Building Dashboards - Communicating Data with Tableau - page 297

First, we'll build an exploratory dashboard that allows users to answer a whole host of ques-
tions, and then we'll build two different explanatory dashboards that clearly articulate specif-
ic (and completely different) insights from this data set.
Building an Exploratory Dashboard
As we discussed in the previous chapter, the primary objective of an exploratory dashboard
is to allow the audience to delve into a subject ad hoc and find answers about a whole host of
potential questions. Knowing that this is our objective, let's walk through the eight steps
mentioned earlier.
Step 1: Design
To allow our audience to fully explore the subject, we'll want to include a few different types
of views:
▪ A timeline that shows how usage has changed over time
▪ A world map to see where usage is the highest, geographically
▪ A chart to directly visualize usage by country from a common base
What could this look like? There are countless ways we could show these three views on the
same dashboard. Take a minute to sketch some of your ideas.
We also want to allow the audience to explore both the proportion as well as the estimated
total, and make it clear which aspect they are considering at any given moment.
Step 2: Sheets
It's critical that the audience be able to explore the subject of Internet usage by both propor-
tion as well as quantity. In order to facilitate this dual function, we'll need to create a new
Parameter (right-click in the Dimensions and Measures area and select Create Parameter... )
and an associated Calculated Field (right-click on the Parameter once it's created and select
Create Calculated Field... ) as shown in Figure 13-3 .