By Christopher Mielack - lo-ds and polygons, enjoy! Get in touch at m2dot.com in case of any queries you may have! Or see you at the next Berlin Tableau User Group (BTUG)! Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing!

1. Level of Detail Expressions & More
Berlin Tableau User Group @ SoundCloud
May 31, 2017

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Christopher Mielack
Business Intelligence Consultant
§ @ M2. since April 2016
§ Background in Physics
§ Product Owner of M2. Tableau Toolbox
§ Specializations
§ Programming
§ Math / Data Analysis
§ Tableau Consulting

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Tableau
§ User base is exploding
§ Realtime data exploration
§ Easy to learn, hard to master

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Calculated Fields – Main Challenges for New Users
§ Result of an expression can be different in each view
§ Can be aggregates, can be non-aggregates
§ Table Calculations, Level of Detail Expressions are powerful, but can become complex

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Level Of Detail (LoD) Expressions – Overview
§ Let you deviate from grouping in the View
§ Three very different types
§ INCLUDE (pre-aggregate)
§ EXCLUDE (ignore dimensions)
§ FIXED (independent of View)
§ Recommendation: Name your calculated fields carefully!

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FIXED Level of Detail
§ Format: {FIXED [Dimension 1], [Dimension 2], … : SUM([Measure]) }
§ Independent of the View! *
§ Independent of Filtering! *
§ * mostly…
§ Example: Totals vs. Filtered Totals

7. Demo

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FIXED Level of Detail
§ Internally creates temporary table
§ Can be inefficient with large data
§ Inflexible to use within Tableau
§ Context Filters do affect FIXED LoDs

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INCLUDE Level of Detail
§ Format: {INCLUDE [Dimension 1], [Dimension 2], … : SUM([Measure]) }
§ Pre-aggregates data
§ Increases granularity
§ Akin to a sub-query in SQL
§ Example: Average Annual Sales

10. Demo

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INCLUDE Level of Detail
§ Allows for aggregates of aggregates
§ Very flexible & in line with Tableau’s UI philosophy
§ Responds to filtering

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EXCLUDE Level of Detail
§ Format: {EXCLUDE [Dimension 1], [Dimension 2], … : SUM([Measure]) }
§ Ignores [Dimension1], [Dimension 2], … before aggregating!
§ Reduces granularity
§ Example: Color by Totals

13. Demo

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Level of Detail Expressions – Summary
§ INCLUDE / EXCLUDE
§ Very flexible
§ Responds to filters
§ FIXED
§ Ignores (non-context-) filters
§ Identical values in every View
§ Can have strong performance impact

15. Questions?

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Polygon Charts
§ Whenever you think ”I can’t do that in Tableau”, try Polygon Charts!
§ Create diagrams with custom shapes
§ Algorithmic Geometry

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Polygon Examples
...From the Web
http://www.evolytics.com/blog/tableau-201-how-to-make-small-multiple-stadium-maps/

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Polygon Examples
...From the Web
https://public.tableau.com/profile/teampolygon#!/vizhome/ChooseLucaandRafiforVizWiz/Dashboard1

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Polygon Charts – Basic Principles
§ Each “row” in your view = one point in a shape
§ Columns = X, Rows = Y
§ Define point order on the Path Shelf
§ Draw lines between the points, then fill in the shape

20. Demo

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Making a Spiral Diagram ...

22. Vielen Dank

23. Christopher Mielack
christopher.mielack@m2dot.com
+49 151 2910 8875
M2. technology & project consulting GmbH
Potsdamer Platz 1
D-10785 Berlin
Germany
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