tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43187497152643115482024-02-25T15:14:27.948-06:00Brandi BealsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-2643585944164224712023-06-30T20:00:00.017-05:002023-06-30T21:40:25.821-05:008 Alteryx Tips to Improve your Development Experience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEo0bsZ5cfbeGA0RNaYhJRp8kYQt_oXOyiYtnBGG9cuJqK_eHNZ4VxM1Mh52fEKcY8cedotSVY1ujMuiranqHZGTazrI6fV_ltKnFnvM8G6AX4iEhvIATBqo-MrklGrp7EGXC8fgbFT_dBLVauvtjbj4USEMsdioFZWlMHIE5ikwU68bRdG3XjDAEY6w/s1600/Alteryx%20Tips%20-%20Part%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEo0bsZ5cfbeGA0RNaYhJRp8kYQt_oXOyiYtnBGG9cuJqK_eHNZ4VxM1Mh52fEKcY8cedotSVY1ujMuiranqHZGTazrI6fV_ltKnFnvM8G6AX4iEhvIATBqo-MrklGrp7EGXC8fgbFT_dBLVauvtjbj4USEMsdioFZWlMHIE5ikwU68bRdG3XjDAEY6w/w640-h360/Alteryx%20Tips%20-%20Part%201.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Recently, at my local <a href="https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Milwaukee-WI/gh-p/milwaukee-wi" target="_blank">Milwaukee Alteryx User Group</a>, I presented a segment titled “Alteryx Speed Tips” in which I shared a handful of helpful tips when using Alteryx Designer. Sharing these tips — some of which came from people in my Alteryx community — led to people in the audience sharing their own tips, which resulted in even more knowledge for us all.</p><p><br /></p><p>I decided to put them all together in a blog post, but as I started to write the post became lengthy. As a result, I will be making these tips part of a series. Part 1 is dedicated to setting up your development environment and understanding the resources and settings available to you.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of these tips are things you probably already know, but I hope there are a few new ones you pick up. Here we go…</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Customize User Settings</h1><p>This might be obvious, but there are a few ways to customize your Alteryx Designer development environment to make working with the tool easier for you. First, under Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings you can set the default zoom settings if you need the canvas zoomed in farther in or out. You can also turn on the grid, which makes aligning tools easier. And you can set some default fonts and colors here, if you want to be extra. There are many other settings for you to explore as well.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhojqbNQ5J9jNT_SBk3Qo031VRmMPEKL1PJsH6DpHaIrwA7MlN9q-viQepOzJZK0Ifrz0x0kzevPiB021ZUR5DmvXHkK7M6jgAZUiLKybdhoqQyUxE1vLEM6FuCanvR_CJhFc1NGsM-8UVCQf5gn1Nh5chzBIq8WocZM6gpOPKl76XOGzm97fwHNw_rF-c/s649/tip%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="649" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhojqbNQ5J9jNT_SBk3Qo031VRmMPEKL1PJsH6DpHaIrwA7MlN9q-viQepOzJZK0Ifrz0x0kzevPiB021ZUR5DmvXHkK7M6jgAZUiLKybdhoqQyUxE1vLEM6FuCanvR_CJhFc1NGsM-8UVCQf5gn1Nh5chzBIq8WocZM6gpOPKl76XOGzm97fwHNw_rF-c/w640-h620/tip%201.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Toggle On/Off Panels</h1><p>Under the View menu you have the ability to toggle on or off different panels. Some will likely always be on (I'm looking at you, Configuration panel), while others may be needed only some of the time. The Overview panel provides a very zoomed out view of the workflow. This is particularly helpful if you are working with a large workflow that can’t be seen in full. The lighter colored box indicates what is currently visible on the canvas. You can click anywhere within the Overview to immediately jump to that section of the workflow.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihH16PcIYf1makEmOw2MbtcZV6kiKRgeMCmn35Jg2st4tZxGiLloGVIQHCnLhQ2c3iJJw2DMhwyTPA6mtMqcehbWsRck__jZV7b8L1zvZoVDljhX5njODiWjksChTWRu8TPd0zFu0iLmy3VhBJxtCXRgaZg5ykKZJb4HD-EGzATQyoSADO4pR2Q-4qgw8/s1048/tip%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="703" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihH16PcIYf1makEmOw2MbtcZV6kiKRgeMCmn35Jg2st4tZxGiLloGVIQHCnLhQ2c3iJJw2DMhwyTPA6mtMqcehbWsRck__jZV7b8L1zvZoVDljhX5njODiWjksChTWRu8TPd0zFu0iLmy3VhBJxtCXRgaZg5ykKZJb4HD-EGzATQyoSADO4pR2Q-4qgw8/w430-h640/tip%202.png" width="430" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Leverage Interface Designer</h1><p>In addition to the Overview pane, the Interface Designer pane gives you a view of what interface tools will look like to your end user. You can group, rearrange, and provide instructions for the various interface tools in the workflow. From here, you can select the magic wand icon on the left side and interact with the interface tools as an end user would. If you want to run the workflow with a specific set of variables, you can set them here, click Open Debug, and a workflow will open in a new tab with your selections in place. Shout out to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenmhayes/" target="_blank">Colleen Hayes</a> who taught me this at a Milwaukee Alteryx User Group event. There is much more to cover on interface tools and the designer itself, but I highly recommend playing around with the design/layout options for an improved user experience.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSxN-4c7FiNRJcdyuL7n5RbAvE_mipdJGqMtSvCWR2g5nnphwv-gPg0ectsLiFnEdxnT6_q-ADNRG8O3pBrxE3MPIS2Kv3mEOURsIKzyM3AunbDrCeeSvVVZY8knnjNVJsvyl3olC5MoSlbwuR5O6n3qb9fLFqZnKA5ebzHsEsINytFI3BP74LfGiXbo/s583/tip%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="583" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSxN-4c7FiNRJcdyuL7n5RbAvE_mipdJGqMtSvCWR2g5nnphwv-gPg0ectsLiFnEdxnT6_q-ADNRG8O3pBrxE3MPIS2Kv3mEOURsIKzyM3AunbDrCeeSvVVZY8knnjNVJsvyl3olC5MoSlbwuR5O6n3qb9fLFqZnKA5ebzHsEsINytFI3BP74LfGiXbo/w640-h550/tip%203.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Grouped by Color <i>and </i>Shape</h1><p>Another obvious one, but tool groupings (the different tabs across the top of Alteryx Designer) are indicated both by the color of the tool <i>and </i>their shape. Input and Output tools are represented by a folder icon in a beautiful teal color. Preparation tools are blue circles. Parse tools are light green hexagons. It is easy to see where these tools are used in the workflow as a result. Having both shape and color used as an indicator is helpful for people who are color blind.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_MKTgBq6wztgUzY5r_OXF1y-rzAhlRTfbV9TuEjf7p64f32XqjDXAHJMQxySqKh3RAfb6Whd9hZ7FswC7XLJSu-3SZ4GF-JqynQjuBD3Y-gZii6wzmLODSWvQV_pOvINSdEdoQAQ54jxZVGU6hI3U8gAY7vtibnHW0Q0ZgNnPe2yaps-T0kCBUkS53n8/s1321/tip%204.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1321" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_MKTgBq6wztgUzY5r_OXF1y-rzAhlRTfbV9TuEjf7p64f32XqjDXAHJMQxySqKh3RAfb6Whd9hZ7FswC7XLJSu-3SZ4GF-JqynQjuBD3Y-gZii6wzmLODSWvQV_pOvINSdEdoQAQ54jxZVGU6hI3U8gAY7vtibnHW0Q0ZgNnPe2yaps-T0kCBUkS53n8/w640-h302/tip%204.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Use the Help Button</h1><p>When working with a tool, one of my favorite resources is the help button located on the left side of the configuration panel. With a given tool selected, clicking the question mark icon will take you to the associated Alteryx documentation page. A description of the tool, along with details about the various settings and examples are provided in one easy place.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjySuapVZc--GGlpbYHNOsdkeaESH_VmWK5lCIDLTTRNiyCsGBX2lwJj6DJqbA7b8BFJSmYZdCMV4SCs664j2c9PVZZNra374kQGh-jwWeeXGzvTA_W35cmDAa0QzxFSCXN2esXqZ9xNLLNbFur--OiPFfarPblJQAKd4K0Ovs-ZxH_YDgJQG79aik4s/s1367/tip%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1367" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjySuapVZc--GGlpbYHNOsdkeaESH_VmWK5lCIDLTTRNiyCsGBX2lwJj6DJqbA7b8BFJSmYZdCMV4SCs664j2c9PVZZNra374kQGh-jwWeeXGzvTA_W35cmDAa0QzxFSCXN2esXqZ9xNLLNbFur--OiPFfarPblJQAKd4K0Ovs-ZxH_YDgJQG79aik4s/w640-h490/tip%205.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Disable All Tools that Write Output</h1><p>Finally, the Workflow Configuration panel contains a few key tips. To access the Workflow Configuration panel, click anywhere on the canvas that isn’t a tool and it will appear on the left (assuming you have the Configuration panel turned on). On the Runtime tab you can check a box to disable output tools. This is particularly helpful if you are troubleshooting a workflow and don’t want data to actually be written to a file or database immediately. I will check this box, run my workflow, validate the results, fix the workflow as needed, then deselect the box before running the workflow a final time. During the meeting, I complained about the 3 clicks it takes to get to this checkbox since I use this feature so frequently. Well, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsonmatt/" target="_blank">Matt Michaelson</a> created an <a href="https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Ideas/Keyboard-Shortcut-to-Disable-All-Tools-that-Write-Output/idi-p/1149940" target="_blank">idea on the Alteryx Community</a> to give this option a shortcut. Please vote!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_H5AsS4YXU82fXpb4gVLHI_Pcrtjf3XLK-6lGuEFfDaDi1tbZWXxQhV5YdFj2rN4vSeUu3BcWt5WhjSRwvGDHsT2APwSSqOWUza6mJXqD4Seh2zbBz5Q2w3ur_O2hyc58Stu1PQM-XCPAjO9gsSAek8MOfuNnlMDmddSm21rojl1hOGbQiSdWi1Rv48/s1277/tip%206.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="1277" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_H5AsS4YXU82fXpb4gVLHI_Pcrtjf3XLK-6lGuEFfDaDi1tbZWXxQhV5YdFj2rN4vSeUu3BcWt5WhjSRwvGDHsT2APwSSqOWUza6mJXqD4Seh2zbBz5Q2w3ur_O2hyc58Stu1PQM-XCPAjO9gsSAek8MOfuNnlMDmddSm21rojl1hOGbQiSdWi1Rv48/w640-h262/tip%206.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Document your Workflow</h1><p>Also in the Workflow Configuration panel is the Meta Info tab, which allows you to write a description, add a URL, and set author information. For the description section, I like to use a template to make descriptions easier to read, to ensure I am capturing all the pertinent information, and to make my life easier. Descriptions show up on Alteryx Gallery, too, so end users will see the information you write here. Check out my post about <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/09/underutilized-tableau-features-part-1.html">description templates</a> in Tableau, which looks to achieve a similar goal. The URL is just want it sounds like. I use this for additional documentation or to link to a related Tableau data source that needs to be refreshed after the workflow is run. The author information is nice if you want others to know who built the workflow. An initial, one-time set up is required. Fill in the text boxes and select the Remember as Default link. Going forward just click Set to Default and the text you previously entered will be filled in for you. Filling out this tab isn't the most fun part of developing an Alteryx workflow, but it will pay dividends if <i>anyone </i>looks at this workflow.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRTG6ca4DvX6RTIz5J2psxDt5Z-fI2KJb45uEtHTMZHWaU5bbKTfMtIQqUG5mYJ2LukRE39aVrk3m_8TdgTeF_M8jSUKHJimbOuVqP27ZqNf9qEkCQ-OT0NMZmbZgTSeiii3McegjuciTXqTd0Ur_59pClPb71qyCbJ__Ao10mE2DlKi9wOWBkr8npfk/s1255/tip%207.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1255" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNRTG6ca4DvX6RTIz5J2psxDt5Z-fI2KJb45uEtHTMZHWaU5bbKTfMtIQqUG5mYJ2LukRE39aVrk3m_8TdgTeF_M8jSUKHJimbOuVqP27ZqNf9qEkCQ-OT0NMZmbZgTSeiii3McegjuciTXqTd0Ur_59pClPb71qyCbJ__Ao10mE2DlKi9wOWBkr8npfk/w640-h448/tip%207.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Send Emails</h1><p>There is also an Events tab in the Workflow Configuration panel. Here you can set up emails to be sent when a workflow runs. This is helpful to share log information, or to report that data was processed. It's fairly easy to set up if your organization already has an SMTP server.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5lThLu9o-0ZA-TqZEZmXe3nAygS8NflH5BTFfA035ZLS2jvkqDk1LrSkLFGFZbMP0mlGlHWybYNCcj_3knPNtfRmCVKKvggxrvEauSjOlaOaEVbtMHEWae4z9FZMSiME8LZVWzNLNKF_9ZbAzaPb7GQ5ZDfT9YFfKvAdY5Gx3kSOsouAKsoYdf91asg/s1019/tip%208.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1019" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5lThLu9o-0ZA-TqZEZmXe3nAygS8NflH5BTFfA035ZLS2jvkqDk1LrSkLFGFZbMP0mlGlHWybYNCcj_3knPNtfRmCVKKvggxrvEauSjOlaOaEVbtMHEWae4z9FZMSiME8LZVWzNLNKF_9ZbAzaPb7GQ5ZDfT9YFfKvAdY5Gx3kSOsouAKsoYdf91asg/w640-h456/tip%208.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Stay tuned for Part 2!</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-20977235262043045052023-01-31T21:26:00.002-06:002023-02-01T09:07:09.881-06:00Pagination in Tableau (even when exporting to PDF)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSWZ9ovZJpKkKo_ZjTvfRRFJCDhLTSPgNXrF0voAezRqUJxJhEh-XAFfBcu3fLENb5W-USprYKfViXgLqnSG3HTHeCeRttr7nPazyKxzyVfS1yYdEvv3dAdsC8ZUVZZzezh5kTZDLgTxuc7pwdlnZZwaszCytT2F9r1n24NjY-thRfI5TCvydeBz1/s1600/Pagination%20in%20Tableau.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSWZ9ovZJpKkKo_ZjTvfRRFJCDhLTSPgNXrF0voAezRqUJxJhEh-XAFfBcu3fLENb5W-USprYKfViXgLqnSG3HTHeCeRttr7nPazyKxzyVfS1yYdEvv3dAdsC8ZUVZZzezh5kTZDLgTxuc7pwdlnZZwaszCytT2F9r1n24NjY-thRfI5TCvydeBz1/w640-h360/Pagination%20in%20Tableau.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>One of the key features of Tableau is its ability to customize the layout and size of dashboards to meet the needs of different users and use cases. When designing a dashboard in Tableau, there are a variety of options for sizing and layout, with preset screen sizes and resolutions available. Often, this is sufficient since dashboards are typically meant to be interactive. But occasionally (or maybe more often, depending on the industry you work in) users want to export the dashboard to a PDF and/or print it. Depending on how the dashboard has been designed, this could be easy enough, but if the dashboard presents a long list of information, such as in the style of a tabular report, that information could get cut off when printing to PDF (as seen in the image below). Let's talk about another option.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-tXvjIYM_TQtpzGiqF3nqdQoe-U_gN02ngNt7u4a78kXNXyz2fikCz8g_2yiA2odpzCfIHf8vOfZcM9FL8Xf3n5BwTivX3O5XnvuKEQJ0taPVCHJYZM_rgNeDo-p2-oj8RHnQRYtRFqvAVfuDB_7SCqAmpe1eJDtdfMNNVDrNfITBnumInBPAQygs/s931/export%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="784" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-tXvjIYM_TQtpzGiqF3nqdQoe-U_gN02ngNt7u4a78kXNXyz2fikCz8g_2yiA2odpzCfIHf8vOfZcM9FL8Xf3n5BwTivX3O5XnvuKEQJ0taPVCHJYZM_rgNeDo-p2-oj8RHnQRYtRFqvAVfuDB_7SCqAmpe1eJDtdfMNNVDrNfITBnumInBPAQygs/s16000/export%201.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Pagination is the ability to divide a large page into smaller, more manageable pages. A few people (<a href="https://playfairdata.com/how-to-do-pagination-in-tableau/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.phdata.io/blog/how-to-integrate-pagination-in-tableau-part-1/" target="_blank">here</a>) have come up with great solutions that calculate the number of rows of data and present them in chunks, resulting in a "pages" effect. But that doesn't help if we want to export or print the full set of data.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, to get a more traditional looking multi-page PDF, we first need to change the size of the dashboard. Previously, I had the dashboard set to letter portrait size, but I'm going to increase the height until all the text fits on the dashboard (i.e. the scroll bar is gone). To support an ever growing list, you might want to increase the height even further. The downside is that if the list keeps growing, the size of the dashboard will need to continue to grow as well, which requires a manual change to the size.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is how the output looks after that change. Not great. Everything is exported on one page and it's very small.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJg_8fPMdPQAR0a-fraYylXY-JZ02DG8eFr4CVQXjdY9sSXcFHWD_SVHv-7p230XhXEvrW8BAmK3Xf7L8SKamLf-MoVsatdzAtZxDpKjMJdykyp0QV8Kza7NIbSCksO_R5CMrUXcOux_PBKcqQkuUPL0dnKttK4f3NYUuLNMzLFtzqG-1ifFb22nM/s928/export%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJg_8fPMdPQAR0a-fraYylXY-JZ02DG8eFr4CVQXjdY9sSXcFHWD_SVHv-7p230XhXEvrW8BAmK3Xf7L8SKamLf-MoVsatdzAtZxDpKjMJdykyp0QV8Kza7NIbSCksO_R5CMrUXcOux_PBKcqQkuUPL0dnKttK4f3NYUuLNMzLFtzqG-1ifFb22nM/s16000/export%202.png" /></a></div><br /><p>From Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, you can select a different scaling option (in this case, I'm looking to fit everything width wise) and then export. Fun fact: this option isn't available in the Print to PDF option in Tableau Desktop.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55zQtRFQ96Mqq6-G8Q7WtnJPniLvf_4BysAIX4xPJESjwcwB9gud2BlE0xNbJjiDkzo8T6zwgpuLxkmfyWnlOfrNRpei5Vx2IhvpfuLtTNNys36WfZMegooQg2k6o4qnjNpAUqGIY7wVHTDjizBoZp6-X6wgd5-gg6pgB4_EyOCmsXz3I1g4rLwIu/s387/export%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55zQtRFQ96Mqq6-G8Q7WtnJPniLvf_4BysAIX4xPJESjwcwB9gud2BlE0xNbJjiDkzo8T6zwgpuLxkmfyWnlOfrNRpei5Vx2IhvpfuLtTNNys36WfZMegooQg2k6o4qnjNpAUqGIY7wVHTDjizBoZp6-X6wgd5-gg6pgB4_EyOCmsXz3I1g4rLwIu/s16000/export%203.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Yay! That did the trick. We could end things here, but if your goal is to automate the export you'll soon find that the scaling option isn't available in the programmatic export command from either tabcmd or the Tableau Server Client Python library.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixae8n7BCSF0H7TkJKdVFY-NxOkmKXKgVdbnTjdPhcz_xoL6Y5v87VsSPwyWKBO1AHHYKcRTFAp_KtrUIyt8fc6gystzXZBuyyStNNG60pUzFG25uDDd0G2vEjaHj94weaKE83LdPlurgBqx2eVCnzFaeB6BAb0--I8WZPDcApVCy2gvcDGdQ2cNaC/s930/export%204.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixae8n7BCSF0H7TkJKdVFY-NxOkmKXKgVdbnTjdPhcz_xoL6Y5v87VsSPwyWKBO1AHHYKcRTFAp_KtrUIyt8fc6gystzXZBuyyStNNG60pUzFG25uDDd0G2vEjaHj94weaKE83LdPlurgBqx2eVCnzFaeB6BAb0--I8WZPDcApVCy2gvcDGdQ2cNaC/s16000/export%204.png" /></a></div><br /><p>My team spent weeks researching, thinking, and brainstorming about this issue. Then, the newest member of the team (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethreddy/" target="_blank">Lizzy Reddy</a>) found a brilliant solution. Within Tableau Desktop, select the dashboard tab and navigate to File > Page Setup, then select the Print Scaling tab. Select the "Fit to no more than" radio button and increase the number of pages down you are willing to accept. Make sure to publish this change to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. Now, when this dashboard is exported programmatically, it will fit width wise, but be multiple pages in length.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yN47jHT7XYEDB_wOFATB3alJnvNmM1FmNYLtOCdr9Ex6_Ovk4L77vRJyigMp2c4qnpUzpj4rDPEylrphUfAdoMBMSI-5b3mrYh9Cde8EtRhEMm0mu9TyWoZ02YKW8h9cEb2tVNk8zaEJp2oxzpQEjcmOlOcqgAMkIx-dhC6xoRp7RJRplipkLh0f/s420/export%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yN47jHT7XYEDB_wOFATB3alJnvNmM1FmNYLtOCdr9Ex6_Ovk4L77vRJyigMp2c4qnpUzpj4rDPEylrphUfAdoMBMSI-5b3mrYh9Cde8EtRhEMm0mu9TyWoZ02YKW8h9cEb2tVNk8zaEJp2oxzpQEjcmOlOcqgAMkIx-dhC6xoRp7RJRplipkLh0f/s16000/export%205.png" /></a></div><br /><p>It should be noted that exporting a single, independent sheet instead of a dashboard is much easier as its length is always dynamic and isn't constrained by the dashboard sizing. This is what the export looks like without any effort.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcOi1kcYeIwX7vdf43fURMzY2KJZEN4JhM98Exf3uBG9PVrEHArkupaDZMyJgSoT-7P2zzx5v0okmugnjABdTdnptZyObqYcXvU3L7Zxpkif5e2-OqFh9up2bFqAujOBnUKhLU-jWcMIHKtFCvWlIQb0qxtlpIfLlvNlwaUChEWpow_0uXa8EMjJe/s930/export%20sheet.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="787" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcOi1kcYeIwX7vdf43fURMzY2KJZEN4JhM98Exf3uBG9PVrEHArkupaDZMyJgSoT-7P2zzx5v0okmugnjABdTdnptZyObqYcXvU3L7Zxpkif5e2-OqFh9up2bFqAujOBnUKhLU-jWcMIHKtFCvWlIQb0qxtlpIfLlvNlwaUChEWpow_0uXa8EMjJe/s16000/export%20sheet.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Hopefully you found this valuable. It's entirely possible that this is something everyone already knew about, but after working with Tableau for 13 years this problem with pagination has always stumped me, so I needed to share this brilliant and easy solution.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comMilwaukee, WI, USA43.0389025 -87.906473614.728668663821153 -123.0627236 71.349136336178844 -52.7502236tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-18628712735676356562022-11-30T21:42:00.006-06:002022-11-30T21:43:55.924-06:00Underutilized Tableau Features Part 3: Alerts<p>If you use Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud (fka Tableau Online), you have probably heard of, or created, a subscription. Subscriptions allow you to sign up to receive a static image or pdf of a view, delivered right to your email inbox. But that is not what I am here to talk about. Similar to a subscription, an alert is a feature that emails you if a value meets some criteria. For example, if sales exceed a certain threshold, or if a price falls below some number. Below I outline how to create an alert, along with some caveats to be aware of. They are, in my opinion, an underutilized Tableau feature and part 3 in my series. <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/09/underutilized-tableau-features-part-1.html">Part 1 is about descriptions</a>, while <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/10/underutilized-tableau-features-part-2.html">part 2 covers comments</a>.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qh2RQ5kz-y4gEBOe1HLAQK3VuCP_PNOqRtFIYwM7mGIW3utNURviscui2fN7fZUY0FKE0JTnebMGaIVLRAeG3SWZ-hH_2udCQX95bhK59wsnfz2vMaIXjOg1RW8Pe7DOOMl-THsZ3wuPOvb9OIHVoTiyhl8UwBkpHlA5UmuOr0o68ocyRAIACnNw/s1600/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%203%20Alerts.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qh2RQ5kz-y4gEBOe1HLAQK3VuCP_PNOqRtFIYwM7mGIW3utNURviscui2fN7fZUY0FKE0JTnebMGaIVLRAeG3SWZ-hH_2udCQX95bhK59wsnfz2vMaIXjOg1RW8Pe7DOOMl-THsZ3wuPOvb9OIHVoTiyhl8UwBkpHlA5UmuOr0o68ocyRAIACnNw/w640-h360/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%203%20Alerts.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Begin by navigating to a view (either a dashboard or a sheet within a workbook) on Tableau Server/Cloud. Along the top of the screen are two ribbons. The first band contains breadcrumbs, search, notifications, and your profile icon. The second band contains all sorts of fun tools that you can apply to the dashboard you are currently viewing. It is in this band that you will find either the watch button or the alert button. It may look slightly different from the screenshot below depending on the version you are using.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtY3z5O0xHeNGktUGuovYzudkA-KkCqITy1Hixp-ut8C0LyDSh6X4tK_QsKXNQFPv8OdxL7lJ905eM9aLdTPt0Jb7xKvYmh0Gr_5H6XLXGNEx5zbMvisGGrxzwIKOWEU_3W3dc3DDEQ3j2jC7ZV4fnWSYr5JNoRbEywcMiHbghbj1EB7DtxcLTEYAr/s1551/alerts1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1551" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtY3z5O0xHeNGktUGuovYzudkA-KkCqITy1Hixp-ut8C0LyDSh6X4tK_QsKXNQFPv8OdxL7lJ905eM9aLdTPt0Jb7xKvYmh0Gr_5H6XLXGNEx5zbMvisGGrxzwIKOWEU_3W3dc3DDEQ3j2jC7ZV4fnWSYr5JNoRbEywcMiHbghbj1EB7DtxcLTEYAr/s16000/alerts1.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Click the watch button, then the alert option (or simply the alert button) to bring up the alert pane. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxB5eX7tCqkax-8ekegIt3cQiH6MH_du_1j41oOile89JwBmM1Z0ZlD-F0-ESaeeLQ3vG4qiEeZhfkEIVyIOdOUF997XLftDEEDGyFEqssuodn19xiXtGlesePbb5YcdyaoYhS9zCbMuW8nNenydmALCl558P5uXvynneTrO2j4GKgWjNkJBso8Wl/s355/alerts2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxB5eX7tCqkax-8ekegIt3cQiH6MH_du_1j41oOile89JwBmM1Z0ZlD-F0-ESaeeLQ3vG4qiEeZhfkEIVyIOdOUF997XLftDEEDGyFEqssuodn19xiXtGlesePbb5YcdyaoYhS9zCbMuW8nNenydmALCl558P5uXvynneTrO2j4GKgWjNkJBso8Wl/s16000/alerts2.png" /></a></div><br /><p>In order to create an alert, you first have to select the axis associated with the measure you want to be alerted about, then click the Create button.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jbVhTnVns4i-CVGVMldgy9DCiR7RRYJ5aX0_7eCK633tlON64SWV7kC7v4VY3xeFRSIrHi5lIy-8hP7edhiKVOB8kprZiz6iHg-cQhi9Ih40ymDnCumJs4rYPZjOnrkRIG3uBpUEBHXmp8DGXfW6PLdYT15kJlPFC20Fp_rKf3FFSH85so_f4e3d/s1102/alerts3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jbVhTnVns4i-CVGVMldgy9DCiR7RRYJ5aX0_7eCK633tlON64SWV7kC7v4VY3xeFRSIrHi5lIy-8hP7edhiKVOB8kprZiz6iHg-cQhi9Ih40ymDnCumJs4rYPZjOnrkRIG3uBpUEBHXmp8DGXfW6PLdYT15kJlPFC20Fp_rKf3FFSH85so_f4e3d/s16000/alerts3.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p>Next, set the condition and threshold. Define the subject, just as you would with a subscription. Then, set the frequency of the alert (more on this later). Finally, define the recipients (who must have access to the view) and check the box if you want to make this alert available to others.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUPKxMcpldYHFzdLcHtrOmBzmyuEbwUhZeRj4vkUwow8vbTi4ub0CRClHpii_gfTWTzuSeDoA5k6-BpVpNpLUxd-gAn4o3Zsbu_L6Bu8K9vy0Mcjsw0Rrw8T__TTmSnRP56Gjzv8kFVddGWPwX5Ohu0yZGIcN9V_-XFZnbAL25y7wBqZ2weyLq1w6/s1107/alerts4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUPKxMcpldYHFzdLcHtrOmBzmyuEbwUhZeRj4vkUwow8vbTi4ub0CRClHpii_gfTWTzuSeDoA5k6-BpVpNpLUxd-gAn4o3Zsbu_L6Bu8K9vy0Mcjsw0Rrw8T__TTmSnRP56Gjzv8kFVddGWPwX5Ohu0yZGIcN9V_-XFZnbAL25y7wBqZ2weyLq1w6/s16000/alerts4.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Once created, the alert will appear in the alert pane and it is from this area that can you edit, delete, remove yourself, and change the owner. Multiple alerts can be created on a single view. Alerts are received in the same way as subscriptions.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1Odzhc5mwmZEgqdagiLbBLwUMnPuc9d_sBJ-V61bm1wbwhG3mnWZTSFXoBd1fesF4mLXJiVC8JJamtKEw1p4ILJnD_7j-A0ZcH132W8nz1EOyXFqwCSksm4VKeXMfkGbXLNd5qm1Iuwwp9ftB4tOHJe1L5ZhnTH3J_-JmoCIcCs0-b9uqaptVRtK/s1215/alerts5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="1215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1Odzhc5mwmZEgqdagiLbBLwUMnPuc9d_sBJ-V61bm1wbwhG3mnWZTSFXoBd1fesF4mLXJiVC8JJamtKEw1p4ILJnD_7j-A0ZcH132W8nz1EOyXFqwCSksm4VKeXMfkGbXLNd5qm1Iuwwp9ftB4tOHJe1L5ZhnTH3J_-JmoCIcCs0-b9uqaptVRtK/s16000/alerts5.png" /></a></div><br /><p>The biggest caveat with using alerts is the frequency with which they are sent. Take the "Hourly at most" option, for example. With this configuration, the alert would trigger at the time it was set (8:33) and every hour thereafter. The issue is that if the alert triggers at 8:33:00 (eight thirty and zero seconds), the alert is sent a few seconds later (say 8:33:04). An hour later (9:33:00), the alert will not trigger because 8:33:04 was less than 1 hour earlier. This caveat can be problematic if you are expecting to get alerted every hour. In that scenario, an alert will not be triggered on back-to-back hours. So, choose the frequency carefully. But, if what you are looking to be alerted on occurs relatively infrequently, alerts are quite useful!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-6304464664181271502022-10-31T21:49:00.002-05:002022-10-31T21:50:52.447-05:00Underutilized Tableau Features Part 2: Comments<p>Many applications these days have the ability to add comments to a document or object. Think Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, Trello, Jira, and Lucidchart, just to name a few. This capability allows multiple people to collaborate and make improvements to the document, with back and forth comments about its contents. Well, Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud have a similar capability and it is not used nearly enough! Comments are part 2 of my series focused on underutilized Tableau features. <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/09/underutilized-tableau-features-part-1.html">Check out part 1, which is all about descriptions</a>.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaqfGmzntKnjb4JyWc-WOcN-rPoi-zKPCKeLyV-RP07fWDOVsGci3RBRInFXRASNhplahu1PP8z4PxsqoLx4dV43xJETA_4vtGCx12L4BHohZewWqtFp1HPAPM70UNINmgw-Lbxo3MnMQHcCPsR3zA758PXsTUh0cX9HO1YOtECVv2kCeO0S_BhUiN/s1600/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%202%20Comments.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaqfGmzntKnjb4JyWc-WOcN-rPoi-zKPCKeLyV-RP07fWDOVsGci3RBRInFXRASNhplahu1PP8z4PxsqoLx4dV43xJETA_4vtGCx12L4BHohZewWqtFp1HPAPM70UNINmgw-Lbxo3MnMQHcCPsR3zA758PXsTUh0cX9HO1YOtECVv2kCeO0S_BhUiN/w640-h360/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%202%20Comments.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Comments should be enabled by default, but your site or server administrator might have turned them off. It is also possible that commenting has been denied as part of the permissioning scheme. Check with your administrators if you do not have the commenting capability available to you.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, on to the good stuff.</p><p><br /></p><p>The comment pane is quite simple to use, but it is also somewhat hidden unless you look for it. When viewing a dashboard in Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, there are two ribbons at the top of the screen. The first band contains breadcrumbs, search, notifications, and your profile icon. The second band contains all sorts of fun tools that you can apply to the dashboard you are currently viewing. It is in this band that you will find the comment button. It may look slightly different from the screenshot below depending on the version you are using.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iwrqIuKmwUfO2eJFI_07RO4i96sz30reOy_rpLUxhs7buXIP3JYwrxBLVzKHWpFlzE3DTi29uiSWpKD9jbTXmhGzgzqy2vXUG-Wt59QOIawNTOZz4X4535zA0GS3UM4NNXgkhRyf4ct9ZBaHDf7MhoyVBQ9SOrQY7Lpk3oqAH3PXhEl4H2bqASna/s1678/comments%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="1678" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iwrqIuKmwUfO2eJFI_07RO4i96sz30reOy_rpLUxhs7buXIP3JYwrxBLVzKHWpFlzE3DTi29uiSWpKD9jbTXmhGzgzqy2vXUG-Wt59QOIawNTOZz4X4535zA0GS3UM4NNXgkhRyf4ct9ZBaHDf7MhoyVBQ9SOrQY7Lpk3oqAH3PXhEl4H2bqASna/s16000/comments%201.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Clicking that button opens the comment pane where you can make any comment you wish. Clicking the Post button, publishes the comment for all who have access to the view to see.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJH1bP2Esm4p5_cJuFCxuMDGw8xlphS5vC4HWP3KtUX8jMq0pYYtQPVpC8ILm_JMbCZ3lEubudHo10ihw3trShB7eRkf2rxlM7GXN9XzZy66bDV-BMsH2gELIniL2AuJmEDHJWHanNHCo23lqOrpS-W7K7KsvTBFXvI1uFSt-qkCj554FCXcRGQPf/s1567/comments%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1567" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJH1bP2Esm4p5_cJuFCxuMDGw8xlphS5vC4HWP3KtUX8jMq0pYYtQPVpC8ILm_JMbCZ3lEubudHo10ihw3trShB7eRkf2rxlM7GXN9XzZy66bDV-BMsH2gELIniL2AuJmEDHJWHanNHCo23lqOrpS-W7K7KsvTBFXvI1uFSt-qkCj554FCXcRGQPf/s16000/comments%202.png" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p>While this is a helpful comment, no one will know it exists unless they are looking for it. Which is why I like to @mention someone in the comment. Doing so triggers an email to be sent to the person you mentioned, which is much more helpful.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xzeH4WQKDxzsCFn9XlZVAKBJsr10eF6qfkuHz4rgQipQRJOLNWIGWjlL67oaPafz1J515lzxYtDC_2FkHGdngkJBSRvS7tXwuIfaM3DzN9F-lIZKQMNXNn5u8qwQXqpkAlyD4Suv9WtELIv7oof1P7UAb6kZj90SAIk40PpyCaQXsPd-ZDQFuffz/s1568/comments%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xzeH4WQKDxzsCFn9XlZVAKBJsr10eF6qfkuHz4rgQipQRJOLNWIGWjlL67oaPafz1J515lzxYtDC_2FkHGdngkJBSRvS7tXwuIfaM3DzN9F-lIZKQMNXNn5u8qwQXqpkAlyD4Suv9WtELIv7oof1P7UAb6kZj90SAIk40PpyCaQXsPd-ZDQFuffz/s16000/comments%203.png" /></a></div><br /><p>There is one final component of the comment feature that I absolutely love. It is the ability to add a snapshot to your comment. This bit of magic makes it easier to investigate data integrity issues if there are questions about the data being displayed. Often times people have questions about the data while they are using it, which means the data could be filtered or displayed at a different level of granularity. This can lead to a lot of confusion about what data is being questioned. Adding a snapshot helps determine where the issue is occurring and makes up for vague comments. To add a snapshot, simply click the icon in the lower left corner of the comment pane.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikAS1qWmoFJTpO008RFAsrMgwagP6F21TAMl2J84NjBP60ulPbTd7mV2PP4dTNvfP7AfVf16O8kCiU-GcuaWp1o9_dC0OB5TlHhwlgEdYYNe6sud4mm5IohYGQ6qpr54Zo6UsDfqg_e9MSoehOE6LnzSODBzAK_kRpnZGSizUBfO8m9SAIUr_SQs_i/s1568/comments%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikAS1qWmoFJTpO008RFAsrMgwagP6F21TAMl2J84NjBP60ulPbTd7mV2PP4dTNvfP7AfVf16O8kCiU-GcuaWp1o9_dC0OB5TlHhwlgEdYYNe6sud4mm5IohYGQ6qpr54Zo6UsDfqg_e9MSoehOE6LnzSODBzAK_kRpnZGSizUBfO8m9SAIUr_SQs_i/s16000/comments%205.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I hope this is one feature you start to use more often!</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-90340742737730626382022-09-30T20:23:00.002-05:002022-10-03T07:36:26.680-05:00Underutilized Tableau Features Part 1: Descriptions<p>Descriptions are an underutilized feature in Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud. Many objects on the server can have a description, such as projects (basically folders to organize content), data sources, and workbooks. The issue is that descriptions aren’t usually standardized and can be haphazard — showing up as a minimalist note on one object, too robust on another, and completely missing from most. What you really want is a description that is concise, clear, and consistent. It needs to provide helpful information, without being overly wordy. And if it has a consistent format across similar objects, it becomes really easy to compare different objects to find the appropriate one.</p><p><br /></p><p>But, descriptions can be difficult to write. It is a burden to articulate the relevant information in just a few sentences. And what is relevant to one person might not be relevant to someone else. Key pieces of information could be left out or it could become too long. That’s why, most of the time, people don’t write anything in that description box.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJso9nbuj9UZFd90MQvfxdktTK3hTDBAtltZA40lXzg0TFd-1drOR5_s1FHzmvXBuSZHsvQB7Rbr7k2NXUFN8tHQ35IGs_V7B_vQC3BOwVg6scg6mCBsmQiusBqkoejqOQaYtzhDWJDlYJTYm3pAuhpLcSji3DiP6w6iUvynJIMfoXDHHGdTWjanIK/s1600/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%201%20Descriptions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJso9nbuj9UZFd90MQvfxdktTK3hTDBAtltZA40lXzg0TFd-1drOR5_s1FHzmvXBuSZHsvQB7Rbr7k2NXUFN8tHQ35IGs_V7B_vQC3BOwVg6scg6mCBsmQiusBqkoejqOQaYtzhDWJDlYJTYm3pAuhpLcSji3DiP6w6iUvynJIMfoXDHHGdTWjanIK/w640-h360/Underutilized%20Tableau%20Features%20Part%201%20Descriptions.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>To make the use of descriptions easy for all, it is best to have a template — a few short sentences that provide the foundation for capturing the necessary information, with blanks for creators to fill in based on their object. A template ensures the right details are being documented, that the descriptions follow a given standard, and that it isn’t a burden for a creator to use. Let’s dive in and talk about what should be included in a template.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Project Descriptions</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Things to Consider</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How are projects used in your organization?</li><li>What is the purpose of the project?</li><li>Is it used to grant access, simply organize, or both?</li><li>Are the contents meant for a specific audience or are they about a certain topic?</li><li>Who has access to the project?</li><li>How is access granted?</li><li>What types of content belong in the project?</li><li>Who creates objects for this project?</li></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sample Template</h3><p><i>This project contains information pertaining to _____ and is intended for use by _____. This project is secured by the _____ group.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Data Source Descriptions</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Things to Consider</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What is the underlying system or source of the data?</li><li>Is it joined with other data?</li><li>Have any transformations been performed?</li><li>Have any filters been applied?</li><li>What is the level of granularity? What does each record represent?</li><li>When is the data available?</li><li>Who has access to the data?</li><li>How is access granted?</li><li>If there are questions, who is the subject matter expert?</li></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sample Template</h3><p><i>This data is sourced from _____ and is joined with _____. Each record represents _____. It is updated on a _____ basis. For questions, please reach out to _____.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Workbook Descriptions</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Things to Consider</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What is the purpose of the workbook?</li><li>What questions does the content attempt to answer?</li><li>How should users utilize the content?</li><li>Who should use the workbook?</li><li>Are there any caveats when using the views?</li><li>Have any filters been applied across the entire workbook?</li><li>If data sources are embedded in the workbook, consider all the elements from the data source section above.</li></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sample Template</h3><p><i>This workbook was developed to answer questions about _____ and is intended for use by _____. For questions, please reach out to _____.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">From Underutilized to Utilized</h1><p>Based on the answers to the prompts above, your templates may need to be different. Please customize them as needed to capture the information you deem necessary. Keep them in an easy-to-find place and encourage everyone to use them. Also, know that descriptions will need to be modified on a case-by-case basis, even if you have a template. Templates are meant to be a helpful guide and not a rigid construct.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, let me show you where these descriptions can be found. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Projects</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFtmEW0K_Kq9SZMZfF8iAdPZWmY8R3qfUcnxBn8B917VDihMis2YjKDCveLOU4Ov5ec9MW0csYdBHh5pPjw_LCbdDfj0uoiMmK_phK3YCqnnm_Z_PKEZ1sF0QPqyN4EJaajtakTvPIL78EANlR89Qb-1aQ0yUduUxBGKNgWniF7DljCulAyN0qb-F/s975/project%20descriptions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="975" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFtmEW0K_Kq9SZMZfF8iAdPZWmY8R3qfUcnxBn8B917VDihMis2YjKDCveLOU4Ov5ec9MW0csYdBHh5pPjw_LCbdDfj0uoiMmK_phK3YCqnnm_Z_PKEZ1sF0QPqyN4EJaajtakTvPIL78EANlR89Qb-1aQ0yUduUxBGKNgWniF7DljCulAyN0qb-F/s16000/project%20descriptions.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Data Sources</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1RFzpznQBeAHl_MTXf_U9uOaDESNdZ0c8Mz_rhmVoUlkFFXF6ZfRD4GbjAgoMnU4O7TzIdyZ-lwDu3Z7pOlcrtpXyNxI708wEvg5-b_JXiClGUGjVlc6XVJrM8ytEcs4k9PqfRRHQGB3Mu5tYAz-0hdzpU7LpKgZY-qp9lhkoy265iy-wOz2DFnD/s763/data%20source%20descriptions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="763" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1RFzpznQBeAHl_MTXf_U9uOaDESNdZ0c8Mz_rhmVoUlkFFXF6ZfRD4GbjAgoMnU4O7TzIdyZ-lwDu3Z7pOlcrtpXyNxI708wEvg5-b_JXiClGUGjVlc6XVJrM8ytEcs4k9PqfRRHQGB3Mu5tYAz-0hdzpU7LpKgZY-qp9lhkoy265iy-wOz2DFnD/s16000/data%20source%20descriptions.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Workbooks</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-4FGUrgIIzv5ZvUGyC9yCVllPktt5YPvltsbD_U0RKoYDxEcSnCM4JPIQ9KxfwcwLxgjwFRqD0zrXdibTRHXCjayTIc5Avo4Bx-qv5-nJM8wCvvqgG-Z6_5cDbd_s6gEk-8TW_E8BVACmYBmz63JmAxflKwye_7XDMe2CpMmG8ZPwKtOgOJjk0k2/s764/workbook%20descriptions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="764" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-4FGUrgIIzv5ZvUGyC9yCVllPktt5YPvltsbD_U0RKoYDxEcSnCM4JPIQ9KxfwcwLxgjwFRqD0zrXdibTRHXCjayTIc5Avo4Bx-qv5-nJM8wCvvqgG-Z6_5cDbd_s6gEk-8TW_E8BVACmYBmz63JmAxflKwye_7XDMe2CpMmG8ZPwKtOgOJjk0k2/s16000/workbook%20descriptions.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b>Bonus tip: descriptions are searchable within Tableau Server and/or Tableau Cloud, so they are a great way to make it even easier for users to find your content.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>What are you waiting for?!</p><p><br /></p><p>A few minor edits:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The screenshots above are what you see when navigating in Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.</li><li>When creating a project on the server, or when publishing a data source or workbook, you will have the option to include a description. That's where you should use your template!</li><li>Individual fields in a data source can also have a description, though those are harder to templatize. You can read about those on my recent post <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/05/12-enterprise-tips-best-practices-for.html">12 Enterprise Tips & Best Practices for Tableau</a>.<br /></li><li><b>Make sure you <a href="https://brandibeals.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=7313a4ed1bf7e0496cefa623c&id=e19f6dc5f8" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to hear about the next part in this series and other Tableau things.</b></li></ul><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-87690272481104609702022-08-30T19:00:00.002-05:002022-08-30T19:24:55.357-05:00Tableau Catalog is Awesome - Here's Why<p>I work for a medium-sized organization doing big things with data. We run lean and mean, with a handful of extremely talented people making our data architecture serve the needs of the entire organization. We prefer to buy technology over build something custom. So, when <a href="https://www.tableau.com/products/add-ons/catalog" target="_blank">Tableau Catalog</a> came on the scene, I was interested in filling a data governance need we had.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9m90xAs0rCXtlOltyUxRPKwvyIU8OFb_4K0IdbGJ9QnVNWKuJoV_FDMf9Yr03ARZ0S9a62KI0Cw280NpCY8mbxP7ixdq_PyMrjJiCXmQ9NRfbLhZGJ3kaMDiY9B4p_qdfwP6lv3YYv84sNw3y_hWCBHtky6DVMltF6xOUjn28i-razex0DyeMh3Hq/s1600/Tableau%20Catalog%20is%20Awesome.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9m90xAs0rCXtlOltyUxRPKwvyIU8OFb_4K0IdbGJ9QnVNWKuJoV_FDMf9Yr03ARZ0S9a62KI0Cw280NpCY8mbxP7ixdq_PyMrjJiCXmQ9NRfbLhZGJ3kaMDiY9B4p_qdfwP6lv3YYv84sNw3y_hWCBHtky6DVMltF6xOUjn28i-razex0DyeMh3Hq/w640-h360/Tableau%20Catalog%20is%20Awesome.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Tableau Catalog is part of the <a href="https://www.tableau.com/products/add-ons/data-management" target="_blank">Tableau Data Management</a> add-on, which means it is an additional cost. Having this additional component for your Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud deployment unlocks a variety of capabilities. While there are many features included in Tableau Catalog, here are my favorites. </p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Lineage and Impact</h1><p>Out of the box (once you have licensed and enabled the add-on), the first thing you'll get is a new <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/dm_lineage.htm" target="_blank">Lineage</a> tab for every object (workbooks, data sources, lenses, etc.). <b>From here you can explore where the data is coming from and where it is going. </b></p><p><br /></p><p>After navigating to a workbook's lineage tab, the right side of the screen shows that the data is coming from one database (in this case it is a Google Sheets file) and four separate tables. The data is going to six separate sheets, one dashboard, and three metrics. Each of those lineage steps are clickable and will list the corresponding objects.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITHPVtU-nMyXSyXVj0Y8octV8YohL-EAME7x8dlIkWSAHDYIZFBLUR4AzZ-neKLV4irDAkGMSR1mQ6ow-prtMsinluPmeEZuAVvlOrk1MEPw4t58ppg1CujqhR5Q4qvVc-EsikmUcB4CnemdiW9CHfx6HfJ8FE2ckKKJKF6VW4XsiepfMaJHoLy9f/s1129/Tableau%20Catalog%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITHPVtU-nMyXSyXVj0Y8octV8YohL-EAME7x8dlIkWSAHDYIZFBLUR4AzZ-neKLV4irDAkGMSR1mQ6ow-prtMsinluPmeEZuAVvlOrk1MEPw4t58ppg1CujqhR5Q4qvVc-EsikmUcB4CnemdiW9CHfx6HfJ8FE2ckKKJKF6VW4XsiepfMaJHoLy9f/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%201.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Selecting the check box for a field on the left updates the right side of the screen. Since the left side of the screen shows a single data source at a time, by selecting a field from this data source, the number of tables on the right side is updated accordingly to show that this field belongs to one table. The selected field is used in two sheets, one dashboard, and three metrics.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mDsUJdiAABJ0i19GHTQlCNdq0T6M17nM5GfTt1veDh23f-crjUofToziRDHkbosAf7epMs5QD1KYARHc5Bw342L0elpVGlbGf5DpSd5JxbadZwYJG5labaSZd8VGzA3a3LD8E97Tekg7y_ncaeDqQj-9_A2p45O9hnnvKJtEaXKStmDid4xeUrYz/s1177/Tableau%20Catalog%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mDsUJdiAABJ0i19GHTQlCNdq0T6M17nM5GfTt1veDh23f-crjUofToziRDHkbosAf7epMs5QD1KYARHc5Bw342L0elpVGlbGf5DpSd5JxbadZwYJG5labaSZd8VGzA3a3LD8E97Tekg7y_ncaeDqQj-9_A2p45O9hnnvKJtEaXKStmDid4xeUrYz/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%202.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>When selecting the Owners section of the lineage diagram, all the people who own content connected to the workbook, data source, field, etc. will be listed. Clicking the Select All button at the top or manually selecting certain individuals enables the Send Email button, which makes it really easy to let people know that changes to a data source or field might impact them. Tableau Catalog does all that heavy lifting.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbZ-5OvynAvk3fVBD9Y5MMCB7ZhXv4vCtN_f0ftlBOHQUCtnXw3hBCcy3nWkjsif6welxX30SPkbW1Gl4CeSPjf4eiyeviZUIl4nOVdB0YfvcHxb-LaUp195I1-VteW593ZcwPIQC8fJuywag9hQlhjKpyZMHk2kZNoUCmhqstr4v4u5WVLVFX5Ui/s1175/Tableau%20Catalog%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="1175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbZ-5OvynAvk3fVBD9Y5MMCB7ZhXv4vCtN_f0ftlBOHQUCtnXw3hBCcy3nWkjsif6welxX30SPkbW1Gl4CeSPjf4eiyeviZUIl4nOVdB0YfvcHxb-LaUp195I1-VteW593ZcwPIQC8fJuywag9hQlhjKpyZMHk2kZNoUCmhqstr4v4u5WVLVFX5Ui/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%203.png" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Field Descriptions</h1><p>Did you see them? In two of the screenshots above, <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/qs_content_page.htm#describe-fields-in-a-published-data-source-available-if-tableau-catalog-is-enabled" target="_blank">field descriptions</a> are visible. This not only helps understand the data from a lineage perspective, but also when it comes to usability. When an individual is using the data source (whether via Ask Data, in Tableau Desktop, or elsewhere), field definitions will be there to help. In fact, this is not the last time field descriptions will be available to users. More on that later.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57p53XUFZcy95y6gEEfeSrcvmqG2zFoPKTV79Fz3oI1RpgHBKCmzbfQtywQeYkO_Pp16bsBknxsl4jSRcEfzt3IuQyXz0uzjcVfyI3Uje4ftdLEDx8H_UU4hQGsXIqBzScCO6SFHtpeRK4lNu90ru-yuHZOpk3ovwgXI--nWTIKJEmFg8h7NkjWtx/s1137/Tableau%20Catalog%204.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57p53XUFZcy95y6gEEfeSrcvmqG2zFoPKTV79Fz3oI1RpgHBKCmzbfQtywQeYkO_Pp16bsBknxsl4jSRcEfzt3IuQyXz0uzjcVfyI3Uje4ftdLEDx8H_UU4hQGsXIqBzScCO6SFHtpeRK4lNu90ru-yuHZOpk3ovwgXI--nWTIKJEmFg8h7NkjWtx/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%204.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Unfortunately, field definitions do not come out of the box. <b>They must be defined and added by the individual creating the data source.</b> But this effort is not wasted. Not only will the process help the initial developer create a more thoughtful data source, but anyone who uses the data source will benefit. I'm looking forward to a future integration between a business glossary and Tableau Catalog, but for the time being, see my post <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2022/05/12-enterprise-tips-best-practices-for.html">12 Enterprise Tips & Best Practices for Tableau</a> on how to create these definitions. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlwhetNbPpXnSE3Wu33EMEdpHF9BkTvz11FCfYAlXwE8tt4Re5jCKrv268WDTeG-G2_F9vu-7R_e1Msd5v34Jwn5Y3-PZu6YgJ3VrYfvNod2-pNBfkwfuTei3P9eGz9OFfaFi_VdSPRAivEcngd01WDY8fimv7W0qjKEaHCuMSet_JEcpOW3gdNme/s3366/Enterprise%20Tips%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2833" data-original-width="3366" height="539" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlwhetNbPpXnSE3Wu33EMEdpHF9BkTvz11FCfYAlXwE8tt4Re5jCKrv268WDTeG-G2_F9vu-7R_e1Msd5v34Jwn5Y3-PZu6YgJ3VrYfvNod2-pNBfkwfuTei3P9eGz9OFfaFi_VdSPRAivEcngd01WDY8fimv7W0qjKEaHCuMSet_JEcpOW3gdNme/w640-h539/Enterprise%20Tips%203.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Data Quality Warnings</h1><p>Another feature that is immediately available upon configuring Tableau Catalog is the <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/dm_dqw.htm" target="_blank">data quality warning</a>, which applies to published data sources. There are two options: a quality warning and a monitoring warning.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILxqIV3fQNsECddlXsd14XWjYVLAHZM4fAP2Mp-pq70IWjMs05AbDrjZb5e_YJ7UF7ewwFy43-rvugy48CiEwn0l96WJ9LevHiD-XO3PS_CIbIajhw8rb9OdX6i1kvHKQvi8FMKqyZe3FzjydexHc5ayBwx9T2Ug-Rfk6ywlzXOKk67jC2efdeAo1/s1064/Tableau%20Catalog%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1064" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILxqIV3fQNsECddlXsd14XWjYVLAHZM4fAP2Mp-pq70IWjMs05AbDrjZb5e_YJ7UF7ewwFy43-rvugy48CiEwn0l96WJ9LevHiD-XO3PS_CIbIajhw8rb9OdX6i1kvHKQvi8FMKqyZe3FzjydexHc5ayBwx9T2Ug-Rfk6ywlzXOKk67jC2efdeAo1/w640-h360/Tableau%20Catalog%205.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b>The quality warning is set and removed manually by the data source owner or administrator.</b> There are a variety of settings, such as the type of warning and how visible the warning should be to end users. A custom message can also be configured. Ultimately, this warning is shown on the data source page, in Tableau Desktop, in the Data Details pane, and in subscriptions where the affected data source is used. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRL34-tdXlmpxCTyUb80lnyXpyzJQzc9Xc7PHOrkHN17pX8ifK2mIqb3Pu0jnuIQ3qV40fDqd7rerZRaEdZ3dvsc797K-i9P0fvG8zVgqIlm2RMtFPecNyY51tiy0Ozp79hkb7OkcQj1ptQn1S_JrcGXFCTDgbiPfNNqGtzKbIa6B3GcnQb2OwMMD/s778/Tableau%20Catalog%206.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="515" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRL34-tdXlmpxCTyUb80lnyXpyzJQzc9Xc7PHOrkHN17pX8ifK2mIqb3Pu0jnuIQ3qV40fDqd7rerZRaEdZ3dvsc797K-i9P0fvG8zVgqIlm2RMtFPecNyY51tiy0Ozp79hkb7OkcQj1ptQn1S_JrcGXFCTDgbiPfNNqGtzKbIa6B3GcnQb2OwMMD/w424-h640/Tableau%20Catalog%206.png" width="424" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUo-Azlx4O2PBjBBhEk_b2i_m9Tpxehjfkr5NJ4efzT14SZbAFSZIJG1DsJMEgukJHvpZA6qenprqyRcPc90ObGm435UXEktQb7m3ID3L7KkwzcQwgL8IpvOwxUvJst-3uKjgj77ajzq6e6zGEUKv2lz1AAJ2w5dr_Ngy4pc4JZLuzr89Sf0spqWw/s1055/Tableau%20Catalog%207.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="1055" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUo-Azlx4O2PBjBBhEk_b2i_m9Tpxehjfkr5NJ4efzT14SZbAFSZIJG1DsJMEgukJHvpZA6qenprqyRcPc90ObGm435UXEktQb7m3ID3L7KkwzcQwgL8IpvOwxUvJst-3uKjgj77ajzq6e6zGEUKv2lz1AAJ2w5dr_Ngy4pc4JZLuzr89Sf0spqWw/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%207.png" /></a></div><br /><p><b>The monitoring warning is automatically applied in the event a refresh does not complete successfully</b>, once it has been configured. It shows up in the same places the quality warning appears. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-2oaqLC9p82FdaGf9ThXaRBgLl5Bt0Fu-c87brA2QWC46nw3gdWd5Z7K_S9NMkf-pbHyR4kFVSfrdZjipKbWPUTFYPTbgCidXETmhVXaHOQmk3fJWWTU1mEsjj6nl49BrCPuhoT51kdfTh_hzDO3O2pQx-1-MrgWaj5UhXaPqd3WbGst-berpbAX/s705/Tableau%20Catalog%208.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="518" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-2oaqLC9p82FdaGf9ThXaRBgLl5Bt0Fu-c87brA2QWC46nw3gdWd5Z7K_S9NMkf-pbHyR4kFVSfrdZjipKbWPUTFYPTbgCidXETmhVXaHOQmk3fJWWTU1mEsjj6nl49BrCPuhoT51kdfTh_hzDO3O2pQx-1-MrgWaj5UhXaPqd3WbGst-berpbAX/w470-h640/Tableau%20Catalog%208.png" width="470" /></a></div><br /><p>Tableau Catalog makes it incredibly easy to let the organization know that:</p><p></p><ul><li>a data source is being worked on</li><li>data is delayed due to a third-party vendor issue</li><li>a data source will eventually be retired</li><li>a data source contains sensitive information</li><li>etc. </li></ul><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>The possibilities are endless. I plan to explore this further and provide data quality templates. So, <a href="https://brandibeals.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=7313a4ed1bf7e0496cefa623c&id=e19f6dc5f8">make sure you subscribe</a>!</b></h3><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Data Details</h1><p><b>With Tableau Catalog enabled, field descriptions defined, and data quality warnings in place, the Data Details pane becomes an invaluable tool for end users.</b> When looking at a view, click the Data Details button and a pane on the right side of the screen will appear. This screen provides an overview of how often this view is referenced, along with project and owner information. Next, the data sources will be listed, along with any data quality warnings that might be activated. Finally, the fields used in the view are listed and can be expanded to provide data definitions and/or calculated field logic. This pane gives end users additional information about data freshness, behind the scenes logic, and business definitions that allow them to self-serve and get to answers faster.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaMQl_HKqQ4NjHMMrD1gl8Lc2u618N_sMzRAHMauCIaNYofZmdOllbJ8FtaDhMrOcCIyFAuKYlbA1F37RVnciTkT23YE4VEjTQ7AduUCY8HO2xysIxamiFZt6_IqJQ9muU2Toj4NtYEKKnFNdePKIDn_IWZbqLRvyGIeSCnBxgDz5uCv2-3kQMHSS/s1448/Tableau%20Catalog%209.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaMQl_HKqQ4NjHMMrD1gl8Lc2u618N_sMzRAHMauCIaNYofZmdOllbJ8FtaDhMrOcCIyFAuKYlbA1F37RVnciTkT23YE4VEjTQ7AduUCY8HO2xysIxamiFZt6_IqJQ9muU2Toj4NtYEKKnFNdePKIDn_IWZbqLRvyGIeSCnBxgDz5uCv2-3kQMHSS/s16000/Tableau%20Catalog%209.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>With the addition of Tableau Catalog to our Tableau deployment, I find that I am curating data sources differently than I did in the past. Here are a few things that have changed:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Putting more thought into the name of each field</li><li>Ensuring each field has a clear definition</li><li>Creating an Ask Data lens so users can ask questions of the data in an ad hoc fashion</li><li>Setting up a refresh schedule for each data source</li><li>Setting up a monitoring warning for each data source</li></ul><div><br /></div><div>Hopefully you are just as excited as I am about <a href="https://www.tableau.com/products/add-ons/catalog" target="_blank">Tableau Catalog</a> and the world of possibilities that it can open up.</div><div><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-25351188318076160092022-08-02T10:29:00.000-05:002022-08-04T08:00:32.870-05:00Data Analytics Careers Summit<p>At the beginning of the year, I participated in a panel discussion about my job in data analytics at my alma mater, Beloit College. Every student I spoke with had the same question: <b>How do I prepare myself to get a job in data analytics?</b> </p><p><br /></p><p>There isn’t just one thing you can do to prepare yourself, but a lot of little things and dedicated effort. SQL and python skills, courses in business and computer science, projects and internships, along with networking, are all valuable components that would make students stand out during the hiring process.</p><p><br /></p><p>What struck me most, though, was that students didn’t seem to realize the variety of roles in the data space and how a technical degree isn’t necessarily a requirement. Dustin Schimek and I want to correct misconceptions around who is well-suited for the data analytics field and give practical advice based on… you guessed it, data.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Survey</h1><p>We have surveyed over 200 data professionals on their careers, how they got their start, and the skills they use most. We are summarizing the results into meaningful takeaways, such as:</p><p><br /></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Most common entry-leave role</li><li>Most valuable skills (because as cool as Keras is, it isn’t required for an entry-level job)</li><li>Whether a graduate degree is necessary</li><li>What roles are next on the career ladder</li><li>Advice from people who have done the job</li></ul><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Event</h1><div><b>We plan on sharing everything we have learned at an <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/data-analytics-careers-summit-discovering-your-path-forward-tickets-349855887377" target="_blank">event scheduled for Friday, August 12th</a>.</b> But, we didn't stop there! We decided to organize a series of panel discussions as well, to speak to the various experiences in the data analytics field. Below is a summary, but you can find more information on each of our speakers, on the <a href="https://datacareerssummit.com/panelists-%26-speakers" target="_blank">Data Careers Summit website</a>.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvIY97Df-poOAnZj9GgUWTT2BWnWDPTvlT5TWGr0rDFVp2T03Cue_jYmm3l7R8NHGGrSLGP-8RvgPAhAbv54E5QR-LgsIw1wyeR9HN4ZJ2yesa82pyZe8MgoFFJkf5ITCtBadtVoqavnWsCJfJSFcPLy4rbwd6HI3X58_Tsp3_LQANbfgvsI0Ak_ZO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvIY97Df-poOAnZj9GgUWTT2BWnWDPTvlT5TWGr0rDFVp2T03Cue_jYmm3l7R8NHGGrSLGP-8RvgPAhAbv54E5QR-LgsIw1wyeR9HN4ZJ2yesa82pyZe8MgoFFJkf5ITCtBadtVoqavnWsCJfJSFcPLy4rbwd6HI3X58_Tsp3_LQANbfgvsI0Ak_ZO=s16000" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Introduction & Opening Keynote</h2><p>We will open with a story about the experiences that led us to arranging the survey and event. Then, we have a special guest (to be announced) who will speak to the power of data analytics.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioHLuzHMEERXcUWb6gtwTlT2kgW6Lfp1s5Alb0OErxUNHMo50zM4zOpBJ0OZSYiGZ8z2SiYzoW3HZex5Oyje_3F02fgJ1grx7lm72CaVLK0hC9XMzzbN9FXwvyx2WbmXsEIULu7AU1ctTC9en0jF-KvY6O_nZdOQZTS9pAE3c-H3RN2bgpb56WFvkr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioHLuzHMEERXcUWb6gtwTlT2kgW6Lfp1s5Alb0OErxUNHMo50zM4zOpBJ0OZSYiGZ8z2SiYzoW3HZex5Oyje_3F02fgJ1grx7lm72CaVLK0hC9XMzzbN9FXwvyx2WbmXsEIULu7AU1ctTC9en0jF-KvY6O_nZdOQZTS9pAE3c-H3RN2bgpb56WFvkr=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Hot Trends in Analytics Education & Training</h2><p>Formal education is valuable, and sometimes required, but more and more data skills are learned through experience and training. We've assembled a group of individuals who can speak to the various ways to gain the relevant skills needed for a job in the data analytics field.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMw7MrtHBFpsWCoCHOXO3Ddds6mP9cMw3HerEPvU4sV7_bEuc2vaLY0jqsiYP7anFEq5FtqOeoTOwItbh6yYiRip9e1jObK_-WcEKAhpo-S25JLEc-JpSjrJqzP-EQG_nv_R8wDZEP87Zx5oQrcE3-rTnnubI4HZEpGgmDOBgz1mpAQzCuK_HGCeKW" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1029" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMw7MrtHBFpsWCoCHOXO3Ddds6mP9cMw3HerEPvU4sV7_bEuc2vaLY0jqsiYP7anFEq5FtqOeoTOwItbh6yYiRip9e1jObK_-WcEKAhpo-S25JLEc-JpSjrJqzP-EQG_nv_R8wDZEP87Zx5oQrcE3-rTnnubI4HZEpGgmDOBgz1mpAQzCuK_HGCeKW=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Best Practices for Getting Started in a New Role</h2><p>Once you land the job, it's time to come up to speed quickly and make an impact. The panelists in this session have done just that multiple times and have advice to share. They have even helped onboard and coach those new to the field.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7nhPJda2GS131SBYH--ixL_KNN00yoSh9UMRqHtO8pR9h_HPgnGHbXIGk8dGKFBthKmaxCiLr0Tz19UQYmiqZLT36Q-WndraMVeOKcrhklNH26GjvdEfCy8g9cPBN0oTYKPM9-7KDToC1vp1_ucPGlX-C5aJuC84w199lQtmP1SaYGdjDAjj0sA8k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="892" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7nhPJda2GS131SBYH--ixL_KNN00yoSh9UMRqHtO8pR9h_HPgnGHbXIGk8dGKFBthKmaxCiLr0Tz19UQYmiqZLT36Q-WndraMVeOKcrhklNH26GjvdEfCy8g9cPBN0oTYKPM9-7KDToC1vp1_ucPGlX-C5aJuC84w199lQtmP1SaYGdjDAjj0sA8k=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Story Time! Hear the Career Paths of 3 Analytics Professionals</h2><p>Everyone's path is unique, and people come to the data analytics field in a myriad of ways. We want to showcase the varied backgrounds that make up leaders in the analytics space. Come learn about 3 of those experiences, one of which is Kinga. Additional speakers will be announced in the coming days.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHvashLbqKyE_5s48WLFDpH51AdJHnr514SwMf8K3_NHJkkskaFRmSb2y9hEzYC3pEJLba0Q82znQFTDrKfeaEDWcmNTGoc0AfijVs3UUJ0_GHcdzf2AVfL-ZyhErEyCJOwUM3s2qav6S3DApome4jdGMgryv2HePA1NAgGmBxzb7rnLlm-05qP3T6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="973" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHvashLbqKyE_5s48WLFDpH51AdJHnr514SwMf8K3_NHJkkskaFRmSb2y9hEzYC3pEJLba0Q82znQFTDrKfeaEDWcmNTGoc0AfijVs3UUJ0_GHcdzf2AVfL-ZyhErEyCJOwUM3s2qav6S3DApome4jdGMgryv2HePA1NAgGmBxzb7rnLlm-05qP3T6=s16000" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Path to Success</h2><p>In the last session we will share our findings from the survey and the most recent Data Jobs Report. If this event sounds exciting and impactful, we encourage you to sign up below and share with others.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/data-analytics-careers-summit-discovering-your-path-forward-tickets-349855887377" target="_blank">Register for the free event!</a></li><li><a href="https://datacareerssummit.com/panelists-%26-speakers" target="_blank">Learn more about each of the speakers.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/datacareerssummit/" target="_blank">Follow the Data Careers Summit LinkedIn page.</a></li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-61971278677742304522022-05-31T22:36:00.036-05:002022-05-31T22:41:39.757-05:0012 Enterprise Tips & Best Practices for Tableau<p>Tableau is an amazing tool, with drag and drop functionality that makes it extremely easy to use. You can connect to an Excel file in 1 minute, build a chart in 2 minutes, and create a dashboard in 10. But, in a year from now will you know what your goal was? Will others on your team know how to support the workbook you created? Will your creation be easy to use by end users or feel trustworthy? Below are a handful of my favorite enterprise best practices for you to make the most out of your Tableau journey over the long run.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BToYyvQwL9BJu60c_4crOeaAQ9_AkmH3Rz4lyunx9XHI0HKQG6ZbnTGtXsrVISwZMevuvddan2zW2oVbeKYymuD0Qrd38hn_voJu-lmjW6z-7FLp0qVXXTT3alR3k8zKMZW1uQDFL0Y8oVQoNWRgja-A69k8ObEQ4IQAm3_L0oIJId9fdsArTnQq/s1600/12%20Enterprise%20%20Tips%20&%20Best%20Practices%20for%20Tableau.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BToYyvQwL9BJu60c_4crOeaAQ9_AkmH3Rz4lyunx9XHI0HKQG6ZbnTGtXsrVISwZMevuvddan2zW2oVbeKYymuD0Qrd38hn_voJu-lmjW6z-7FLp0qVXXTT3alR3k8zKMZW1uQDFL0Y8oVQoNWRgja-A69k8ObEQ4IQAm3_L0oIJId9fdsArTnQq/w640-h360/12%20Enterprise%20%20Tips%20&%20Best%20Practices%20for%20Tableau.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Setup:</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Branded Color Palette</h2><p>With a little bit of effort you can turn your organization's colors into a palette for use within Tableau. <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2015/02/custom-color-palettes-in-tableau.html">This post</a> walks you through how to modify your Tableau preferences file to include corporate colors. Once created, you will need to disseminate it to other users, so consider making it part of your onboarding process. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYpl-NNvGeTqhkjBqNFy_0uViYVZudwkvx45ItAv73ihgQZ7B7fM9hR9eWEOKYtaWZ88g-tX5TihWAAkOmKO_9v-qZs4Q8moFeVuhOtN44UC9ehTVLX7TfPkZzeFPpRROecGHcUOc-Bpp7B9L8t4uvWf1qw4dNmRETc-GKWa-rcoAUC3J_5Yvwzef/s3407/Enterprise%20Tips%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1592" data-original-width="3407" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYpl-NNvGeTqhkjBqNFy_0uViYVZudwkvx45ItAv73ihgQZ7B7fM9hR9eWEOKYtaWZ88g-tX5TihWAAkOmKO_9v-qZs4Q8moFeVuhOtN44UC9ehTVLX7TfPkZzeFPpRROecGHcUOc-Bpp7B9L8t4uvWf1qw4dNmRETc-GKWa-rcoAUC3J_5Yvwzef/w640-h300/Enterprise%20Tips%201.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Format at the Workbook Level</h2><p>This is also a great time to work with your marketing department on creating a <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2020/03/up-your-game-with-tableau-style-guide.html">style guide</a> for use in Tableau. The extra effort to apply standards to your dashboards shows that you care about what you are building. If you have taken the extra time to make your dashboard look "on brand", you have likely taken the extra time to validate the data and results, too. It also makes them look more professional and trustworthy. Personally, I like to apply this before building any charts because a lot of formatting on each individual sheet depends on the font, size, and colors already defined at the workbook level. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpASwnSttZiCTlZrtVkHO2OqTIKEy5MtW3IXm7FBlmeb-sdff4vzIqHRPv7Rgth8eS4yr7meZH-2iooqqJB0eccMnCDEn3z1tdbEhvGcl2suEnHCoeENHOF4SXluTtz___Cw-lxEZnPdHq4_lbQ5GvvSSELCmDN9dRgqpj0zlvbxjy5tbp8zjxhbk/s3021/Enterprise%20Tips%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2005" data-original-width="3021" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpASwnSttZiCTlZrtVkHO2OqTIKEy5MtW3IXm7FBlmeb-sdff4vzIqHRPv7Rgth8eS4yr7meZH-2iooqqJB0eccMnCDEn3z1tdbEhvGcl2suEnHCoeENHOF4SXluTtz___Cw-lxEZnPdHq4_lbQ5GvvSSELCmDN9dRgqpj0zlvbxjy5tbp8zjxhbk/w640-h424/Enterprise%20Tips%202.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Define Data Fields</h2><p>Adding comments, such as data definitions, to fields in the data pane make them easier to use, both now and in the future. This is especially useful if there is something not intuitive about the data set or if there are codes or acronyms as values. You can add a comment by right-clicking a field in the data pane and navigating to Default Properties > Comment. This comment is visible when hovering over the field either in the data pane or in a view. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWQUyMcCp6ZwQFSTsdjWz8ucH4yyVGgSvZVc48gxm719MOHjZqFGT91wV7I_Zj07dUAjoWuy_v-XCmEBKKyHHqE_n-lqDXAPTDhsrl0hoXRxZ9Na7P9ywXWZerVbnFcUmxsbHBoqALhId9HKnElHgFX7y9rZ7raf8xp_Ik8WZkI4kq8_tWKyiB5bmw/s3366/Enterprise%20Tips%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2833" data-original-width="3366" height="538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWQUyMcCp6ZwQFSTsdjWz8ucH4yyVGgSvZVc48gxm719MOHjZqFGT91wV7I_Zj07dUAjoWuy_v-XCmEBKKyHHqE_n-lqDXAPTDhsrl0hoXRxZ9Na7P9ywXWZerVbnFcUmxsbHBoqALhId9HKnElHgFX7y9rZ7raf8xp_Ik8WZkI4kq8_tWKyiB5bmw/w640-h538/Enterprise%20Tips%202.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Development:</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Document Calculated Fields</h2><p>Another place to add comments is in calculated fields, using "//" as a prefix. This is especially helpful if you have written a complex calculation. Everything after the "//" will be a comment, so you cannot have any part of the calculation on the same line after the comment has started. Where needed, I will break up my calculation into pieces, with each bit commented.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz1rQI9YxhFfR1WZ6iv5zVafUl7UzbPNT1cvzJOm-LT9XW3KaQccDwWeZYIQUzKSJ9dD2MtHiaNF51XeVi4TCJji4k43yxJs1BfH_izHKWuzuUzuZ1MGEXGoIbV9_xs6q3VNR1dVxe5cW8L_JBo2WvSYqSiOyq4hDbu1aZz_DogMIqVxkunYnr3B0/s824/Enterprise%20Tips%204.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="824" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz1rQI9YxhFfR1WZ6iv5zVafUl7UzbPNT1cvzJOm-LT9XW3KaQccDwWeZYIQUzKSJ9dD2MtHiaNF51XeVi4TCJji4k43yxJs1BfH_izHKWuzuUzuZ1MGEXGoIbV9_xs6q3VNR1dVxe5cW8L_JBo2WvSYqSiOyq4hDbu1aZz_DogMIqVxkunYnr3B0/w640-h276/Enterprise%20Tips%204.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Use Captions to Leave Notes</h2><p>A fairly unknown component of a view is the caption, which provides an automatically generated summary that describes the chart, by default. I like to turn this unused component into a place where I can leave myself or my team notes. These notes can be links to the inspiration for the chart, sources, or step-by-step instructions on how to modify the chart. Right-click anywhere on the light gray background of a view and toggle on the Caption box. Double click the text box and replace the automated text with any notes you want to leave.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZIXCXXDjPt_h1xWUrjU82aczW6Bt1IzKdkdq4Og0P4O1wTIIvwieRy6VbUyvjujrTVP5JITZ0UpsXgbQbbg20ADz69Tr4qPS1PzZnuvNPWNSkp2KlwtbPSng9I6d8y26LM4dBKMD4YLauOVdquU8VU7HC7Um8ErqUrbpeYzX2HlBgmUdUDxbje1S/s698/Enterprise%20Tips%205.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="698" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZIXCXXDjPt_h1xWUrjU82aczW6Bt1IzKdkdq4Og0P4O1wTIIvwieRy6VbUyvjujrTVP5JITZ0UpsXgbQbbg20ADz69Tr4qPS1PzZnuvNPWNSkp2KlwtbPSng9I6d8y26LM4dBKMD4YLauOVdquU8VU7HC7Um8ErqUrbpeYzX2HlBgmUdUDxbje1S/w640-h640/Enterprise%20Tips%205.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Allow Refresh Access</h2><p>Once you have curated the data source, created the branded dashboards, and left your future self plenty of documentation, it is time to publish your masterpiece to either Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud (formerly known as Tableau Online). You should be using one of these technologies when working in an enterprise setting because they allow for waaaaay more automation and scalability. Depending on the data system you're getting data from, your screen may look different, but ultimately you want to give Tableau Server/Cloud the ability to get new data from that system on some regular basis.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhE8PvAS1d5AczToqvsuCRDIpD_NlA0XiUxjdf3l77VxO6R8Vv0AbJwXWOOY97dn5uc5h2ql8Tj5Y7lzhlHwwT2sKXZEhpuJG8f0H0ioytKYSRuZvMrzzc62m_cjLxW9RA7X--xMmmIJH-dsuREdl7RWZP_DgvToO3rQt9MyhwvK-lsWlrzVWObeO/s722/Enterprise%20Tips%206.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhE8PvAS1d5AczToqvsuCRDIpD_NlA0XiUxjdf3l77VxO6R8Vv0AbJwXWOOY97dn5uc5h2ql8Tj5Y7lzhlHwwT2sKXZEhpuJG8f0H0ioytKYSRuZvMrzzc62m_cjLxW9RA7X--xMmmIJH-dsuREdl7RWZP_DgvToO3rQt9MyhwvK-lsWlrzVWObeO/w532-h640/Enterprise%20Tips%206.png" width="532" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1>Automation:</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Refresh Data Extracts</h2><h1><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Once published or during the publishing process, opt to refresh the data on a regular cadence. This will keep you from having to manually update your dashboard every day/week/month/etc. It will also ensure your dashboard is kept up-to-date with the latest data. The account that runs Tableau Server/Cloud will need access to the underlying source system, so check on that if you have issues.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4APFcg_9kooN3bT_nJvzZTaaqdZhvFICLRH0U7j4MUNVxjMG4_b0plj_2WnE07b1l--EB9haomfws0s2dM9xTLkmFroaj1eIVIbXrh9HLLaBJlrTX-ruykq7LvNBvgl9GV6QBAogeou6ai7e0OkIU5v-qkOZQ9wH4GPMPVz3-J_drwPHFjo8JmJFt/s1106/Enterprise%20Tips%207.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="1106" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4APFcg_9kooN3bT_nJvzZTaaqdZhvFICLRH0U7j4MUNVxjMG4_b0plj_2WnE07b1l--EB9haomfws0s2dM9xTLkmFroaj1eIVIbXrh9HLLaBJlrTX-ruykq7LvNBvgl9GV6QBAogeou6ai7e0OkIU5v-qkOZQ9wH4GPMPVz3-J_drwPHFjo8JmJFt/w640-h418/Enterprise%20Tips%207.png" width="640" /></a></div><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><br /></p><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><br /></p></h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Setup Subscriptions</h2><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Even the best dashboards get used less over time. Unless the dashboard is part of a regular process, end users may forget it exists. An excellent feature that is native to Tableau Server/Cloud is the ability to send emails with a snapshot of a dashboard at a point in time. This increases user adoption of your work and keeps it top of mind. I have also used subscriptions to my advantage, by modifying my dashboards to showcase actionable information that entices end users to click on the snapshot to be taken to the live, interactive dashboard. Depending on the version of Tableau you are using, you can either click the Watch dropdown and select Subscriptions or click the Subscribe button along the top ribbon. Users can subscribe themselves or workbook owners can subscribe people on their behalf.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9Xhhvd7MDAEwZiIbDigon_8Tdq03U3k7F7p8Tn1fOZ01r6un5HuW7lMuFjTCF8WOsIwHQjMCOG77xL3irFjTpDVpXN9YTd-_3-W8BCnVDzJvyySCP-l1NfZMO2cuLLEg5IlFW1JmLTZBytsu6_IUKIQPg22Mi4XPUkCI2D6iEQAvr5q0PdWb5fmy/s1143/Enterprise%20Tips%208.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1143" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9Xhhvd7MDAEwZiIbDigon_8Tdq03U3k7F7p8Tn1fOZ01r6un5HuW7lMuFjTCF8WOsIwHQjMCOG77xL3irFjTpDVpXN9YTd-_3-W8BCnVDzJvyySCP-l1NfZMO2cuLLEg5IlFW1JmLTZBytsu6_IUKIQPg22Mi4XPUkCI2D6iEQAvr5q0PdWb5fmy/w640-h342/Enterprise%20Tips%208.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Create Metrics</h2>In addition to subscriptions, end users or workbook owners can create metrics to track KPIs. Similar to subscriptions, there is a button at the top of the Tableau Server/Online interface that allows you to create a metric. A panel will open and prompt you to select a metric on the dashboard that it will use to generate the KPI. The metric will be saved as a separate object on Tableau Server/Online, though it is tied to the originating object. I believe metrics will start to become more popular in the near future, as they allow users to customize their experience in Tableau and see the data that matters most to them.<div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3hpbIA95mO9x8EETSvqLzXCU9KSSXy0c9MVsmckMrFEnSo5Uog20Rkv8hdqusczwBNyT9OQDcHts1UfwHv36Es_fWCK7hhJ6XccBC3FaCITAyk13axymhoGyx__ekK4B4ghcpstrmNDuAMfsyHZhlaEW_KZ3g0tcwT3RR5rozMF-7FxuqW6GIvK2/s1070/Enterprise%20Tips%209.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="1070" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3hpbIA95mO9x8EETSvqLzXCU9KSSXy0c9MVsmckMrFEnSo5Uog20Rkv8hdqusczwBNyT9OQDcHts1UfwHv36Es_fWCK7hhJ6XccBC3FaCITAyk13axymhoGyx__ekK4B4ghcpstrmNDuAMfsyHZhlaEW_KZ3g0tcwT3RR5rozMF-7FxuqW6GIvK2/w640-h432/Enterprise%20Tips%209.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ztk1ufyUeb8IbwCsglJuUd4g6_M2WWulPGfcQWdD2U38JTjYZsHBiRrbQYGI-IlUd50X8vqwi2tlzx9MM_SjhrOxgjfEVWxP0-Sb6JmOhMFk_6cpekIGeSppUb8mB1xCtZK0LOqLWHuU1rN6madkD4YJv9WoZBvEOEajKCK53Uu8IC_zK0A3LPzE/s1188/Enterprise%20Tips%2010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="1188" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ztk1ufyUeb8IbwCsglJuUd4g6_M2WWulPGfcQWdD2U38JTjYZsHBiRrbQYGI-IlUd50X8vqwi2tlzx9MM_SjhrOxgjfEVWxP0-Sb6JmOhMFk_6cpekIGeSppUb8mB1xCtZK0LOqLWHuU1rN6madkD4YJv9WoZBvEOEajKCK53Uu8IC_zK0A3LPzE/w640-h260/Enterprise%20Tips%2010.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Metadata:</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Click Data Details</h2><p>Another button at the top of a dashboard is one called Data Details. It is only visible if you have purchased the Data Management Add-On from Tableau. If you do not have this additional functionality yet, you should consider it. There are many reasons, which I will not cover now (it might be a future topic, so subscribe), but one of the major benefits is that it provides information to the end user about the dashboard. Author information, data source names and refresh dates, as well as those field definitions from earlier.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbipYr55osyz3m7Vzfp3DDgDLbNsZpz4unQIH7FEXvOhvAWzrxc16BcmE_um9nUHr8B0nVyFQtqf6iomDYNPIbp9px2jPz8CvPvZLLuSHk8IYKQG-IE-YKR34IVsEYA0N1GVf2MAtLQrQaY0C13340enTqDJW8e9ai4ZlJgc2Wvt_5vwC4m2XZAzaN/s1072/Enterprise%20Tips%2011.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="1072" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbipYr55osyz3m7Vzfp3DDgDLbNsZpz4unQIH7FEXvOhvAWzrxc16BcmE_um9nUHr8B0nVyFQtqf6iomDYNPIbp9px2jPz8CvPvZLLuSHk8IYKQG-IE-YKR34IVsEYA0N1GVf2MAtLQrQaY0C13340enTqDJW8e9ai4ZlJgc2Wvt_5vwC4m2XZAzaN/w640-h432/Enterprise%20Tips%2011.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Utilize the Comments Pane</h2><p>Often times, end users catch things we missed or they have questions. An easy way for them to provide feedback and ask questions is through comments. The comment button offers an easy way to have a conversation right where the data lives. Users can even include a screenshot, as of a point in time, to show what they are seeing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmcI3hPDrNqqBC9sM94QFFWlCBz1Fsl6Q2nWtlxcH_fGHkzsk-uK3K3dFkc2Hq_VEgWjuIgV9I7s4fsNXiwNwf_hnye7XCuqYg_AUmBZtK05tQULWcoe-fR8SQEMxF1LjrY63FE0Voic9wYWhpycRchqwVrIoBd8PMF--UCjDqnzRhirbln8uOm6k/s956/Enterprise%20Tips%2012.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="956" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikmcI3hPDrNqqBC9sM94QFFWlCBz1Fsl6Q2nWtlxcH_fGHkzsk-uK3K3dFkc2Hq_VEgWjuIgV9I7s4fsNXiwNwf_hnye7XCuqYg_AUmBZtK05tQULWcoe-fR8SQEMxF1LjrY63FE0Voic9wYWhpycRchqwVrIoBd8PMF--UCjDqnzRhirbln8uOm6k/w640-h484/Enterprise%20Tips%2012.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Create an Ask Data Lens</h2><p>If you really want to blow people's minds, consider creating an Ask Data Lens for any curated data source users may have ad hoc questions they want to ask. First, the data source needs to be published to Tableau Server/Cloud separately. Then, you need to create a new lens, which allows for additional curation. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wslv437REbsAJTcm33iFm1Rq1ZQgN_0CQOwb72iVvLQwin-8wHaAJf9V5Xuik10w6RMPwMayJjH8wirGcb2KRhoX1jyQCHu5tiu2J9S1S8xT8Wo1Q8mB_c_atJO2KSZfA5E0GialN7KmUqde6q25MNGJqN1qFUTGMl3THgY8zVu0pd8MFRzvb5w8/s4303/Enterprise%20Tips%2013.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3009" data-original-width="4303" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wslv437REbsAJTcm33iFm1Rq1ZQgN_0CQOwb72iVvLQwin-8wHaAJf9V5Xuik10w6RMPwMayJjH8wirGcb2KRhoX1jyQCHu5tiu2J9S1S8xT8Wo1Q8mB_c_atJO2KSZfA5E0GialN7KmUqde6q25MNGJqN1qFUTGMl3THgY8zVu0pd8MFRzvb5w8/w640-h448/Enterprise%20Tips%2013.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-37525011357818408192022-04-30T23:14:00.002-05:002022-04-30T23:15:46.860-05:00Tips for Building a Resume in Tableau<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRN-EHJJaq_wwL-S-MJFl8t7W8vwRho-8OajSSeNIxLCza-kPryu6X1KSos1rhnemkXS53y4iDzXyHtE6YRJwYeRcLCXC2UfKqg8pZ4j3bKcMjtnUzRo6IRvfSi8RcuZ-DKLkzGDN9nRTmPBf9p40Yo6qfmsO5eRrjGb-r-Xj42U-OQIuZnVCCFEw/s1600/Tips%20for%20Building%20a%20Resume%20in%20Tableau.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRN-EHJJaq_wwL-S-MJFl8t7W8vwRho-8OajSSeNIxLCza-kPryu6X1KSos1rhnemkXS53y4iDzXyHtE6YRJwYeRcLCXC2UfKqg8pZ4j3bKcMjtnUzRo6IRvfSi8RcuZ-DKLkzGDN9nRTmPBf9p40Yo6qfmsO5eRrjGb-r-Xj42U-OQIuZnVCCFEw/w640-h360/Tips%20for%20Building%20a%20Resume%20in%20Tableau.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Do you ever have one of those projects that you've always wanted to complete, but for all your trying, you are never able to finish? For the past 5 years, that project has been to create an interactive and visual version of my resume in Tableau. I've always had grand plans for it and I've spent significant time researching ideas, compiling data, and playing with some chart types in Tableau Desktop. But a final product has never materialized. Until now.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85WoCstVjpG-ZkNLeLelXC1q7zQsQU6MkC5A2UZVtUTzr7aNVU5OcMjkpuF2669SpMcjkuq0k31h1xJSSlxkG1PD_xlPPxXd9NZpWozEDUgkqwSXlH37SqKu8DipTKnRNQCGFioUCK-WI3yH3-rh8oIFjrD30K8awsD54wAt34__9XpMtlGMJiSXD/s1100/Brandi%20Beals%20Resume.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1100" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85WoCstVjpG-ZkNLeLelXC1q7zQsQU6MkC5A2UZVtUTzr7aNVU5OcMjkpuF2669SpMcjkuq0k31h1xJSSlxkG1PD_xlPPxXd9NZpWozEDUgkqwSXlH37SqKu8DipTKnRNQCGFioUCK-WI3yH3-rh8oIFjrD30K8awsD54wAt34__9XpMtlGMJiSXD/w640-h494/Brandi%20Beals%20Resume.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Let's break it down the things I've learned along the way. The first thing with building a resume in Tableau is <b>collecting the data</b>. The Excel file behind the workbook is comprised of 4 tabs: LinkedIn Skills, Skills & Certifications, Events, and Education & Experience. But really, you can <b>structure the data</b> in any way you want. It depends heavily on how you want to visualize the details of your resume. Here's the approach I took.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">LinkedIn Skills</h1><p>We've got some basic bar charts on the right side. These are simply the top 10 skills based on LinkedIn Endorsements, which brings up one the first hurdles: <b>coming up with metrics for the dashboard</b>. Rarely do we quantify things on our resume, so finding ways to do that can sometimes feel arbitrary. LinkedIn Endorsements made that bit easy, even though they may be skewed slightly (Alteryx should be higher and R should be lower).</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXEeHPiye-m1oT8AMosrjvfaB5NIxgs4uyK48lGHQcGxAdgbhTFGWCqS1IlLtZbcc8TuDobDMyNx7IzkADqTmrjNIqvt6BtMozU94fn0WPpxvAPuruU7dsvqRmgumbyWHH6RwxAeZ-uA20HYM5BEYJm2g7B7Tmy_jBhqPpwfjGjxNjYxj1NZZRbOw/s3685/Brandi%20Beals%20Resume%20-%20LinkedIn.jpg.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2011" data-original-width="3685" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXEeHPiye-m1oT8AMosrjvfaB5NIxgs4uyK48lGHQcGxAdgbhTFGWCqS1IlLtZbcc8TuDobDMyNx7IzkADqTmrjNIqvt6BtMozU94fn0WPpxvAPuruU7dsvqRmgumbyWHH6RwxAeZ-uA20HYM5BEYJm2g7B7Tmy_jBhqPpwfjGjxNjYxj1NZZRbOw/w640-h350/Brandi%20Beals%20Resume%20-%20LinkedIn.jpg.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I categorized expertise and technologies differently because there isn't necessary a tool associated with leadership. Maybe a better title would have been soft and hard skills. Because I wanted to limit each chart to the top 10 skills, I needed to add the category field as a context filter.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Skills & Certifications</h1><p>The next hurdle I ran into was that I didn't want everything to be a bar chart! I mean, I love bar charts, but I was <b>looking for a little variety... something to make my resume stand out</b>. That's when I came across the <a href="https://www.flerlagetwins.com/2021/12/coxcomb.html" target="_blank">coxcomb chart</a>, but it didn't seem applicable to my data set (in hindsight, I was incorrect). Eventually I came to the spider or radar chart, which is a fantastic way to show skills in different aspects of data analytics and data science. In fact, because it's a circular graph, it would be conducive to the representation of a lifecycle. Most analytical projects follow a general process, and I have some amount of skill in each of those areas that I wanted to highlight.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlUlpwgKWzuqdALjWG1EJOPi9rNK7GN-wGDzuX33aftyPYioQ_4m14PIa0MlFmEQV8zlWYKC2DYrSzOfFu4QH8-5JUY41KdYs7nKuQEZeUvS9yxycY9ZMcm7Oy0z-yMxGZ_uWCpA0QOXZI4tjSW-g4uK3AMLSJaVCqk27vhN6IPfOrPoh-82a3YGcq"><img alt="" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1162" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlUlpwgKWzuqdALjWG1EJOPi9rNK7GN-wGDzuX33aftyPYioQ_4m14PIa0MlFmEQV8zlWYKC2DYrSzOfFu4QH8-5JUY41KdYs7nKuQEZeUvS9yxycY9ZMcm7Oy0z-yMxGZ_uWCpA0QOXZI4tjSW-g4uK3AMLSJaVCqk27vhN6IPfOrPoh-82a3YGcq=w640-h547" width="640" /></a></div></div><br /><p></p><p>It's a complex chart type, though, and requires cosine, sine, and radian calculations. Ken Flerlage put together a great overview and <a href="https://www.flerlagetwins.com/2019/03/radar-charts.html" target="_blank">template</a> you can use and reverse engineer. He allows for a lot of flexibility and customization, which I found myself getting confused by. After a bit more research I came upon <a href="https://www.pluralsight.com/guides/tableau-playbook-radar-chart" target="_blank">this article</a> by Recnac, which has a much simpler calculation. For this use case, I wasn't expecting users to interact with the chart, so the <b>bells and whistles weren't necessary</b>. I did use Ken's template to create the background image map, though.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Events</h1><p>Because of my passion for data and my involvement with the Tableau Community, I have quite a robust list of events I've had the honor of participating in. In my <b>research and inspiration phase</b>, I came across <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/ann.jackson/viz/AnnJacksonResume/AnnJacksonResume" target="_blank">Ann Jackson's Tableau resume</a> and was thoroughly impressed. It's the best I've seen! It's simple and clean, yet gets across all the relevant information. I particularly like how she visualized all her speaking engagements and community participation. It's wild to me that this section takes up so little space on her resume because it is beyond impressive.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibI7ba3tIjhhCryZn7g6wdCbUqcX3NTaxAngl45M00hIW5MCTxBGMel-QJ7NhIeoydjX6IfTjElhRqPLw_EdA6pvyFoEAlu2oSVHqYMMQ5nlO3XcU5hqD_rlZvL7wGgysp06FP1JsZwVg4A1OjXQs7F8NhOb8ADWGtdtvmChNvmmR2OHE4ZIX0v-g2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1162" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibI7ba3tIjhhCryZn7g6wdCbUqcX3NTaxAngl45M00hIW5MCTxBGMel-QJ7NhIeoydjX6IfTjElhRqPLw_EdA6pvyFoEAlu2oSVHqYMMQ5nlO3XcU5hqD_rlZvL7wGgysp06FP1JsZwVg4A1OjXQs7F8NhOb8ADWGtdtvmChNvmmR2OHE4ZIX0v-g2=w640-h547" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>To be honest, there isn't a lot to this chart besides having a wealth of data. I did create a set to <b>highlight </b>certain milestone events (like <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/resources.html">speaking at Tableau Conference 2018</a>) and I have a dashboard action to take users to a supplementary information page (like the recording from an event).</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Education & Experience</h1><p>This chart was the easiest to conceptualize because we see it all the time. It's on our LinkedIn profiles and on our paper resumes. It's a timeline of every position you've held. I started with a gantt chart, which was okay. I tried creating a simple agenda-style chart as well, but that didn't do justice to the length of time I was at an organization. <b>After some feedback</b> from my wife, we both agreed that this minimal, vertical gantt chart was perfect. It visualized the timeline, while accounting for the length of time, and added an air of mystery to my final dashboard.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx3FGm03jjCFmgKHkFt4NtVhKGVctUNbePuvGusHb1ShAioXS3K94lftPR6LD3bOTz4h3c0gHsofTyxvcwfZaehWwboBHW6fvjeu0F-Of-c5-ikvi7BR_JBtZLDTS03hKvvLlq3DuktSYKRLjOha5slPhyIsAZ3O6XENyEvFkHlfnO0PjyNxWGsFYK" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1162" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx3FGm03jjCFmgKHkFt4NtVhKGVctUNbePuvGusHb1ShAioXS3K94lftPR6LD3bOTz4h3c0gHsofTyxvcwfZaehWwboBHW6fvjeu0F-Of-c5-ikvi7BR_JBtZLDTS03hKvvLlq3DuktSYKRLjOha5slPhyIsAZ3O6XENyEvFkHlfnO0PjyNxWGsFYK=w640-h547" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>I wanted rounded ends on the bars, though, so I did some <b>Googling </b>and came across <a href="https://tableau.toanhoang.com/tableau-qt-rounded-gantt-chart/" target="_blank">this great post</a> by Toan Hoang. A few calculated fields and a small bit of setup was all that was necessary. As you can see from the screenshot, I like to <b>leave myself notes</b> on where I found the documentation and how it works. More tips to come in a future blog post, so <a href="https://brandibeals.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=7313a4ed1bf7e0496cefa623c&id=e19f6dc5f8" target="_blank">subscribe </a>today!<div><br /><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Iteration</h1><p>I'm sure this won't be the last time I'll tinker with my Tableau resume, but I'm ecstatic to finally have a finished product. Hopefully my journey will help you build something even better!</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-80998702509783361702022-03-31T20:42:00.003-05:002022-04-01T08:06:31.863-05:0010 Effective Ways to Engage Your Data Community<p>Whether you are running an internal Alteryx user group, leading an external Tableau user group, building a center of excellence, creating a data literate organization, or anything in between, engagement is critical to success. You likely want others to contribute, either through giving presentations, sharing examples, or asking questions.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXWj-YoivY5CoIE1rKKxWLB-T2Y2VfpFCQiDnucANdxRAcc8mqHYIuX1-ezydUFYdLvgM42uQZHsMkmDdEnQa1xP1rjkSGvUU29134fqLkoz1NE9adBKMJrbowcXIJZXZsnvJ6zmeWDyBU6RKKI6C3iTinlXBv4VTyocmBCppfvL5O10t3gk5teHD/s1600/10%20Effective%20Ways%20to%20Engage%20Your%20Data%20Community.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXWj-YoivY5CoIE1rKKxWLB-T2Y2VfpFCQiDnucANdxRAcc8mqHYIuX1-ezydUFYdLvgM42uQZHsMkmDdEnQa1xP1rjkSGvUU29134fqLkoz1NE9adBKMJrbowcXIJZXZsnvJ6zmeWDyBU6RKKI6C3iTinlXBv4VTyocmBCppfvL5O10t3gk5teHD/w640-h360/10%20Effective%20Ways%20to%20Engage%20Your%20Data%20Community.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Tableau Visionary Sarah Bartlett recently wrote a <a href="https://www.dataleadershipcollaborative.com/data-culture/five-strategies-drive-stronger-data-culture" target="_blank">blog post</a> for the Data Leadership Collaborative that speaks to change management as it relates to data analytics. Sarah’s post, along with an email from a member of my local Tableau User Group asking for advice on starting an internal TUG, was the inspiration for this post.</p><p><br /></p><p>Below are my tips for engaging with your data community, but before we jump in, here are a few other resources that might be helpful:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2016/05/starting-tableau-user-group-tug.html">Starting a Tableau User Group (TUG)</a> (in this post I outline my process)</li><li><a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2020/02/killer-ideas-for-your-next-user-group.html">Killer Ideas for your Next User Group Meeting</a> (different ways to engage attendees)</li><li><a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/07/data-book-recommendations-for-your.html">Data Book Recommendations For Your Journey</a> (there's a great one for community builders)</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Provide examples</h1><p>While technical product demos are nice, they can feel like a sales pitch for community members. Instead, the most meaningful demos are ones from real people, working with real data, making a real impact. Find real-world use cases to highlight.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Connect the dots</h1><p>Often, a demo or example is just the starting point and there are many ways to implement the concept. It’s important to help your data community understand the possibilities and not get stuck in a single use case. Explain the fundamentals of the concept, give multiple examples, and ask for perspectives from others. Oh, and make sure to keep it industry-specific if you’re working internally, or cover many industries if you’re working externally.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Get input</h1><p>It can be easy to feel like you have to have all the answers if you’re the subject matter expert or group leader, but we are all continuously learning. It’s important to model that behavior as well. Post a dashboard you’re working on and ask for feedback or ask the group for their opinion on a certain topic. The bit I find the hardest is to be comfortable with the silence following the question.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Select a theme</h1><p>When running a user group meeting, or building up data literacy at an organization, having a theme for an event or limited timeframe provides a nice guide as you curate content. Not only will the content being shared flow nicely, community members will be in the right frame of mind and more easily be able to focus on the information being shared.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Make it personal</h1><p>As lovely as it would be for someone to step up and offer to present their work, this rarely happens. Instead, I’ve found it most effective to personally ask someone to present on a specific topic (one associated with the theme). Framing the ask in narrow terms helps because it’s a topic that they have been personally selected to speak about. </p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Be specific</h1><p>When asking someone to present or demo their work, I usually ask for a 15-minute presentation, because that amount of time doesn’t seem as daunting as a 30-minute presentation. If you add time for Q&A at the end, the presentation could easily fill 30 minutes.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Incentivize</h1><p>I won’t lie to you, I bribe people to ask questions. Random winners are selected from those who participate in conversations. I use this tactic at user group meetings and internal events as well.</p><p><br /></p><h1>Vary activities</h1><p>I’m always trying to come up with new and exciting ways to engage my data community. Though user group meetings always follow the same format, I try to mix up the activity to keep things fun. Sometimes we use Zoom breakout rooms to brainstorm ideas, other times we’ll play trivia, etc. Similarly, I like to have multiple speakers during an event to keep things from getting monotonous.</p><p><br /></p><h1>Recognize excellence</h1><p>In situations other than user groups, I try to highlight data champions and to work they’re doing within an organization. This spotlight not only recognizes their work, but also makes them a resource for others who might be interested in doing a similar project.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Create connections</h1><p>One of the best feelings as a community leader is when two members of your community share ideas between each other. Everyone has a valuable perspective and getting people to share theirs is a challenge, but when they become a resource for others and ideas are exchanged, magical things can happen. As much as I can, I try to facilitate small group discussions so users can create direct relationships with each other.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comMilwaukee, WI 53208, USA43.0499798 -87.96288414.739745963821157 -123.119134 71.360213636178855 -52.806634tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-6528150223563939052022-02-28T21:24:00.004-06:002022-02-28T21:25:14.106-06:00Realistic AI in Movies (and what they get wrong)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeFfvKEe1QCtDMobh68Vqve36CavpDG9C_cSkyqtVC9_dWSpSxM7uV2eZirfpTd692YAZ6kT0yIsEVb-aEfLxC_agDNYfV6TabHvFaOL8OP0WjvXC1P2ptj8gY9xv8uiDINh0TJ435iZfkn1LhmNlYd7aUMouUTyZqeM-HvMobgLlDRppW4qJeC8jA=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeFfvKEe1QCtDMobh68Vqve36CavpDG9C_cSkyqtVC9_dWSpSxM7uV2eZirfpTd692YAZ6kT0yIsEVb-aEfLxC_agDNYfV6TabHvFaOL8OP0WjvXC1P2ptj8gY9xv8uiDINh0TJ435iZfkn1LhmNlYd7aUMouUTyZqeM-HvMobgLlDRppW4qJeC8jA=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>When I think about the portrayal of artificial intelligence in movies, they typically include a human-like robot of some kind. While robotics is certainly an area of study within the AI space, movies that utilize algorithms as a central component are of more interest to me. I suppose that is because they seem a bit more realistic. Movies like Terminator, Ex Machina, and Her are <b>far from possible at this stage in the AI evolution, which is something people might not realize</b>. Because of the lack of understanding, people may respond dramatically to uses of artificial intelligence where there are perfectly mundane and helpful uses for it. That said, this robot dog thing is creepy AF.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="530" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fn3KWM1kuAw" width="637" youtube-src-id="fn3KWM1kuAw"></iframe></div>
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Alternatively, the movies Moneyball and Minority Report both utilize AI to make some sort of prediction. In the case of Moneyball, the prediction is how many runs a player contributes to in the game of baseball, and in the case of Minority Report, the prediction is if a person will commit a crime. In both cases, a single dependent variable is the output, which accurately reflects the machine learning process. This is the first place most people misinterpret AI. While AI is extremely powerful and can accomplish many things, <b>it usually comes down to a simple question with a single answer that can be used to predict something within the same parameters, under the same assumptions</b>. For example, if a machine hasn't "learned" a word before, it is unlikely it will be able to answer a question that includes that word. The robots in the movies mentioned earlier, would be a compilation of hundreds of thousands of algorithms in order to replicate human behavior (think about all the different, individuals things you do each day -- each of those would need to be its own algorithm).<br />
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Moneyball is the true story of a major league baseball team's use of data to help choose players given their tight budget. Minority Report, on the other hand, might not be considered a movie utilizing AI because the AI is a human with special powers. I feel it's still worthy of inclusion because the special humans make predictions, much like a black-box neural network. The biggest difference between these two movies is that in Moneyball <b>a human is interpreting the results and making an informed decision</b>, while in Minority Report there is no discussion about the prediction, just action. In Moneyball, the data scientist and general manager look at and discuss the analysis, making a decision about individual players given the prediction. In Minority Report, the name of a person about to commit a crime comes out of the black-box and police officers immediately arrest them.<br />
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Through this difference the two movies diverge, with Moneyball providing a positive interaction with AI and Minority Report leaving the viewer with a negative view of AI. I'm sure that was the intention of the latter, and perhaps a commentary on the scary possibility that a government could take action on incomplete or inaccurate information. No one would want to be arrested without actually having done anything wrong. There is also <b>the issue that you don't know what goes into making the prediction</b>, hence the term "black-box". Which brings up one of my favorite topics, confidence! Most predictions have a probability associated with them. How sure is the machine that a person will commit a crime?<br />
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I think it's the unknown, the black-box of AI that people are scared of. That's why <b>it's important to be clear about the assumptions, independent variables, dependent variables, and confidence of an algorithm</b>. This may not be obvious in all cases -- we can't tell people exactly what each node in our neural network does -- but we can try and interpret the results. Doing so is called explainable AI and has been a hot topic at data science conferences. The concern of not understanding or being able to control the algorithm is completely reasonable. One way to combat that fear is through data literacy, which is another big theme in the data space. While most people will not be experts in the data field, they should have a foundational understanding and be able to ask insightful questions of technology companies, news/informational sources, and algorithms used in their every day lives. Of course, through this understanding, individuals can vote and affect change based on their needs.<br />
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<br /></div><div>Want to learn more? I recommend the book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36226295-machines-that-think" target="_blank">Machines that Think</a> for more examples of what's possible. And be sure to check out my <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/07/data-book-recommendations-for-your.html">blog post</a> about books that are helpful on your data journey (Naked Statistics is particularly helpful in asking the right questions as a user of AI).</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and sign up for my <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">Data Book Club</a>! It's a fun and motivating way to read about data topics, discuss them, and network.</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-78847358981247495992022-01-31T22:00:00.002-06:002022-02-01T07:59:09.873-06:00Increase your Data Culture by Embracing these Trends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhztmw6QTrlSpxJlzuxrchE3D7LDCAY7ykzSvuci3QaLWMhbpM-xAb_4LypZck3_sD7X9qGKbQKSCGxMTfH_xJr7-rAB72kkgBKQQW4uJyRWId0MHNDGnSIV-B1CHH8HRqYEPpeiTsEYUbKnNqWFrHlYX-YEfXgFn5e2Xu8ez6lHup8f2BpJtxgcwFW=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhztmw6QTrlSpxJlzuxrchE3D7LDCAY7ykzSvuci3QaLWMhbpM-xAb_4LypZck3_sD7X9qGKbQKSCGxMTfH_xJr7-rAB72kkgBKQQW4uJyRWId0MHNDGnSIV-B1CHH8HRqYEPpeiTsEYUbKnNqWFrHlYX-YEfXgFn5e2Xu8ez6lHup8f2BpJtxgcwFW=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>At the <a href="https://usergroups.tableau.com/Milwaukee" target="_blank">Milwaukee Tableau User Group</a> meeting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyrhjOetpmM&t=82s" target="_blank">last quarter</a> (which was held soon after the Tableau Conference) we asked attendees which Tableau Conference event was their favorite.</p><p><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="text-align: center;">Of course, Iron Viz and Devs on Stage were highly rated, as they should be. They used to be my favorite as well. But, over the past few years, I’ve come to really appreciate the opening keynote with Chief Executive Officer, Mark Nelson, and Chief Product Officer, Francois Ajenstat. It’s full of big picture, industry trends. While it doesn’t give specifics, such as what features will be released soon, it does provides a vision of the impact data has on everyday activities and the trajectory of the company.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnNm41ntyLI" target="_blank">Tableau Tim</a> provided a recap of this keynote on his YouTube channel and you can find the full keynote <a href="https://www.tableau.com/events/tc/2021/tableau-conference-2021-opening-keynote" target="_blank">here</a>. But I'm here to discuss what I’m most excited about, why, and how it’s impacting my 2022 plans. Let's dive in with the overall theme: <b>data for everyone, anywhere</b>.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Integration and Embedded Analytics</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h3><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Data is a member of your team</li><li>You should be able to ask it questions</li><li>And it should let you know when there are issues</li><li>Get notified about the things you care about where you work</li><li>Easily search for the content you want where you already are</li><li>Integrate Tableau into Slack and other applications!</li></ul><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">My Take</h3>First, let me set the stage. In the past, I very often focused my data literacy and Tableau training efforts on business analysts who were developing graphs and dashboards in Tableau Desktop. The analysts would then share their creations with their team via Tableau Server. Great! Except, I didn’t spend much time with the consumers to show them how to navigate around Tableau Server, how to make use of features such as comments, Ask Data, or even subscriptions. Users would likely get emailed a URL and they would bookmark it and that's all that their experience would be. This trend focuses on <b>putting data at the fingertips of consumers, in the tools they already use everyday</b>, almost without ever knowing they're using Tableau. <div><br /></div><div>I envision our sales team needing to answer a client question and using Slack to ask a question that can be answered with a data set or dashboard on Tableau Server. Then asking follow up questions. Or a data owner that needs to be notified immediately if there is an issue with a data source being refreshed so they can resolve it. Taking things a step further, embedding Tableau into other applications that people use help give people a customized experience, and again, put data closer to where they are already working. For example, embedding Tableau into homegrown applications or tools like Salesforce, would extend the reach of data-driven decision making. Heck, even incorporating Tableau content into our internal search engine would make it easy and intuitive for users to find what they need.</div><div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Business (Data) Science</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Streamline decision making</li><li>Extend the capabilities of business analysts</li><li>No-code/low-code tool to build predictive models</li><li>Connect to data and choose a target metric to predict</li><li>Artificial intelligence selects the best model</li><li>Model results can be shared</li></ul><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">My Take</h3>I want people to be excited to derive more insights from their data. In fact, I lead a project to think outside the descriptive analytics box and generate some business ideas that could be solved with predictive analytics. I’m a huge fan of the <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/01/assessing-analytical-maturity.html">analytical maturity curve</a>, as well as no-code or low-code tools and the democratization of data, so I love seeing others in my organization who are passionate about taking that next step in their data maturity. But, <b>I’m also wary of making predictive analytics too easy for those who aren't properly trained</b>, because if you get something wrong with a predictive model you could be making a decision based on incorrect information.</div><div><br /></div><div>What I appreciate is that Tableau CRM (formerly known as Einstein Analytics) helps educate business users every step of the way. That said, users have to have a very good understanding of their data and what they're trying to achieve. Also - and I cannot emphasize this enough - <b>data science is not magic</b>. It might not find interesting patterns in your data. You may need to get more data or different features. </div><div><br /></div><div>As a <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/08/lessons-learned-in-pursuing-masters.html">trained data scientist</a>, there are few things I think organizations can do to ensure success with business science. The first is to have an educational program to onboard data champions and citizen data scientists. The second would be to <b>have a review process before a model goes into production</b>. Perhaps, even generating a risk framework and process to calculate model drift. These thoughts apply to all tools that make it easier to create predictive models, such as Alteryx and DataRobot.</div><div><p></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Data Management</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>With the proliferation of data, order is needed</li><li>Tableau Prep controls data chaos</li><li>Prep Conductor helps to scale</li><li>Add in Data Catalog and you've got a complete picture</li><li>Lineage allows more detailed insight into what is used where</li><li>Data quality warnings can be setup ad hoc or dynamically</li><li>Virtualization helps define governed tables of data</li><li>With centralized row level security</li><li>You can even import a business glossary from another tool</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><h3>My Take</h3><div>Yes yes yes yes yes! It may not be all that exciting to business users, but these capabilities make it easier to build data sets tailored to a specific need and <b>gets us one step closer to that centralized data library we all crave</b>. And while it may take a significant amount of effort to define every field in a data set and comment in every calculated field, you can't argue that those data sets are easier to use. </div><div><br /></div><div>Imagine being able to navigate to Tableau Server and see a list of available data sources. You can explore each one easily because each has been given a logical description as well as every field. Maybe you own one of those data sets and occasionally the data vendor sends the data late or with errors. Instead of worrying about notifying everyone who uses the data, you can set up a data quality warning that automatically gets applied when the data refresh fails. Perhaps one field, in particular, is of concern. You can find that field in the lineage section and see all the places it is used.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Ecosystem & Collaboration</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>There are gaps in wanting to be data driven and getting there</li><li>Investments in Community, Partners, and Platform are being made</li><li>Bring together various components into one symbiotic relationship</li><li>Tableau Academic is growing</li><li>With the need for data jobs and data skills accelerating</li><li>Help people and organization get value from their data faster</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><h3>My Take</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Who doesn't love the idea of a quick start guide or knowledge sharing? Tableau is looking to <b>marshal its resources to get data into the hands of more people</b>. There are many out there who not only love to help, but can extend the capabilities of the Tableau platform by creating third-party extensions and <a href="https://exchange.tableau.com/accelerators" target="_blank">dashboard starters</a> for common data sets. This makes it easy to get started quickly, especially if you're dealing with a not-so-simple data set. Tableau is making possible the sharing of collective knowledge, wisdom, and experience.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">There is also a need to support data literacy and data culture at scale. The <a href="https://www.dataleadershipcollaborative.com/" target="_blank">Data Leadership Collaborative</a> and <a href="https://www.tableau.com/foundation/data-equity/do-no-harm" target="_blank">Do No Harm Guide</a> are two excellent examples of Tableau's stewardship. I appreciate how much everyone associated with Tableau helps lift others up to realize the power of data. Specifically, <a href="https://www.tableau.com/community/academic" target="_blank">Tableau Academic</a>, which is <b>helping to bridge the gap between the demand for people with data skills and the supply</b>. This collaborative nature is only going to continue and will evolve. I'm seeing examples within the finance space, as we combine our efforts in managing data vendors.</p><p><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Hopefully themes from the Tableau Conference keynote inspire your 2022 projects and goals as much as it did mine. I think Francois said it best when we he said:</p><p></p><blockquote>Data needs to be easier to use and trust. </blockquote><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-83931644705162024892021-10-30T16:44:00.003-05:002021-10-30T16:45:32.602-05:00A Step-by-Step Guide on Signing Up for Tableau's Developer Program<p>The <a href="https://www.tableau.com/developer" target="_blank">Tableau Developer Program</a> is not widely known, likely because it caters to the technical and/or administrative side of the Tableau ecosystem. Essentially, it's an instance of Tableau Online for you to play around with and experiment with ways to extend the power of Tableau. For example, using one of the available APIs you can customize the PDF export of a dashboard, script the creation of a new project, or reassign objects (data sources or workbooks) programmatically if a person leaves the organization. There are too many possibilities to name them all, with new ideas being generated every day because of this program.</p><p><br /></p><p>Aside from the awesome things you can do with the tools provided, there are a few other reasons you should consider participating in the program:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>You will get to see the latest Tableau features in action</li><li>You can upskill, applying the skills you already have in new and exciting ways</li><li>You can practice techniques you might not be able to in your current environment</li></ul><div><br /></div><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">So, are you ready to get started?</h1><p>This post is dedicated to the setup process. For individuals who are new to the technical side of Tableau, I hope to demystify the process and show how simple it is to get started. I plan to cover some of the more technical things you can do in future posts and we'll learn together through the process.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMh3YQl8xYmecNC5PF0qHJbtKbiemFhnHj_F0siQ7xhsO7MH0qEXGAVZbXiYyDO_BkXuHB6hmCUcEYkYAPLZ0Q1Khk9ymmB7Fwy-GKBXju5IjhobKHG8MKq7FcIEb1Q2QlE0VOGn6lVI/s1600/Tableau%2527s+Developer+Program.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMh3YQl8xYmecNC5PF0qHJbtKbiemFhnHj_F0siQ7xhsO7MH0qEXGAVZbXiYyDO_BkXuHB6hmCUcEYkYAPLZ0Q1Khk9ymmB7Fwy-GKBXju5IjhobKHG8MKq7FcIEb1Q2QlE0VOGn6lVI/w640-h360/Tableau%2527s+Developer+Program.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Sign Up</h1><p>If you already have an account with <a href="http://tableau.com/" target="_blank">Tableau</a>, sign in, otherwise create an account. Then head over to the <a href="https://www.tableau.com/developer" target="_blank">Tableau Developer Program</a> page and, under the Developer Sandbox drop down, select New Developer Sandbox.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TRnQAnRxTMHfrKm3WlnOOHl4rTIRn-VLT1cUODXtKiMKj8fmRmpMSmPga95kzac2LPosG-mG0wvNmL_efXKbhRsWyag2JXJkMx-WLhjmqqtP7Ofc7pLMRKMLvRIjQ9sE0AfE3dTic0E/s1280/step1-NewDeveloperSandbox.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TRnQAnRxTMHfrKm3WlnOOHl4rTIRn-VLT1cUODXtKiMKj8fmRmpMSmPga95kzac2LPosG-mG0wvNmL_efXKbhRsWyag2JXJkMx-WLhjmqqtP7Ofc7pLMRKMLvRIjQ9sE0AfE3dTic0E/w640-h312/step1-NewDeveloperSandbox.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the next window select the Get Site button. This initiates the creation of your sandbox and you'll soon be receiving an email confirmation. The screen that appears next, though, is important as is makes a clear statement that this sandbox is not for production purposes and can be updated/removed/modified at any time. <b>Keep that in mind as you play around -- you could log in tomorrow and all your content could be gone.</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qWKJHphW-4sXjdfiFdjvY49jU86XS8PhXTZrP8JkNZp43XypjALsN-aENe0cGuIFE16-UJK5dleuEZRBgetRFrGOgKSo3yww9e3DxZCobHU0ffl09BEmYNgOmYJkaIUos9SCiBtHk18/s1280/step2-Agreements.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qWKJHphW-4sXjdfiFdjvY49jU86XS8PhXTZrP8JkNZp43XypjALsN-aENe0cGuIFE16-UJK5dleuEZRBgetRFrGOgKSo3yww9e3DxZCobHU0ffl09BEmYNgOmYJkaIUos9SCiBtHk18/w640-h312/step2-Agreements.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Within a few minutes you should receive an email letting you know that your sandbox is ready. Click that big orange button to login. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfKGqIUsC77sBkS_TZmXy2E-8rJCtHSWly4DjK5N8xHCOccNK8TwT-0lNrZYs5rOx05LHToyJSqCo4XHlLIXRzCV9JX4yCxLsDl40zkQvaCDhOKKmBOTN9XlCyQqz2V1oiHXbPmaZnFk/s744/step3-Confirmation.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="744" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfKGqIUsC77sBkS_TZmXy2E-8rJCtHSWly4DjK5N8xHCOccNK8TwT-0lNrZYs5rOx05LHToyJSqCo4XHlLIXRzCV9JX4yCxLsDl40zkQvaCDhOKKmBOTN9XlCyQqz2V1oiHXbPmaZnFk/w640-h404/step3-Confirmation.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Login using the credentials associated with you Tableau account. The address you can bookmark for future use is <a href="https://sso.online.tableau.com/public/idp/SSO" target="_blank">https://sso.online.tableau.com/public/idp/SSO</a>.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPE-NXX7wL5vC5pdUYJFQmQM73wbCHfdS4fCrikL7qtLi7VcoPMczycXJvUt7BrFSPl6YPW5W6DMM6qqUKRmEnCFe6sQ6JyRNhufc_qaNkVzK_gfLui2O2oTBnHy3id_0rYIOOuL_IEIg/s1280/step4-SignIn.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPE-NXX7wL5vC5pdUYJFQmQM73wbCHfdS4fCrikL7qtLi7VcoPMczycXJvUt7BrFSPl6YPW5W6DMM6qqUKRmEnCFe6sQ6JyRNhufc_qaNkVzK_gfLui2O2oTBnHy3id_0rYIOOuL_IEIg/w640-h312/step4-SignIn.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><h1>Explore</h1></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you're new to Tableau Server or Tableau Online, you'll find a search bar, notification icon, and profile in the upper right corner. The home page has a banner across the top that allows you to create a project, workbook, flow, or data source right in the web browser. It will also show any recent or favorite objects (workbooks, views, data sources, etc.). Sample dashboards come preloaded in the space as well.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTQUe8teElk03i_GDN_clhqlb4j1IMqI0E_LoOiUzcCOrXXnebTn0m4eKE6iWm5MQW-vNwZeyNYk5NcjXCW9RutDkqLfAeINix4J4yb6ntinV5janKUboIxPOzxC1TSlO05Moj38SI5U/s1280/step6-HomeDashboardStarters.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTQUe8teElk03i_GDN_clhqlb4j1IMqI0E_LoOiUzcCOrXXnebTn0m4eKE6iWm5MQW-vNwZeyNYk5NcjXCW9RutDkqLfAeINix4J4yb6ntinV5janKUboIxPOzxC1TSlO05Moj38SI5U/w640-h312/step6-HomeDashboardStarters.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The navigation pane on the left hand side is how you can find content. <b>There are a variety of ways to organization, group, or categorize content -- too much to cover in this post -- but I highly recommend playing around and exploring.</b> That's the whole point of this dedicated space! I like the Explore tab because you will be able to drill into projects, which are folders of content.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiclqyriJNzWxVzJoveMxdC8sbdxjf2BOEYmNbEEkulhi5cWxOEp-mkrnFI5-M5VNp-EwHXaZRElDoO60qEXLTbRwzQjcvxIqLJY0lnr5aqK7JSz3QdPcnIZ2PfF_-sKFSa2AN5TN__ecw/s1280/step7-ExploreProjects.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiclqyriJNzWxVzJoveMxdC8sbdxjf2BOEYmNbEEkulhi5cWxOEp-mkrnFI5-M5VNp-EwHXaZRElDoO60qEXLTbRwzQjcvxIqLJY0lnr5aqK7JSz3QdPcnIZ2PfF_-sKFSa2AN5TN__ecw/w640-h312/step7-ExploreProjects.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Try creating a new project using the dropdown at the top.</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you select a project, like Samples, you'll see all the content that has been saved to that project. Here you can see two workbooks, a data source, and a flow.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTgw20xnf6Qh9kSMwm3a4ZFkBYSDAlG9bIho9Gqw4dNPH4G_trf50GaSZi-Jg8aKDG3VuzUfTQjftm76Wu7BJi_etf7TEjMT9W3jUYu1a7flQ68CFJJ0HkccwbbYOrnE1BLQdL9WRcJQ/s1280/step8-ExploreSamples.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTgw20xnf6Qh9kSMwm3a4ZFkBYSDAlG9bIho9Gqw4dNPH4G_trf50GaSZi-Jg8aKDG3VuzUfTQjftm76Wu7BJi_etf7TEjMT9W3jUYu1a7flQ68CFJJ0HkccwbbYOrnE1BLQdL9WRcJQ/w640-h312/step8-ExploreSamples.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><h1>Update Settings</h1></div><div>In addition to exploring content using the navigation pane, you'll also see settings that only administrators have access to (everything below External Assets). We'll explore some of these programmatically in the future, but for now look at the options under Settings. Brief definitions are given and links are provided for easy reference.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGN-EP9qQ6C9bH3HYzQ-xzO7oiaQ_ifHV46qZMrOM2kHER7LOtduss0X-VUWRbrDF40WN50xdESRJjd9aGQTgOa19Vw_9An9JasZbe2ILtgOczUUkxLYoh3dymvAEqnIJb_SatxOuN8E/s1280/step12-SettingsGeneral.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGN-EP9qQ6C9bH3HYzQ-xzO7oiaQ_ifHV46qZMrOM2kHER7LOtduss0X-VUWRbrDF40WN50xdESRJjd9aGQTgOa19Vw_9An9JasZbe2ILtgOczUUkxLYoh3dymvAEqnIJb_SatxOuN8E/w640-h312/step12-SettingsGeneral.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Extensions is something of particular interest to me. I haven't used them that much in the past, but I plan on exploring them more soon. This sandbox is a great environment in which to play around with them.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIXTfMBbspsYY1XOVnhJNVTlXxm4zPZnnL8vQtebf38G2NthObtQ2_NCEMIIax-RF1SaCBA_HJstjQ4K-WpJ8Y3rjEigiXBK2m7igcdB_I-0bLeMENbkBWOHOhyphenhyphenMMKFFGyN1Es18pMyzc/s1280/step12-SettingsExtensions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIXTfMBbspsYY1XOVnhJNVTlXxm4zPZnnL8vQtebf38G2NthObtQ2_NCEMIIax-RF1SaCBA_HJstjQ4K-WpJ8Y3rjEigiXBK2m7igcdB_I-0bLeMENbkBWOHOhyphenhyphenMMKFFGyN1Es18pMyzc/w640-h312/step12-SettingsExtensions.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The same is true for Integrations. I am so excited to test out the integration between Tableau and Slack! I mean, <b>how powerful would it be if users could simply ask a question of Slackbot and get returned a data-backed response?! </b>Again, this will be something we explore together in the future.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6afr4kmA8vGlVFOzPg0pnP0HCSK7Ezr8sT002yeKS8dzAXMvfPm_ZZAaV2WtrkyH4tteHB-60gI8MQPCL25_CoLkawt1scCce_rl_z2kWXyrvMXzuJxVFT-_SvWxiHmqDs7twCcJKQbo/s1280/step12-SettingsIntegrations.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6afr4kmA8vGlVFOzPg0pnP0HCSK7Ezr8sT002yeKS8dzAXMvfPm_ZZAaV2WtrkyH4tteHB-60gI8MQPCL25_CoLkawt1scCce_rl_z2kWXyrvMXzuJxVFT-_SvWxiHmqDs7twCcJKQbo/w640-h312/step12-SettingsIntegrations.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><h1>Add Content</h1><p>Once comfortable with navigating around, the existing content, and some of the settings, I wanted to try uploading a dashboard from Tableau Desktop to the sandbox environment. To do this, I typically select Server from the menu bar, then Sign in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6453TMqaU7N4UBIb0kwFss3BpaAt7Of7iIoWPJCFBQwoh4G3l379Wx8Hzjz2SE-eOku-rqVmRILpOODGQQ911BtWGCvSsinIUvDa6yBBZvTsm3IMQd-W4dk7V7OMPdKZVWjkxYaLG4MA/s1053/desktop+sign+in.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1053" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6453TMqaU7N4UBIb0kwFss3BpaAt7Of7iIoWPJCFBQwoh4G3l379Wx8Hzjz2SE-eOku-rqVmRILpOODGQQ911BtWGCvSsinIUvDa6yBBZvTsm3IMQd-W4dk7V7OMPdKZVWjkxYaLG4MA/w640-h422/desktop+sign+in.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I entered the same credentials as I did when signing into the sandbox initially.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVIBCT2MmKmrWp3IvrTtQw24zx6gJwf5ZbRkERr35ffcpFlF99tC9DmwE8rz4o_o5E6Y3O9oqm9lVCpHaZyIsj2ycN1yabWOKrfzoQAwHJ5D-a1qxMv7-84mHCfvSshBJFn61TO2ZKC8E/s1053/desktop+sign+in+2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1053" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVIBCT2MmKmrWp3IvrTtQw24zx6gJwf5ZbRkERr35ffcpFlF99tC9DmwE8rz4o_o5E6Y3O9oqm9lVCpHaZyIsj2ycN1yabWOKrfzoQAwHJ5D-a1qxMv7-84mHCfvSshBJFn61TO2ZKC8E/w640-h422/desktop+sign+in+2.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But I got this weird error. I posted it on the <a href="https://community.tableau.com/s/question/0D54T00000C5OqVSAV/join-the-datadev-slack" target="_blank">DataDev Slack workspace</a>, but no one seemed to have much idea as to why this was occurring. Perhaps it is a firewall issue (though I don't suspect that because this is my personal laptop), perhaps it is because my version of Tableau Desktop isn't the same version as the pre-release version of Tableau Online in the Developer Program sandbox, or perhaps the issue is something completely different. I mention this because you should know the environment isn't perfect. It's not meant to be. <b>You'll likely run into errors as well. Research them, find alternative solutions. You'll be stronger because of it.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-o83-XAGrUpJCc_eYAQy8FXDduBIL48BDMcLrnuuKq31sFU_TVxskWeeuF3OE0RbFuBkm5qeDu_-zNu-nx72Q0kcWxBupNRFcghhXyoDsq5b1vyWjoAJJU7lW3v1oZHh5wL9g_RRRB7Y/s802/desktop+sign+in+3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="802" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-o83-XAGrUpJCc_eYAQy8FXDduBIL48BDMcLrnuuKq31sFU_TVxskWeeuF3OE0RbFuBkm5qeDu_-zNu-nx72Q0kcWxBupNRFcghhXyoDsq5b1vyWjoAJJU7lW3v1oZHh5wL9g_RRRB7Y/w400-h315/desktop+sign+in+3.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>My solution was to upload the workbook via the home page of the sandbox.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE31y7ySSKNWfFYb6qagD07tiTPwLuu3Aol6KfnblDOrOlzDB9JoR8p9hROW1KFOGdxv6kDQK4Qpq-mNIKEKUioie_wadZupYP0BVkiKA1EvrfEDGYzld-Uerpw4_WhW691X_lyMgplUQ/s1280/upload+workbook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE31y7ySSKNWfFYb6qagD07tiTPwLuu3Aol6KfnblDOrOlzDB9JoR8p9hROW1KFOGdxv6kDQK4Qpq-mNIKEKUioie_wadZupYP0BVkiKA1EvrfEDGYzld-Uerpw4_WhW691X_lyMgplUQ/w640-h312/upload+workbook.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Renew</h1></div><div>At some point your sandbox will expire, unless you take action. You'll receive an email like the one below. Click the big orange button to renew your sandbox.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OLWdiAclfcpM9yFEuTjrtW4y2JfeEqduFucyPfxYifoU_VSg5KGga4BN9frEzQf7A25jCGChUn4Q8-ibN8z1yo8zMg3xshhL8YuSBTHNYJx-MTh_dHal2C4gp-IX7UBvoobKqBlVTj0/s744/step14-Renewal.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="744" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OLWdiAclfcpM9yFEuTjrtW4y2JfeEqduFucyPfxYifoU_VSg5KGga4BN9frEzQf7A25jCGChUn4Q8-ibN8z1yo8zMg3xshhL8YuSBTHNYJx-MTh_dHal2C4gp-IX7UBvoobKqBlVTj0/w640-h404/step14-Renewal.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A confirmation screen should appear and you should be set for another two months.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGioXrCPJL5nohtZ295E31oB0cy4HhbVTJ5Os2Z2ki1yWpfrn_Macx8Cn5AApj0zCL_jphMT4rSVYOWUg_0F8FHiL1neZGm2E131HM2tP974PUdgQVdlDt28mPHtoC3TUsN1wMjnfVSfQ/s744/step15-RenewalConfirmation.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="744" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGioXrCPJL5nohtZ295E31oB0cy4HhbVTJ5Os2Z2ki1yWpfrn_Macx8Cn5AApj0zCL_jphMT4rSVYOWUg_0F8FHiL1neZGm2E131HM2tP974PUdgQVdlDt28mPHtoC3TUsN1wMjnfVSfQ/w640-h404/step15-RenewalConfirmation.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Enjoy the next frontier. I can't wait to learn more about what's possible, together.</h3><p><a href="https://brandibeals.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=7313a4ed1bf7e0496cefa623c&id=e19f6dc5f8" target="_blank">Subscribe</a> to this blog to receive updates. I plan to practice expanding my own technical skills using this sandbox and documenting lessons learned along the way. I'll share them here, so subscribe to make sure you don't miss anything!</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Additional Resources:</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2020/3/challenge-your-datadev-skills-and-take-advantage-your-sandbox-site-tableau</li><li>https://www.biztory.com/blog/why-you-should-consider-joining-tableaus-developer-program</li><li>https://github.com/tableau</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-aahNJP4FDso7tT8Ds35spzivB-8sEVj8fMcv10RYJUbqGThYdMxFtG0amKXpV7_DHDeUmrRgddOgjJSOe50v-MCp9Et7iRS8rwFa5-E9LMsYQHrQj5SnZd9wNScvXO5jHek7xTiHpUM/s1280/step13-DeveloperProgramResources.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1280" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-aahNJP4FDso7tT8Ds35spzivB-8sEVj8fMcv10RYJUbqGThYdMxFtG0amKXpV7_DHDeUmrRgddOgjJSOe50v-MCp9Et7iRS8rwFa5-E9LMsYQHrQj5SnZd9wNScvXO5jHek7xTiHpUM/w640-h312/step13-DeveloperProgramResources.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-63109021279869346462021-09-28T22:00:00.033-05:002021-09-28T22:00:00.177-05:0010 Creative Ways to Use Tags in TableauTags are basically key words applied to objects on Tableau Server (data sources, workbooks [which applies the tag to all views within it], views, metrics, flows, as well as databases, files, tables, and columns [if you have Tableau Catalog]). <div><br /></div><div>They are used for identification purposes and best used broadly (not just on content that's all in the same project). I find it best to determine a tagging strategy before going down this road. What's great about tags is that they can provide some additional insight that you don't get natively through Tableau Server. For example, <b>you can navigate to a data source and see what fields it contains, what it's connected to, and what workbooks it feeds, but you can't always determine what the purpose is or how critical it is to the business</b>. Tags will help objects show up in the search bar, too, though you will only see what you have permissions to view.<br /><br />Below are a few creative ways to use tags.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM2pVYmjN3vNGGQEC7O3eLr85xIO1qYIQod76nWsG7d3Scj7D_CqPUfaAAvAkNLWhEuQnqsV6s2ddhz8mCI1vY8LpkItnFiR5zBR72ht5z0gvyOWjAYAF5fpNWG4H9ND8fkxe1ULbUJU/s1600/Creative+Ways+to+Use+Tags+%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM2pVYmjN3vNGGQEC7O3eLr85xIO1qYIQod76nWsG7d3Scj7D_CqPUfaAAvAkNLWhEuQnqsV6s2ddhz8mCI1vY8LpkItnFiR5zBR72ht5z0gvyOWjAYAF5fpNWG4H9ND8fkxe1ULbUJU/w640-h360/Creative+Ways+to+Use+Tags+%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify data sources refreshed via API </h1></div><div>(as opposed to Tableau Server's native scheduling) using a keyword such as "RefreshedViaAPI" or "EnterpriseScheduler". This is helpful if you want to know that a data source is being refreshed on a regular basis, even though you can't see that within the Tableau Server UI.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify dashboards that serve senior management</h1></div><div>using keywords such as "SeniorManagement" or "Executive". This helps to curate a set of reports that provide a business overview or take action to certify/audit data sources.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify dashboards that inform critical processes</h1></div><div>using keywords such as "CriticalPriority" or "Severity1". By using <a href="https://response.pagerduty.com/before/severity_levels/" target="_blank">defined guidelines</a> to identify these items, administrators can then ensure the appropriate response time is provided if an issue should occur.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify data sources or workbooks that contain sensitive data </h1></div><div>using keywords such as "HIPAA" or "MNPI". Not only will tags help end users know when they're dealing with sensitive data, but data governance teams can monitor usage and ensure appropriate access is set.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify the data domain </h1></div><div>using keywords such as "Sales" or "Transactions". If an update is made to the business logic pertaining to a specific data set, these tags will make it easy to find the impacted reports.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify the source system </h1></div><div>using keywords such as "Bloomberg" or "Salesforce". This will help users and administrators identify the root cause of an data quality issue, and you will more easily be able to report on usage to data vendors.</div><div><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify reports that are embedded elsewhere</h1></div><div>using keywords such as "EmbeddedElsewhere" or "UsedInConfluence". If a dashboard is embedded in another application, you might not know about it. You will be able to easily identify anything that might be impacted by a security patch or change in authentication.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify reports that are sent externally </h1></div><div>using keywords such as "ClientPacket" or "AnnualReport". Content might be collected from a variety of projects to compile the final report and a tag makes the process much easier to find all the necessary material.<br /><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Identify objects that haven't been used recently</h1></div><div>using keywords such as "StaleData" or "InactiveContent". Once objects have been identified, you could archive or delete them, or alert the owner of the tag.<br /><br /><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Report on the tagged objects</h1>Once you have all tags applied you can then use Tableau's repository to report on the tagged objects. You can create an annual review of sensitive data, request that owners delete old objects, list data sources that are ready to be certified, and much more!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So, what's your tagging strategy going to be?</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Additional Resources:</h2><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>https://mindmajix.com/tableau/how-to-organize-reports-for-consumption-in-tableau-server</li><li>https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/tags.htm</li></ul><div><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixYYbSBqaaRerCXxh1fB-HkcYYwDrfLJ3W9ZGyFP3Nxq9p47H_q77XEq2DJDXPQzx17gS9VPK1kTgpwwYrvUkQEBQpcWE7rv4nNVHf9ZLpJY7gi5yUwHyXrDE7TlnnguORsx-37Eo1kls/s2000/10+Ways+to+Use+Tags.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixYYbSBqaaRerCXxh1fB-HkcYYwDrfLJ3W9ZGyFP3Nxq9p47H_q77XEq2DJDXPQzx17gS9VPK1kTgpwwYrvUkQEBQpcWE7rv4nNVHf9ZLpJY7gi5yUwHyXrDE7TlnnguORsx-37Eo1kls/w452-h640/10+Ways+to+Use+Tags.png" width="452" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-22037770085791590552021-08-09T20:42:00.006-05:002022-11-17T09:59:32.053-06:00Lessons Learned in Pursuing a Master's Degree<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Xj2o-VgFrpm8zaG5HkQ0IwzLEjA_pO34LgVVOdNE1T0l40FWS0C8Z8s2HtCf2T_W266lEvT6jtB3K5zHmyIFqSEsmwTjwA-leLp9wKOqj1vqQ9ijVlWJ9vYW3dNJp1V6OVnjMLI9ems/s1600/Mastering+Data+Science.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Xj2o-VgFrpm8zaG5HkQ0IwzLEjA_pO34LgVVOdNE1T0l40FWS0C8Z8s2HtCf2T_W266lEvT6jtB3K5zHmyIFqSEsmwTjwA-leLp9wKOqj1vqQ9ijVlWJ9vYW3dNJp1V6OVnjMLI9ems/w640-h360/Mastering+Data+Science.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Huge life achievement alert! After 4 years of studying, coding, writing, and analyzing, I have finally completed my Master of Science in Predictive Analytics (i.e. data science). It's been a rollercoaster of a ride complete with excitement, growth, perseverance, and pride for a job well done. This cycle repeated itself throughout every course, but also over the course of the entire program.</p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="677" src="https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6823664055824252928" title="Embedded post" width="504"></iframe></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>On three separate occasions recently, a friend has asked to pick my brain about my experience and I thought others who are considering a Master's program might find my insights of interest as well.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Master's Program vs MOOC</h2><p>Whether to pursue a Master's degree or not depends on your goals, and it certainly isn't a requirement to be a data scientist. There is a lot of amazing content on <a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning" target="_blank">Coursera</a>, <a href="https://www.datacamp.com/tracks/data-scientist-with-r" target="_blank">DataCamp</a>, Udemy, etc. for a lot less money. But I've found you only understand how to <i>do </i>data science through those platforms. You don't always learn the underlying math and assumptions that modeling techniques rely on, the <i>how </i>behind machine learning algorithms. Without that second piece of the puzzle, you are somewhat limited in your ability to tweak, customize, and understand your model. So, <b>if you want to be able to fully control your model, then a degree program was very helpful. If you are satisfied with out-of-the box models from tools like Alteryx, DataRobot, AWS's Machine Learning Service, etc. then you can probably skip the formal education.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Personally, I started off using the above references and did that for about 4 years before I needed something more substantial. I understood most of the basics, but was looking for something more holistic to formalize my understanding. Something with a clear curriculum that took me beyond what was freely available online. Something that would motivate me to work towards something bigger.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Choosing a Master's Program</h2><div>After making the decision to pursue a formal education I started researching the various programs available and thinking about what I wanted in a program.</div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Do I want to meet online or in-person?</b> At first I thought in-person because I get distracted easily and I wasn't sure I would be able to stay motivated enough to see it through, but in-person limited the programs available to me, so I kept an open mind.</li><li><b>What are the application requirements?</b> It may sound ridiculous, but I really didn't want to have to take the GRE in order to apply to a graduate program. Some require it, others don't.</li><li><b>What does the curriculum cover?</b> By comparing different programs I figured out what I wanted to learn and it wasn't data modeling, ETL, or warehousing. I wanted to focus completely on the algorithms and the mathematics behind them. Every program is different and in many cases you can customize the curriculum with electives or specializations.</li><li><b>How long has the program been around?</b> It was important to me that the program be reputable and have a solid understanding of the material they were teaching me. Many data science programs are so new they have only been around for a few years. I wanted an organization with a track record.</li><li><b>Who are the faculty members and are they legit?</b> I wanted to be sure I was being taught by people with experience and expertise. It was exciting to read some of the bios of faculty members I might learn from and see all the exciting ways data science can be used. </li><li><b>What does the program cost?</b> Of course is going to be a factor. I was lucky enough that my employer helped to cover some of the cost.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Time Management</h2><div>Once I chose a program and applied, it was soon time to start with the coursework. <a href="https://sps.northwestern.edu/masters/data-science/" target="_blank">My particular program</a> followed the quarter system with 10-week courses, 4 times a year, and a 2- or 3-week break between quarters. My initial thought was that I would take 1 course at a time, since I was working full time, and take every other quarter off. It seemed like a reasonable pace, until I realized it would take me 6 years to complete the 12-course program! Ultimately, I decided to take 1 course each quarter and take breaks as needed, which I did only once. </div><div><br /></div><div>Over time I developed a pattern. It started with being really excited for the course to start. A few weeks into the course I'd be inspired by all the information I was absorbing, models I was building, and concepts I was putting into practice that all my free time was spent on coursework. <b>By week 8 of the course I was calculating what my grade would be if I didn't complete any future assignments.</b> And by the end of the course I was contemplating taking the next quarter off. It was exhausting, but after the 2-week break I always felt refreshed with a new energy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are the time management strategies that got me through:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Prepare.</b> Before a course started I spent a night or two preparing. I read the syllabus, looked through the online portal for the course (becoming familiar with its structure and contents), and even thumbed through the textbooks.</li><li><b>Schedule.</b> I spent roughly 20 hours a week on coursework and I didn't want that time to be spent entirely on the weekend. So I made sure to spend at least 2 hours a night on coursework. From 7-9pm. These small chunks of time allowed me to focus on small, clear tasks.</li><li><b>Routine.</b> The first few courses were difficult, as I hadn't yet figured out my routine. Eventually I realized I could not read textbooks during the week, after the workday was done and I was already tired. So I read as much as I could on the weekends, during the day when I was well-rested.</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">One Last Tip</h2><div>Organize your work in a clear structure so you can always find old code you want and <b><a href="https://github.com/brandibeals" target="_blank">use GitHub</a></b>! You're not going to do it later and you'll be incredibly proud of your portfolio when you're done.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wHJGJhojzDUKYTk5-7dnc9kgKh6esT7vJGyj4kTTewSb_QDgclnDR0E6INMh4Z02vtQwiRbzF2GTfCvP_YHtCCRoObk5zsLA1_XTF7sNJlzYs6O9LGaDmwt0lb4DT-CxnIoTGszbqL4/s1061/Masters+Windows+Explorer.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1061" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wHJGJhojzDUKYTk5-7dnc9kgKh6esT7vJGyj4kTTewSb_QDgclnDR0E6INMh4Z02vtQwiRbzF2GTfCvP_YHtCCRoObk5zsLA1_XTF7sNJlzYs6O9LGaDmwt0lb4DT-CxnIoTGszbqL4/w640-h414/Masters+Windows+Explorer.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I hope my lessons learned will help you as you pursue whatever is next on your journey.</div></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-73714536976147752592021-07-05T22:00:00.004-05:002021-07-05T22:00:00.167-05:00Data Book Recommendations For Your Journey<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlOAaGVlSfFcak4cmIQp7smGk6j2Cuf7evAYOxhGgcoy1VoqavlHuGJxa3CaH_4bgWTcfjvMuYnKttpryVu_eWfJ1vbD0UH5PHcobUIB48u_4lyOxrbIqI2nFxZu4dcAz9YSXR6lsyh0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlOAaGVlSfFcak4cmIQp7smGk6j2Cuf7evAYOxhGgcoy1VoqavlHuGJxa3CaH_4bgWTcfjvMuYnKttpryVu_eWfJ1vbD0UH5PHcobUIB48u_4lyOxrbIqI2nFxZu4dcAz9YSXR6lsyh0/w640-h360/Data+Book+Recommendations+For+Your+Journey.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">There is still time to join the summer Data Book Club.</h2><h2 style="text-align: center;">Find details and sign up <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">here</a>.</h2><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6coo6_4Q-K6FLxJV-DYRISGlK7aWopE1W_51BNYwIcsZTOG-l5Nn1IKlVeisf3_E98YYhIbCJfGoaTLNo_8dxHsnnYYqD_9F0iS-BWjOYHsgLXCI7_Rg9fBtcE_RooeC48J_4-IsJPWw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6coo6_4Q-K6FLxJV-DYRISGlK7aWopE1W_51BNYwIcsZTOG-l5Nn1IKlVeisf3_E98YYhIbCJfGoaTLNo_8dxHsnnYYqD_9F0iS-BWjOYHsgLXCI7_Rg9fBtcE_RooeC48J_4-IsJPWw/s16000/My+Book+Recommendations.png" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>Links to buy:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li></li><li><a href="https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/tableau-desktop-pocket/9781492093473/" target="_blank">Tableau Desktop Pocket Reference by Ryan Sleeper</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-At-Glance-dp-1938377001/dp/1938377001/ref=dp_ob_title_bk" target="_blank">Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Analytics-New-Science-Winning/dp/1422103323" target="_blank">Competing on Analytics by Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris</a></li><li><a href="https://thisisnewpower.com/" target="_blank">New Power by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Naked-Statistics/" target="_blank">Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Data+Smart%3A+Using+Data+Science+to+Transform+Information+into+Insight-p-9781118661468" target="_blank">Data Smart by John W. Foreman</a></li><li></li><li><a href="https://www.manning.com/books/deep-learning-with-python" target="_blank">Deep Learning with Python by François Chollet</a></li></ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-18205726958050588072021-06-27T16:08:00.004-05:002021-06-27T16:10:05.433-05:00Data Book Club: Summer 2021 Sign Up<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-YasKf0seZc8KFUcCYUuldx6YtRwh9iOXzgYLPkVWqcaPkcqDDkQi_dPAAZ47L954ied8MVUlSST3IajXsbgrbgLt7BK5cDBQO3GzPeaIfXuSpNZJ4QSLBjWaWlv27owoxfmL_ijQec/s1600/Data+Book+Club+-+Summer+2021.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-YasKf0seZc8KFUcCYUuldx6YtRwh9iOXzgYLPkVWqcaPkcqDDkQi_dPAAZ47L954ied8MVUlSST3IajXsbgrbgLt7BK5cDBQO3GzPeaIfXuSpNZJ4QSLBjWaWlv27owoxfmL_ijQec/w640-h360/Data+Book+Club+-+Summer+2021.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>We are officially one week into the summer season and there is no better time to <b>kick off the Summer 2021 <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">Data Book Club</a></b>! If you're not already familiar with the <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">Data Book Club</a>, it's an initiative I started last fall (ish) when the ongoing global pandemic continued to keep all Tableau User Group meetings, Alteryx User Group meetings, and other meetups virtual. While many meetups continued to hold their regularly scheduled meetings, the networking that comes with in-person events was <i>virtually</i> non-existent (pun intended).</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How it Started</h1><p>I was looking for an easy way to get data people together for a casual discussion of ideas. Of course, there were considerations such as keeping the group small so everyone's voice could be heard and providing some sort of direction on the topic. Pair those objectives with inspiration from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinastathopoulos/" target="_blank">Christina Stathopoulos</a>'s <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/year-i-read-over-17000-pages-what-learned-how-you-too-christina/" target="_blank">book-a-week challenge</a>, or <a href="https://twitter.com/DataRevelations/status/1394631178058092547?s=20" target="_blank">new books being published</a> by those in the Tableau community, and I had my answer - a virtual book club focused on the data community!</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Side note: I recently wrote about how <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/04/you-dont-need-permission.html">you don't need permission</a> to create wonderful groups, communities, and events like this. If you have any questions about how to get your idea off the ground, feel free to <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/#section-6">contact me</a>.</blockquote><p> </p><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How it's Going</h1><p>We've since completed 2 rounds of the <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">Data Book Club</a>, having read <i>The Signal and the Noise</i> by Nate Silver over the winter and <i>How Charts Lie</i> by Alberto Cairo last spring. I was even able to secure a live Q&A with Alberto Cairo! Over the course of these 2 rounds some improvements have been made such as creating a <a href="https://join.slack.com/t/data-book-club/shared_invite/zt-p76qao7o-WLIlhO1ZbCWtkqCQ2Yk8wQ" target="_blank">Slack space</a> for members to discuss the book asynchronously. I'm a fan of consistently <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/03/listen-to-understand.html">asking for feedback, truly listening</a>, and incorporating that feedback where it makes sense.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">What's Next</h1><p><b>If you're wondering how to sign up or looking for more details</b>, you'll want to check out the page on my website dedicated to all things <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">Data Book Club</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next book we're going to read has been narrowed down to two choices and those who are involved on our Slack space have until tomorrow to <a href="https://data-book-club.slack.com/archives/C01RD4AUR60/p1624300686011900" target="_blank">vote on their favorite</a>. After that time, I'll send an email with the selection and all the meeting details. We meet every other week while we're actively reading the book, typically on Tuesday at 12pm CT. It takes us about 3 meetings to get through the whole book, which is broken into approximately 100 page chunks. During our virtual discussion meetings breakout rooms are used to make smaller discussion groups.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is no pressure to attend each meeting, so you can be as involved as you want to be. The goal is to learn something from the book, share ideas with others, and build a networking of data professionals.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html"><b>Sign up today!</b></a></h2>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-61025353075791187702021-05-17T22:15:00.003-05:002021-05-17T22:16:42.838-05:00Up Your Game with a Tableau Style Guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2V-7x04aXGDaasc-XnzIatOXW9sCvyBeOHgFur68C3Zg-MROukD5Ag7RCsnfRy4ldwd0VADRd38K8xtoLc2qtH4uicVss78Lj5d68Wg82F1O1pzbqM7Jtz2MMlMfazcMDc2tc666d53k/s1600/Tableau+Style+Guide.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2V-7x04aXGDaasc-XnzIatOXW9sCvyBeOHgFur68C3Zg-MROukD5Ag7RCsnfRy4ldwd0VADRd38K8xtoLc2qtH4uicVss78Lj5d68Wg82F1O1pzbqM7Jtz2MMlMfazcMDc2tc666d53k/w640-h360/Tableau+Style+Guide.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Let's begin with the very real fact that I'm in <i>no way</i> a marketing expert. I dabble because I'm trying to create consistency for my end users. I love going out to Tableau Server and seeing all the thumbnails have a similar look and feel. If those dashboards are exported during a subscription, downloaded in a PDF, or used in a presentation they feel official because we're using brand standards. Most companies have brand standards, which your marketing department will happily share with you.<div><br /></div><div><blockquote>In fact, a colleague of mine (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsonmatt/" target="_blank">Matt Michaelson</a>) worked with our marketing department to define a tailored set of brand standards for use in our Tableau dashboards.</blockquote><br />When creating our style guide, we wanted it to be easy enough to implement that anyone who builds Tableau dashboards could do it, but also so you wouldn't be spending too much time applying it. The main components of our easy style guide are: fonts, colors, and design elements. Before diving into the steps, let's check out some examples!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Playfair Data</h3><div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrc1p5AhX9HpT_h_apww3RfpCAxYJ9T2pvIFdXYkELU01ZTP03Qt3azbfuwk6jclvMN04-45dqCdGPFBBdIIEbpJMLlvxmIIUQsqc190dhc4zOn7tr5W1qRfTmms1zgdvvgRiIKMtWuc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="1419" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrc1p5AhX9HpT_h_apww3RfpCAxYJ9T2pvIFdXYkELU01ZTP03Qt3azbfuwk6jclvMN04-45dqCdGPFBBdIIEbpJMLlvxmIIUQsqc190dhc4zOn7tr5W1qRfTmms1zgdvvgRiIKMtWuc/w640-h424/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Storytelling with Data</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitymfu0RQ32r5pV_873E-lf8H_yN-A0AxghfG2pvP3axybHZfeiwNKw6k9jUJpn2Ewbhg1b1kYrRjXUaZh2olsjM-gs17QTzzoExrDuo1j77QI8hfcbb-p6aKGNJEK8JqtJAgLHJ2GozY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="863" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitymfu0RQ32r5pV_873E-lf8H_yN-A0AxghfG2pvP3axybHZfeiwNKw6k9jUJpn2Ewbhg1b1kYrRjXUaZh2olsjM-gs17QTzzoExrDuo1j77QI8hfcbb-p6aKGNJEK8JqtJAgLHJ2GozY/w608-h640/image.png" width="608" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">BBC</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIvuiCIh9G0Z-KqRecpaOXCV0iaaKdOSVvE-_lCsuPqQrjB1iv8FUx2aPT3jmgTiT8D2sCE1GJlObnNZjgjHM815D0iSpTCIvAck4uaMeTZfcn-rmOK1TP6bxBdRo-p4T07RbuKgckC0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1399" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIvuiCIh9G0Z-KqRecpaOXCV0iaaKdOSVvE-_lCsuPqQrjB1iv8FUx2aPT3jmgTiT8D2sCE1GJlObnNZjgjHM815D0iSpTCIvAck4uaMeTZfcn-rmOK1TP6bxBdRo-p4T07RbuKgckC0/w640-h414/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Do you see how each of these examples uses a consistent set of fonts, colors, and design elements? A few small decisions, used in a consistent way, can have a tremendous impact. So, are you ready to make some choices?!</div><div><br />
<h1 style="text-align: left;">
Fonts</h1>
To ensure your content looks consistent across different operating systems and browsers, it is important to choose web safe fonts, which any machine should be able to properly render. I found <a href="https://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-business-ideas/25-gorgeous-web-safe-fonts-for-your-website/" target="_blank">this website</a> helpful when picking a web safe font. You'll also want to ensure the fonts you've chosen work with Tableau (a partial list can be <a href="https://kb.tableau.com/articles/issue/fonts-not-displaying-as-expected-after-publishing-to-public" target="_blank">found here</a>). It's also helpful to have two different fonts, one that is meant to be legible and one that is meant to be dramatic.</div><div><br />
<h1 style="text-align: left;">
Colors</h1>
I can't remember who shared <a href="https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel" target="_blank">this website</a> with me, but I've found it so easy to choose a color palette with it! When it comes to Tableau, you may want a wide range of possible color options (for those times you need multiple colors in a color palette). <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2015/02/custom-color-palettes-in-tableau.html" target="">This post</a> explains how to setup a custom color palette for use in Tableau Desktop. You also need to plan for those that may be colorblind, but I'm not an expert on colorblindness (for that you should check out <a href="https://www.tableaufit.com/" target="_blank">Bridget Cogley's blog</a>). A quick test I used is to take a screenshot of the color palette and paste the image into Word, change the color of the image to black and white, and see if any colors are too similar. For your style guide you really just need a primary and secondary color.</div><div><br />
<h1 style="text-align: left;">
Design Elements</h1>
The last component you need for a style guide are any design elements that you want to include. We have a grey vertical container at the top with our logo as an image left justified within it, but you could specify how you use buttons and icons, too. I highly recommend <a href="https://www.flaticon.com/" target="_blank">Flaticon</a> for various design elements. You can even set them up as <a href="https://www.tessellationtech.io/custom-shapes-in-tableau/" target="_blank">custom shapes</a> for use in Tableau.<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br />
<br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">
How to Apply Your Style Guide</h1></div><div>The easiest way I've found to apply a style guide is from the Format > Workbook menu. Under the All section you'll make your default font and color selections. You can also specify any customizations for worksheets, titles, and tooltips. Typically my worksheet title will be a slightly larger font than my worksheet font and dashboards titles larger still as well as being a different color. There are even default line formatting you can select (I always turn off the gridlines). Once you set your fonts and colors in the Format Workbook pane, you can add any design elements you want to your dashboard. In my case, I added a vertical container, colored the background blue, and added my dashboard title to the container.</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Tip: Apply the style guide first thing. It can be tougher to retroactively apply it if you've already done a ton of formatting.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>After a few uses, you'll be a pro and applying your style guide in seconds! <b>These 3 small changes, when implemented consistently, can have a dramatic effect on your work.</b> It looks more professional and your users will have more confidence in your work.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6IkiIJgvnYBg8GkYnr6_Vua2s37ObsKQ9IzyVcKqgx7fagAN-cTHFT3jYQsvCU6OZpH9W7kdUnFLJRYEOGM2jMW2Vm6JoE4cO7-oUe0DUyyIIKtPcEgFmyXU5H3bOzQvxyC6HK4cENt4/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1377" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6IkiIJgvnYBg8GkYnr6_Vua2s37ObsKQ9IzyVcKqgx7fagAN-cTHFT3jYQsvCU6OZpH9W7kdUnFLJRYEOGM2jMW2Vm6JoE4cO7-oUe0DUyyIIKtPcEgFmyXU5H3bOzQvxyC6HK4cENt4/w640-h458/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><blockquote>Bonus Tip: My default dashboard is letter landscape because it seems to fit well on most screens and can be easily printed.</blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-8395643415527803032021-04-12T21:00:00.018-05:002021-04-12T21:30:09.554-05:00You Don't Need Permission<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6iFu_S1lpgo571jcJ7rEWpMxDMTaB7jDOe3cZBVrlIZx299ltTP_JZNO-N_Yzu2xFSw3icKRYtKmiNAPTs7gBX2eoeHey_kCpe1twFuEO_Hjeks22k2O8Mpz6QWdxx8kb5rT8rt5FBk/s1600/You+Don%2527t+Need+Permission.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6iFu_S1lpgo571jcJ7rEWpMxDMTaB7jDOe3cZBVrlIZx299ltTP_JZNO-N_Yzu2xFSw3icKRYtKmiNAPTs7gBX2eoeHey_kCpe1twFuEO_Hjeks22k2O8Mpz6QWdxx8kb5rT8rt5FBk/w640-h360/You+Don%2527t+Need+Permission.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>This past weekend I participated in a panel discussion at the <a href="https://www.weconference21.com/" target="_blank">National Conference on Women in Economics</a> and as I reflected on the enlightening discussion, one particular question stuck with me: <b>Are there any specific decisions or moves (big or small) that you connect to your success today?</b> My answer can be summarized by stating that my success has been impacted more by smaller choices than larger ones. Of course, deciding to change companies or pursue a certain career path are big decisions, but I truly believe that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity and I just happened to be prepared when opportunities presented themselves to me. In my case, being prepared came down to a series of small decisions.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: center;">Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. ― Seneca</blockquote><p> </p><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Small Decisions</h1><p>One such small decision was to attend a <a href="https://usergroups.tableau.com/Milwaukee" target="_blank">Milwaukee Tableau User Group</a> meeting back in 2014. This opened up doors for me a year later when I was asked to take over as a leader of the group by its founder, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcnell/" target="_blank">Sarah Nell</a>, who was leaving Milwaukee to take a job with Tableau in Seattle.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then there was the decision to start up a blog for no other reason than I wanted a way to articulate and organize my thoughts about data. I'm sure I signed up for a free Blogger account on a whim back in 2010 (this is still a free Blogger site, btw). Having a blog has no only continued to allow me to structure my ideas in a meaningful way, but I hope it has helped others on the same journey.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also make the small decision every day to check out LinkedIn to see what my <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/datafam/" target="_blank">#datafam</a> is up to. It helps me stay on top of trends, hear from my peers and those I admire, as well as post about the random things I come across in my daily, professional routine.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Analysis Paralysis</h1><p>It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with everything going on in our world. In the Tableau community specifically there are <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2020/09/advance-your-career-with-tableau-for.html">numerous ways to get involved</a>, and while they're all extremely valuable, getting involved can feel like a daunting task. That's why I like the notion of small decisions having a tremendous impact. You can put a post, comment, or dashboard out there and it can lead to places or connections you could never anticipate. Or you could attend a user group meeting and it might lead to your next job, 5 years down the road.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ignorelimits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Analysis-Paralysis3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="447" src="http://ignorelimits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Analysis-Paralysis3.png" /></a></div><p>Maybe that's why I say yes to a lot of things. I'll <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2018/10/tableau-server-security-rules-guidelines.html">present at conferences</a>, <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2020/04/lift-up-your-career-with-data-analytics.html">teach a weekend course</a>, or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/events/findinggame-changinganalyticspr6773020030146899968/" target="_blank">participate in a LinkedIn Live chat</a>. I'm aware not everyone is a fan of public speaking, but I would urge you to find a way to put yourself out there. Another amazing nugget of advice from the National Conference on Women in Economics was "The proudest moments in our careers have been times where we overcame a challenge, even when we did not feel confident we could do so."</p><p><br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="1072" src="https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6787407643578368000" title="Embedded post" width="504"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Secret</h1><p>So, here's the secret: <b>you don't need anyone's permission to do what you want</b> to do or get involved in a way that makes sense to you. There is no gatekeeper to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Datafam?src=hashtag_click" target="_blank">Tableau #DataFam Community</a> or the blogosphere or LinkedIn, and the only gatekeeper to Clubhouse is a friend with an invite (hit me up if you want one). Oftentimes I find myself wanting to do something, but hesitating for some reason. Most of the time it's because I want to ensure I'm acting within some sort of appropriate boundary. Should I start up a <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/databookclub.html">data book club</a>? Should I host a Clubhouse battle (Tableau vs PowerBI, Pie Chart vs Treemap, etc.)? Should I try a podcast format on being a data science newbie? Whatever your ideas are, the answer to these questions you're asking yourself should be YES!</p><p><br /></p><p>You have ideas, insights, and experience that can help others. You have a unique perspective that the data community needs. Join us! Whether you want to start your own <a href="https://www.tableau.com/community/user-groups" target="_blank">Tableau User Group</a> or your own book club, your own LinkedIn events or your own blog, you don't need permission.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'll leave you with the following quote, which I use in moderation to muster the courage to do the things that excite me.</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>It is better to beg forgiveness, than ask permission. ― Grace Murray Hopper</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-32997447708930584902021-03-08T20:15:00.004-06:002021-03-10T08:22:57.049-06:00Listen to Understand<p>As analytics professionals, we want to provide solutions to our clients' data problems. Too often, though, we jump to conclusions or solve a problem that wasn't the real issue. Other times we don't want to acknowledge the fact that we may not be able to provide the answer. Worse, maybe we're part of the problem! It can be a tough pill to swallow, but <b>the ability to self-reflect and listen closely to the needs of others can have a profound impact on an organization</b>. In previous posts I write about how to <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/01/assessing-analytical-maturity.html">assess analytical maturity</a> and then <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/02/from-strategic-to-tactical.html">develop a plan to address a strategic vision</a>. These initiatives only work if you first listen to your constituents.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbK7FqyHZbgQcB0gk9DSQHV2NZsexA7bv8AP9kXZcbYeAX-wHD7-ijkQNWX7Y0c0EvIc-dd7y7lNJcKdv1USAE9VDBahY9vxRLPVN6VtVv51INMoWApJYWk3Wl_aIRmI4Vz29y4SeUZO8/s1600/Listen+to+understand.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbK7FqyHZbgQcB0gk9DSQHV2NZsexA7bv8AP9kXZcbYeAX-wHD7-ijkQNWX7Y0c0EvIc-dd7y7lNJcKdv1USAE9VDBahY9vxRLPVN6VtVv51INMoWApJYWk3Wl_aIRmI4Vz29y4SeUZO8/w640-h360/Listen+to+understand.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Ask, then Listen</h1><p>Over the course of the last 6 years I've gone from being a contractor that specializes in Tableau to the manager who owns the Tableau platform in addition to Alteryx, SSAS, SSRS, and data science. My opinions have also shifted over that time as my view and experiences have expanded. For example, I initially thought self-service analytics was the answer. (Tableau Desktop and training for everyone!) I've recently come to realize not everyone wants that. <b>Some people just want to reach out to an analytics team and have them produce the dashboard.</b> Mind. Blown.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">You can hear me speak more about finding these types of insights at <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/events/findinggame-changinganalyticspr6773020030146899968/">this LinkedIn event</a>.</h3><p><br /></p><p>This type of realization has occurred in other aspects of my job as well as in the groups I run. As the world went virtual last year, so too did the <a href="https://usergroups.tableau.com/Milwaukee" target="_blank">Milwaukee Tableau User Group</a>. We continued to organize quarterly meetings in 2020, but people were getting Zoom fatigue. Our 3-hour long meetings were not going to work going forward. So we cut the meeting length to something more manageable and worked with other Wisconsin groups to provide monthly meetings instead. It's been working out fantastic!</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Reflect</h1><p>Upon further reflection, I realized the thing I missed most about in-person user groups were the networking and casual interaction. Other people must have been feeling the same way I was! It's difficult to get that personal interaction from a webinar-style meeting where only certain people are allowed to speak and you have content to cover. And that's how the idea of a data book club was born. Anyone could sign up, purchase their own book, read the assigned chapters, and join a video call to discuss. <b>I thought maybe we would get 25 people to sign up, but we had over 100 people!</b> Utilizing the breakout rooms functionality in Zoom, the individuals who joined the call were randomly split up into smaller groups to discuss the book. Many connections were made and we were able to collaborate and interact much like we would have if we were in person. </p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Get Feedback</h1><p>After the conclusion of the book I created a survey using Google Forms to get feedback on how it went, ways it could be better, and if there was interest in another round. <b>Feedback is a critical component to improvement</b> even though it can be difficult to hear, especially if you don't agree. I've had to come to terms with the fact that not everyone thinks like I do or has the same experiences. And while I may have my own opinions, if people don't come to my event or use my dashboard, it doesn't matter.</p><p>It should not noted that incorporating feedback needs to be steady. After the first round of the book club I'm making a few minor changes such as an asynchronous chat feature and a slight change in the meeting time. You don't have to implement every suggestion (in fact you probably shouldn't), but if multiple people are saying the same thing, then you should consider it.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ask. Listen. Reflect. Implement. Get Feedback.</h3><div><br /></div><div>It seems so simple, but listening does wonders.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Book Club</h1><div>Also, if you are interested in joining the next round of my book club, you can sign up below. You can see what I'm <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/p/reading.html">currently reading here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe frameborder="0" height="1200" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFccoA6F2HDg6bGh_9Q05PiB1KRv1Jw_PVJF9e9AaAmvkrVg/viewform?embedded=true" width="640">Loading…</iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-81298747532297695182021-02-09T21:00:00.002-06:002021-02-10T08:28:20.382-06:00From Strategic to Tactical<p>In my <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/01/assessing-analytical-maturity.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, I discussed the various considerations I use when determining where my team or organization is in its analytical journey. If you've conducted this similar thoughtful exercise, you're probably wondering "now what?" While it’s great to know where you stand, you will want to know where you’re going and how to get there! It can be a tough task to not only determine the strategic vision that’s right for you, but to also break it down into tactical action items. Recently, I set out to accomplish such a task. Below are the lessons I learned.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhl4zxDMOKT9I3wZYvJGOom3BOuRV__MMMiQfHh-jNKaaAmXw8xKpv5MwvOXkSz0jSRgdMZfJyGpUHjixNCvq-rqXt2yqrdFg1SHpBNo6_J-ZiiMVLyLk7nyadW8oQaKczljaR6n0laCE/s940/Strategic+to+Tactical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhl4zxDMOKT9I3wZYvJGOom3BOuRV__MMMiQfHh-jNKaaAmXw8xKpv5MwvOXkSz0jSRgdMZfJyGpUHjixNCvq-rqXt2yqrdFg1SHpBNo6_J-ZiiMVLyLk7nyadW8oQaKczljaR6n0laCE/w640-h536/Strategic+to+Tactical.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p class="pf0"></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span class="cf0">Create a Framework</span></h1><p class="pf0">My goal was to meet with a few data savvy teams within the organization to better understand their data needs, challenges, and future roadmap. Through a series of targeted discussions I was able to better understand their requirements, deliverables, and current processes. I broke down my questions into 4 sections that made up the framework for our discussions:</p><p class="pf0"><br /></p><p class="pf0"></p><ul><li class="pf1"><span class="cf0">Foundational - First, I wanted to understand the team's mission, who they serve, what their day-to-day looks like, and how data literate they are. </span></li><li class="pf1"><span class="cf0">Current State - Diving deeper into their day-to-day, this discussion asked about the data systems and reporting tools used by the team. Details about the team's ability to self-serve and make use of our data assets were also discussed.</span></li><li class="pf1"><span class="cf0">Future State - In this conversation I asked about the team's roadmap and data strategy. It can be a conceptual discussion at times, but I've found it beneficial to talk about what their ideal data experience might be.</span></li><li class="pf1"><span class="cf0">Challenges - Typically, throughout the previous 3 sections, challenges will be made clear, but it's helpful to have a dedicated discussion about them.</span></li></ul><p class="pf0"></p><p class="pf0"></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0"><br /></span></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0">With the help of a colleague, I compiled a series of questions pertaining to each section. As a data professional, you probably have a set of questions you frequently ask the people you work with. Use your knowledge of your organization and the team to tailor your questions. You can find a variety of helpful questions <a href="https://www.sisense.com/blog/12-questions-to-determine-your-companys-data-maturity/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.datasciencepublicpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Data_Maturity_Framework_4.28.16.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, though.</span></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0"><br /></span></p><p class="pf0"></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span class="cf0">Conduct an Assessment</span></h1><p class="pf0"></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0">After each meeting I summarized my notes and after all of my questions were answered — after I felt I truly understood the analytical needs of the team in question — I identified where the team landed on the <a href="https://www.brandibeals.com/2021/01/assessing-analytical-maturity.html" target="_blank">Analytical IQ quadrant</a>. </span>I determined how analytically mature each team was by scoring each category on a scale from 1 to 4. This assessment is best conducted through a discussion, either with a partner or the team member you've already been working with. The final assessment should be no surprise. It's simply a way to quantify where a team or organization is in their analytical journey. But this simple step helps direct you to what's next.</p><p class="pf0"><br /></p><p class="pf0"></p><blockquote>It should be noted that if you conduct assessments for individual teams, the goal might not always be to advance the team to one that is at Stage 5 on the analytical competition scale. Some teams are specifically designed to provide operational, tactical reporting.</blockquote><p></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0"><br /></span></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span class="cf0">Make Recommendations</span></h1><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0">Having completed the assessment, I was able to identify what capabilities the team should consider focusing on next. For example:</span></p><p class="pf0"><span class="cf0"><br /></span></p><p class="pf0"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span class="cf0">If the team was consistently using a series of commonly maintained Excel files, the next step for them would be to leverage an enterprise data warehouse.</span></li><li>If the team consumes operational reports on a regular basis, it may be time to up their game and create more timely, mission critical reports.</li><li>If the team has a single power user doing their own analysis independently, it is time for those analyses to be shared across the team.</li><li>If the team makes use of dashboards frequently, with many members of the team interacting with them on a daily basis, they should consider how they might leverage advanced analytical techniques.</li></ul><p></p><p class="pf0"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Compile a Report</h1><p class="pf0">As a nice, tidy resolution to our meetings, I put all my findings in a document and shared it with the team. It showed the seriousness and commitment I had to the process. It also provided transparency and could be shared with other people who had a vested interest. My hope is that this report is referred back to as the team plans future projects. <b>You can find a template report <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdyutgc64ai4ul1/Report%20Template.docx?dl=0" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></p><p class="pf0"><b><br /></b></p><p class="pf0"></p><blockquote>I've found this process helps teams who find value in data and want to use it more effectively, but are unsure of what to do. Breaking a strategic vision down into tactical steps is not an easy task and requires a lot of discussions and thoughtfulness, but is well worth the effort.</blockquote><p></p><p class="pf0"><br /></p><p class="pf0">An added benefit of this whole process is that overall trends became clear. Many teams I met with had recommendations related to data consolidation (most likely in a data lake) and continuing education.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-77464553569115968212021-01-11T21:00:00.002-06:002021-01-11T22:00:09.124-06:00Assessing Analytical Maturity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NRkPpZ0hSIQfJsnbtv3AdB-iKZSXFZIPtu1UcvwfUlGF_Jg7nkvGR6hNOtrBrByUqzogKJE-nUMc_tVmBwyRSYyDVHysHOikvXuE749sDVON8u423m4FX2y3Sn-vPMghLUhguOe7Up0/s1600/Assessing+Analytical+Maturity.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NRkPpZ0hSIQfJsnbtv3AdB-iKZSXFZIPtu1UcvwfUlGF_Jg7nkvGR6hNOtrBrByUqzogKJE-nUMc_tVmBwyRSYyDVHysHOikvXuE749sDVON8u423m4FX2y3Sn-vPMghLUhguOe7Up0/w640-h360/Assessing+Analytical+Maturity.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>It’s the time of year when people make resolutions and goals about the coming year. Regardless of how you feel about them, it can be a valuable exercise to check in with yourself, reflecting on where you are and where you want to go. It's just as important to do this with your team. The <b>analytical maturity model</b> can help when assessing your data use and guide you to becoming more data-driven.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Analytical Maturity Model</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOBVCgEiuopK3WbWaAHknEIj-pP5xU_3HkfjonLDKw_7bgNzOL3JikrXSPcCSptR_ANErho-q5eBWiRXAD1LHa_J2dFz1A2fhrAChh9_EPDLKwUC30jl8US-CVUZ1H1jIk9L4e_LRNI8/s1859/Analytical+Maturity+Curve.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1859" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOBVCgEiuopK3WbWaAHknEIj-pP5xU_3HkfjonLDKw_7bgNzOL3JikrXSPcCSptR_ANErho-q5eBWiRXAD1LHa_J2dFz1A2fhrAChh9_EPDLKwUC30jl8US-CVUZ1H1jIk9L4e_LRNI8/w640-h342/Analytical+Maturity+Curve.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Many have written about the model, so I will not describe it in depth, but <a href="https://ecapitaladvisors.com/blog/analytics-maturity/" target="_blank">here is a blog post</a> that briefly defines each step. The original model, produced by Gartner in 2012, only has 4 steps, but the blog post I just shared adds a 5th step, which incorporates machine learning. The goal is to move up the model to become an analytical competitor through the strategic use of data. But you cannot skips steps as each one builds on the previous step. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>You cannot try to understand why something happened without first identifying what actually happened. Just as you can't predict what will happen next without knowing what already happened and why. </blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>So don't rush through the first steps on your way to build machine learning models. Not only will you fail in your pursuit, you will fail to act on very simple results. Most organizations I have seen spend much of their energy looking at reports and analyses from the first two steps, as they are critical to the business. Also, there are times where building operational reports is the extent to which a team works with data, and that's okay too!</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Stages of Analytical Competition</h1><p>You can probably look at this model and roughly identify where along it your team, department, or organization lies. To help identify what step you're currently at and how to get to the next step, understanding the qualities of those at each step would be helpful. For this, I turn to the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Analytics-New-Science-Winning/dp/1422103323" target="_blank">Competing on Analytics</a>, which lays out 5 stages of analytical competition and closely aligns with the maturity model above. I could describe each stage, but I highly recommend you read the book! You can find a <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/2553020/five-stages-of-analytic-competition.html" target="_blank">summary here</a> and a descriptive table below. The objective column in the table helps to determine what area you may want to invest in to get to the next level of the maturity model.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbfpTAptpfT7XEI6bFOzyTi_wjAbolIPwZDqP0skk-LUofsqouJjK5oczH6lLcRz6yGGIQ4yRDk9T8Wnr2mf8AWG38gQXrFQTazrKBrX6lAwyPfhX_n_y1_MxhHvz-Ipt_OAuL6ThA2o/s697/5+stages+of+analytics+table.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="697" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbfpTAptpfT7XEI6bFOzyTi_wjAbolIPwZDqP0skk-LUofsqouJjK5oczH6lLcRz6yGGIQ4yRDk9T8Wnr2mf8AWG38gQXrFQTazrKBrX6lAwyPfhX_n_y1_MxhHvz-Ipt_OAuL6ThA2o/w640-h606/5+stages+of+analytics+table.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>While this table and associated book are helpful in outlining ways to better leverage analytical capabilities, there are other components involved in your analytical success. As Gartner lays out in <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/take-your-analytics-maturity-to-the-next-level/" target="_blank">this article</a>, not only do you need an analytical strategy, but also good people, governance, and technology.</p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Analytical IQ</h1><p>The book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Analytical-Leaders-Insights-Information/dp/1935504347" target="_blank">Secrets of Analytical Leaders</a> goes further by laying out a self-assessment based on four qualities:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Analytical Maturity: this is essentially what I laid out at the beginning of this post</li><li>Data Maturity: this categorizes where data resides within your organization and is a critical component to moving up the maturity model (it would be difficult to learn something new from your data if it's spread out all over the place)</li><li>Analytical Culture: this defines how those within your organization view data and analytics (if the data arrives late, how frustrated will people be?)</li><li>Scale and Scope: this outlines how widespread data is shared (when an awesome insight is found, is it emailed around and shared externally?)</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNu6iCIMhS-vFHQGppVxKxEAUEXRbrpCUd4Rw9lB6j3k1QmN1AjAeGJultwKaWpyE0mIEAq1UMGWUfiUW2ZdStq8gfaKYBV3E1aoaNnm5JlYIScMf6KPDkCdDWOxwC3iJgBErOFNCQMjU/s846/analytical+IQ.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="846" height="538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNu6iCIMhS-vFHQGppVxKxEAUEXRbrpCUd4Rw9lB6j3k1QmN1AjAeGJultwKaWpyE0mIEAq1UMGWUfiUW2ZdStq8gfaKYBV3E1aoaNnm5JlYIScMf6KPDkCdDWOxwC3iJgBErOFNCQMjU/w640-h538/analytical+IQ.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Putting it All Together</h1><p>Now that you are equipped with many tools to assess where you are at in your analytical journey, it's time to figure our where you're going. I've personally used all of these resources to conduct assessments for individual teams. As a result, I was able to provide recommendations on future projects, things they can do to set themselves up for success. Examples include:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Centralize data in a single system to facilitate more complex analyses</li><li>Build a externally facing portal for customers</li><li>Take <a href="https://www.datacamp.com/join-me/Mjc4NjU3" target="_blank">DataCamp courses</a> about forecasting</li><li>Organize reports into a clear structure to increase adoption</li></ul><div>As you can see, examples aren't always specific to analytical work, but can be anything that helps you ultimately achieve your goals. Happy 2021!</div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-40051908460736838552020-12-14T21:45:00.001-06:002020-12-14T21:45:16.157-06:00Do This One Thing...<p>It’s the time of year where many of us reflect on the past 12 months and contemplate what we’ve accomplished (hello performance review). As I reflect on the past year, there is one concept I implemented that had a profound impact on my work. <b>Brainstorming — to try to solve a problem or come up with new ideas by having a discussion that includes all members of a group.</b> It's so simple, but produces amazing results. Read on to find out how to leverage this idea in your data projects, annual planning process, or even for your 2021 goals.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBSwMzyHqm6hQWuxOdE61HPtmr5qkOY8XASkZLz2gRmw2Mv6VBtl-ITMinqhsAHXzOK-Oh1d_uPm_n4lgFSQ2hXzJWlQXkzB4NdCRyJeVoIx3B6fYHWQubmXWg_yCA73T8IFG1rAXO2M/s1600/Do+This+One+Thing....png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBSwMzyHqm6hQWuxOdE61HPtmr5qkOY8XASkZLz2gRmw2Mv6VBtl-ITMinqhsAHXzOK-Oh1d_uPm_n4lgFSQ2hXzJWlQXkzB4NdCRyJeVoIx3B6fYHWQubmXWg_yCA73T8IFG1rAXO2M/w640-h360/Do+This+One+Thing....png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p>This small concept impacts projects I manage, programs I implement, groups I organize, and the thesis I’m working on. Brainstorming not only allows me to consider options I might not typically think of, when I involved other people, our solution ended up being better and people were much more supportive of the end result (psychology is fun).</p><p>It might seem like a waste of time, but I’ve found when I take a few minutes to stop and think about what it is I’m doing, why, and what the best approach is, I end up saving time. Take for instance my thesis, a massive beast of a research project — I’ve found myself trying different modeling techniques almost randomly, trying to find an interesting approach, but really I'm just spinning my wheels. When I notice myself in that mode, I grab a notebook and pen (or my iPad), go into a different room, and think about my research. I’ll write notes about my process and ideas for things I want to try. After my brainstorming session, I’ll go back through my ideas and order or prioritize them. The result is a much more methodical and thoughtful approach to my research. Ultimately, I save time and make faster progress.</p><p>Beyond the idea of saving time, taking time to brainstorm ideas has led to better outcomes in my projects. Lately, at the beginning of a project (after the project kickoff but before any technical implementation), I have been scheduling brainstorming meetings with my team. I let everyone know the goal of the meeting is to throw out a bunch of ideas, to get it all out on the table, and that we will sort through it all (and determine a solution) later. It puts people in a different frame of mind when the goal is just idea sharing. </p><p>I love this approach so much I’m using it as my team thinks about our roadmap and goals for next year. I use it when I come up with next blog topics, ideas for Tableau user group content, and an outline for our data literacy program. You can do it alone or with a friend. <b>It creates a sense of community as well as a safe place for people to offer feedback.</b> When brainstorming in a group, I’ve found it’s important to keep my emotions in check and remember that to achieve the best result, I have to open my mind to new ideas. The whole point of brainstorming is to consider new and different ideas, so it’s critical to listen. Many times, some of the best ideas are ones that come from building on someone else’s idea, or having someone else’s idea trigger a new and different idea of your own.</p><p>Of course, it’s all about balance. If we spend all of our time brainstorming, nothing would get done. So I recommend including a brainstorming step in your process, but give it a time limit and be sure to synthesize the results.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-22164707610521268132020-11-09T17:00:00.002-06:002020-11-09T17:56:12.767-06:00Save Time with Dynamic Emails (using Alteryx)<p>Recently, we converted our Tableau licenses from perpetual to subscription-based. As a result, I had to send everyone with a Tableau Desktop license a new Tableau Creator license key. Each email had to be customized to that individual person and include the license key they were assigned. Now, I know Tableau allows you to assign keys in the portal, but that has to be done manually for each key AND users receive a not-so-pretty email that can't be customized. </p><p><br /></p><p>Instead, my team maintains an Excel file of all license keys and who they belong to. As people request licenses, we manually send them a customized email with their license key and some helpful information to get started. This is easy enough when it's done sporadically, but to send new license keys to EVERYONE was a tall (and boring) order. I knew there had to be a better way and then I remembered Alteryx has the capability to send emails.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmFthjPpn2TgCSBbO8NDX9tLxY68wg7vRvpgYgu5FJIep77Ar-UcLIuxUKOxPMt21lF48L4Y7or6o5vQFB2qd0TIPugSSsnQC5TFbH6-2_fxKfsFg72JN55_1oWmmaCWXtZpQaq8p93w/s1600/Save+Time.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmFthjPpn2TgCSBbO8NDX9tLxY68wg7vRvpgYgu5FJIep77Ar-UcLIuxUKOxPMt21lF48L4Y7or6o5vQFB2qd0TIPugSSsnQC5TFbH6-2_fxKfsFg72JN55_1oWmmaCWXtZpQaq8p93w/w640-h360/Save+Time.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The first thing I needed to do was prepare the data I needed for each email. This is what I used, but you can absolutely customize to your needs. Basically, you need to <b>consider what changes between when you send an email to Person A and Person B.</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The first name of the employee (used in the greeting)</li><li>Their email address (where is the email being sent)</li><li>Their shiny, new license key</li></ul><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Prepare the Data</h1>I exported the new keys from Tableau's Customer Portal and pasted them alongside my existing Excel file of Tableau Desktop users (this part was a random assignment). Then, I needed email addresses for each users, which exist in the Postgres database that lives behind Tableau Server. So I connected to the database and built a quick table using the system_users table. I had to do a vlookup from this data to my Excel file. Finally, I used a space to delimit first name from last name. Your data may be formatted differently, obviously. Once I had my data in the format required, I turned to Alteryx.<div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Build the Workflow</h1><p></p><p>The first tool I used was a text input tool, though you could use the basic input tool and connect to your Excel file. The text input tool allows you to copy and paste in your data, though, so for something as one-off as this, I went that route.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCyrgKal06PamWHkyxmc_zqh6tGz5qsYV4UzG5byl1Bq8CqGWYQojvnhFYk1OTpGTwF1c3KMdfTz-gjBSt97NVemH9P4-V8FT1LJAHkgr9uE2pWTrpP3-L1oiwu6QO6_xTSRTmZbSkhc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="953" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCyrgKal06PamWHkyxmc_zqh6tGz5qsYV4UzG5byl1Bq8CqGWYQojvnhFYk1OTpGTwF1c3KMdfTz-gjBSt97NVemH9P4-V8FT1LJAHkgr9uE2pWTrpP3-L1oiwu6QO6_xTSRTmZbSkhc/w640-h174/Alteryx+Email+1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The second tool was the report tool, which can be used in many different ways. In this case, I created a new field for the text I was creating and called it "Email Body". I entered the text I wanted included in the body of the email to be sent, using the "Available Fields" drop down to insert the pieces of dynamic text to be used. If you're familiar with Tableau's tooltips where you can insert elements of data, it's exactly like that. I also bolded certain sentences and included links. All of these options and more are available from the format menu.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUC_ZfY5hu-nJKQLIOCF6lgjAAlrvYKrBr1NzAitQiW_oXVOhpO7dHFjhoBgb7v43bOoNcZHeCmSF2XWUweqZbKqKMrCciCTePsCQI5Ia6ZemUFWbG8lqYGT9j445b7wFGBB2kGRse1w/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUC_ZfY5hu-nJKQLIOCF6lgjAAlrvYKrBr1NzAitQiW_oXVOhpO7dHFjhoBgb7v43bOoNcZHeCmSF2XWUweqZbKqKMrCciCTePsCQI5Ia6ZemUFWbG8lqYGT9j445b7wFGBB2kGRse1w/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86v77e1XlGa6bVKj9XygELUkxI5JvYWb9xfkSZVwdjYd3fsI_adBiYoWl_v4AJqVwhPeziZhGTOzOJUfn3qHjTrIz_jzzy-aS94jtXw1idUlwY8lfZEQuzobNE7M8j0RnGVHNUq4Lzdc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="950" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86v77e1XlGa6bVKj9XygELUkxI5JvYWb9xfkSZVwdjYd3fsI_adBiYoWl_v4AJqVwhPeziZhGTOzOJUfn3qHjTrIz_jzzy-aS94jtXw1idUlwY8lfZEQuzobNE7M8j0RnGVHNUq4Lzdc/w640-h432/Alteryx+Email+2.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The third and final tool was the email tool. The "Enabled" box needs to be checked if it's going to actually send emails. The SMTP section needs to be filled in as well. I don't know what SMTP is, and though I'm sure a Google search could educate me, I just get it from our IT infrastructure team. For any field that is dynamic (the recipient, for example), the "Use Field" box needs to be checked. Otherwise, you can enter a static value. In this case, I don't have any attachments, but I do want to use the dynamic Email Body field I created with report tool, so I have to select the "Use Field" box and from the dropdown, select the appropriate field.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVB930IPjY9EUiCnvOXjj7oYCLpN6ZO4JhkUYHKGeTNo9nva5xTab7fN9qLgkjCEEW5v-62neSo6tmB6bx6UPdPvJN2ZiNg28gUK17316_0iOdSv-1p0dWNRxz4bVlqmIhbAz9UXZWjpg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="950" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVB930IPjY9EUiCnvOXjj7oYCLpN6ZO4JhkUYHKGeTNo9nva5xTab7fN9qLgkjCEEW5v-62neSo6tmB6bx6UPdPvJN2ZiNg28gUK17316_0iOdSv-1p0dWNRxz4bVlqmIhbAz9UXZWjpg/w640-h274/Alteryx+Email+3.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Use Cases</h1><div style="text-align: left;">There are many possible uses for this simple workflow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Conduct an A/B test to see which subject line or email body people respond to best.</li><li>Customize attachments to each user based on their interests.</li><li>Personalize the contents of each email based on notes associated with each person.</li><li>Provide a status report and customized statistics for each recipient.</li><li>Dynamically change the time to be in the relevant time zone.</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Coffee Break</h1><div>Now that you've saved yourself some time, take a coffee break! Oh, and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6zt3af2s88hb7h/Dynamic%20Email.yxmd?dl=0" target="_blank">here is a template</a> you can play around with.</div></div></div><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comMilwaukee, WI, USA43.0389025 -87.906473614.728668663821153 -123.0627236 71.349136336178844 -52.7502236tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4318749715264311548.post-53436466830925090392020-10-05T22:05:00.003-05:002020-10-05T22:08:11.825-05:00Web Scraping My Recycling Schedule (using Python)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTcv20SYdHCJWG5v7YvzTvO49Catn6pQL8xztIsje_GgnS6eHewIsuga_rJoNQontqhu2FtJlU-iaQaOQAfKSaQD1krdCd0PjBDT7EDN_vpcT13D4IM0tP9PWBiiThqeusofRsB0kp3VI/s1600/Web+Scraping.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTcv20SYdHCJWG5v7YvzTvO49Catn6pQL8xztIsje_GgnS6eHewIsuga_rJoNQontqhu2FtJlU-iaQaOQAfKSaQD1krdCd0PjBDT7EDN_vpcT13D4IM0tP9PWBiiThqeusofRsB0kp3VI/w640-h360/Web+Scraping.png" width="640" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Problem</h1><div>Today, if I want to know when my garbage or recycling will be picked up, I would have to open a web browser, navigate to the city of Milwaukee's recycling website, type in my address, and hit submit. While the garbage pickup is fairly regular each week, the recycling pickup is on a schedule I do not understand. Those 60 seconds of work almost weekly are not only annoying, but they are not a good use of my time. (My desire to <a href="https://automatetheboringstuff.com/" target="_blank">automate the boring stuf</a>f in my life is another post.) </div><div><br /></div><div>Ultimately, <b>I want to be able to ask Alexa when the recycling (or garbage) will be picked up</b> and get a response. The first step is to get the relevant information from the city's website. That's what I'll be demonstrating today.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Setup</h1><div>If you're not familiar with Python, you should start to dabble. It's a great data analysis and data science tool, but also helps you automate those tedious tasks you hate. Oh, and it's free! And it integrates with lots of awesome tools, such as Tableau and Alteryx.</div>
<ul>
<li>Install <a href="https://www.anaconda.com/" target="_blank">Anaconda</a> (this installs the Python language and lots of great packages)</li>
<li><a href="https://datatofish.com/how-to-install-python-package-in-anaconda/" target="_blank">Install packages</a> pandas, bs4, and selenium (some of them might already come with Anaconda)</li>
<li><a href="https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads" target="_blank">Download Chrome driver</a> (this will be needed for Selenium)</li>
</ul><div><br /></div>
<h1 style="text-align: left;">The Code</h1><div>I'm still pretty new to Python and I've learned that while everyone structures their code differently, there are certain best practices. <b>This is a caveat that I'm 100% sure I do not follow the best practices.</b> But I organize my code in a way that is helpful for me. </div><div><br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Import Packages</h2><div>Selenium is used to replicate what a human might experience by opening a web browser, navigating, entering an address, and hitting a submit button. Automating those actions requires Selenium and Selenium needs the Chrome web driver. BeautifulSoup retrieves and parses the information provided by the website. Finally, Pandas is used to store the resulting information. It's possible Pandas isn't needed in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">from</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">selenium</span> <span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">import</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">webdriver</span>
<span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">from</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">selenium</span>.<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">webdriver</span>.<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">common</span>.<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">by</span> <span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">import</span> <span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>
<span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">from</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">bs4</span> <span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">import</span> <span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">BeautifulSoup</span>
<span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">import</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">pandas</span> <span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">as</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">pd</span></pre></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Set Variables</h2><div>The URL is the website I'm interested in getting information from and the driver is where you downloaded the Chrome web driver. You'll also need to set the street address. The address fields correspond directly to the website I'm using.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># what's the url and where is your Selenium Chrome driver saved?</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">url</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">"https://city.milwaukee.gov/sanitation/GarbageRecyclingSchedules"</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">webdriver</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">Chrome</span>(<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'C:/Users/bbeals/Selenium/chromedriver'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">implicitly_wait</span>(<span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">30</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">get</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">url</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># what's your street address? save it here!</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">address</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'3536'</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">direction</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'W'</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">street</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'FOND DU LAC'</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">streettype</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'AV'</span></pre></div></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Identify Form Elements</h2><div>You'll figure out pretty fast that web scraping relies heavily on a website's format and structure. If that structure changes, you'll have to update your code. Fun stuff. This code segment finds the elements of the form on the website so we can refer to them when we enter the address. A computer doesn't see things the way humans do, instead they see the code that lives behind the scenes of a website. You can find this code by hitting F12 in Chrome. Alternatively, you can right-click on the element you're interested in a select 'Inspect'. In this case, I'm finding form elements by it's name.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># this particular website has an embedded iframe so select that iframe first</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">iframe</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">CSS_SELECTOR</span>, <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'iframe'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">switch_to</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">frame</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">iframe</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># now find the various elements where you need to enter your address</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">address_element</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">NAME</span>,<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'laddr'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">direction_element</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">NAME</span>,<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'sdir'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">street_element</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">NAME</span>,<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'sname'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">streettype_element</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">NAME</span>,<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'stype'</span>)</pre></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Enter Address</h2><div>At this point, we have set variables with the information to be entered into the form and identified the elements of the form, but we have yet to actually do anything. <b>Here's where the magic happens.</b> For each form element, I will select the element by simulating a click and then enter the appropriate information. Finally, I will submit the form to retrieve the results.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># street number first</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">address_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">click</span>()
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">address_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">send_keys</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">address</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># then street direction info</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">direction_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">click</span>()
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">direction_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">send_keys</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">direction</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># then what street you live on</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">street_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">click</span>()
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">street_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">send_keys</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">street</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># then fill in the street type</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">streettype_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">click</span>()
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">streettype_element</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">send_keys</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">streettype</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># finally, find and click the Submit button</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">submit</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_element</span>(<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">By</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">NAME</span>, <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'Submit'</span>)
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">submit</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">click</span>()</pre></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Scrape Results</h2><div>Once the form has been submitted, the website now displays the results and this is where BeautifulSoup comes in. The display needs to be captured and parsed. Given the format of the website, I know the type of pickup (garbage or recycling) is a header (called h2 in HTML-speak). Similarly, the pickup dates are in bold, which is one of the only differentiators I have found that allow me to identify that info. In the code segment below, I'm saving a screenshot just because, capturing all the HTML, and finding all h2 and bolded (also called strong) elements.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># save a screenshot (for funsies)</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">save_screenshot</span>(<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'image.png'</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># get the html to parse later</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">html</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">page_source</span>
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># create soup object</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">soup</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">BeautifulSoup</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">html</span>, <span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'html.parser'</span>)
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># save header text to list</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">category</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> []
<span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">for</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">text</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">in</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">soup</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_all</span>(<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'h2'</span>):
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">category</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">append</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">text</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">get_text</span>())
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># save bold text to list</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">date</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> []
<span class="pl-k" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #d73a49;">for</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">text</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">in</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">soup</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">find_all</span>(<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'strong'</span>):
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">date</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">append</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">text</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">get_text</span>())</pre></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Format Results</h2><div>Once the details I'm interested in have been downloaded, I want to format the results into a table.</div><div><br /></div><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># keep 2nd and 4th item in the list</span>
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># these correspond to the 1st and 3rd 0-indexed items</span>
<span class="pl-c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6a737d;"># so keep items, stepping by 2</span>
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">date</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">date</span>[<span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">1</span>:<span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">4</span>:<span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">2</span>]
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">df</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">pd</span>.<span class="pl-v" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #e36209;">DataFrame</span>(<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">list</span>(<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">zip</span>(<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">category</span>, <span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">date</span>)),
<span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">columns</span> <span class="pl-c1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #005cc5;">=</span> [<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'Category'</span>,<span class="pl-s" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #032f62;">'Date'</span>])</pre></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Quit</h2><div><pre style="background-color: #f6f8fa; border-radius: 6px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #24292e; font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13.6px; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 16px; word-break: normal;"><span class="pl-s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">driver</span>.<span class="pl-en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6f42c1;">quit</span>()</pre></div><div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Results</h1><div>After all that code, I'm left with a 2x2 matrix.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdSG7yhoWT60JIwTk4dASCqGOnJPJ8M7GdajLfLDF-yoDQZvzC-ub49b_ZIRJT_Ex6fOqBS-BjWGL-XM5LFV9RAoeQuzXlA1H8E2vOJnooTl9oDEcDTKUJliWX4cQuM5TcJpxM3sx9Kc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="166" data-original-width="616" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdSG7yhoWT60JIwTk4dASCqGOnJPJ8M7GdajLfLDF-yoDQZvzC-ub49b_ZIRJT_Ex6fOqBS-BjWGL-XM5LFV9RAoeQuzXlA1H8E2vOJnooTl9oDEcDTKUJliWX4cQuM5TcJpxM3sx9Kc/s16000/image.png" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Future</h1><div>This code was a fun little project and does a decent job at retrieving the information I need. So, what's next?</div>
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<ul>
<li>Modify code to solve for complexities such as the garbage being picked up on the same day as the code is run (I've found that if this situation occurs, extra bolding is included)</li><li>Modify code to solve for leaf pickup during autumn months (maybe I want to know about this)</li><li>Set up an Alexa skill to comprehend what I'm asking for (garbage or recycling)</li><li>Create an AWS Lambda function to run this Python script on demand</li><li>Leverage AWS services to read the results to me</li>
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