enough to be considered sparklines to see how easy it was to create, and what the performance, at least on the Public server, was.
Michael W Cristiani
Guys,
Alex, I completely agree with Dan on the work. And am glad we had a chance to chat at the SAM event. Did you make a button for yourself?
You may remember that we also shared a table at the Argentinian steak house, but Alex had to scoot early to catch the red-eye across the pond. Did I remember that correctly, Alex?
MANY BLESSINGS!
Peace and All Good!
Michael W Cristiani