Sometimes data in Tableau dashboards need to be displayed for different time periods. In this blog, we will see how to display a Tableau dashboard for different time periods such as for Year, Month , Week etc.
Steps to display a chart for different time periods
As a first step, we will create a simple chart with dimension as Date and measure as Sales.
1. Connect to Sample-Superstore.xls. This data source comes with the installation of Tableau. Use the Orders table. How to connect to XLS file in Tableau.
2. Create a Bar chart. To create a bar chart, from the Data pane, place Order Date on Columns and place Sales on Rows. If this creates a line chart, choose bar chart from Show Me. You can also work with the line chart.
3. The above bar chart is displaying Yearly Sales. What if you want to display the Sales for different time periods and provide an option to the user to select a time period such as Year, Month, Week etc.
How to display a Tableau dashboard for different Time Periods:
As a next step, we will create a Time Selection Parameter. This parameter will have values for Year, Month and Week.
Right-Click anywhere on the Measure section (in data pane) and select Create/Parameter
Create Time Selection Parameter with the following settings
2. Create a calculated field to use this parameter. From the Analysis menu on the top, select Calculated Field. Specify the following calculation:
In the above calculation, we are using date functions to calculate Year, Month and Week from the Order Date. DateTrunc function truncates the date to the specified date part, in this case, week. Make sure to use the same spelling of Year, Month and Week as specified in the Time Selection Parameter.
3. Recreate the above bar chart using the Date Selection calculation.
From the bar chart, we created earlier, remove the Year (Order Date) and replace it with Date Selection calculation created in the above step 2.
4. Navigate to Parameters section at the bottom of data pane, right-click and select Show Parameter. The bar chart will display data according to the selection made in the parameter.
5. You can do some formatting, specify Number format to Sales and create a dashboard.
Further readings:
How to dynamically change a chart based on Dimension selection in Tableau
Chandraish Sinha is the Founder and President of Ohio Computer Academy, a leading institution committed to delivering high-quality IT education. With a passion for teaching and a belief in his company’s mission—Inspire, Educate & Evolve—Chandraish brings over 25 years of experience in the Information Technology industry.
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