Linda De Camps

Tableau 2
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Linda Lia De Camps

Professor Warner
April 23, 2022
ISM 3011-020
Tableau 2 Assignment

The Data
Tableau 2 Data is a source of data, presented in Excel, that shares useful information about the
profits earned from the sale of various musical instruments in four regions of the United States.
The columns in the source include Country, Region, State, Zip Code, City, Sales Date,
Department, Item, Profit, and Units Sold; the rows especially are filled with information for each
of the item’s information that the columns describe. To better analyzed this data, I used the same
document to display filters, pivot tables, and pivot charts. Also, I played around with Tableau to
see how the visualizations change with personal editions. The filters helped me to understand
what the data was about, but not much to distinguish interesting factors. The pivot tables and
charts helped me to get started in the analysis of the data. Using these Excel tools, I was able to
notice that the West, California, and clarinets had the largest gain in profit. Later, with Tableau, I
was able to notice that New York City was the city that had the greatest impact on profit and
more things that I will discuss in this document. My initial analysis led me to the side-by-side bar
to show the many interesting analytics easily, the map helps visualize the spread of profits in the
East and West regions, horizontal bars enhance readability when showing larger data (in this
case there are many cities), and highlighted tables help the reader notice a piece of specific
information faster (in this case clarinets’ large gain). Moreover, I had a problem at the beginning
that led me to change my thoughts about the data is that I tried to only analyze the data with
Tableau and did not try to discover all the factors that do impact these profits in different ways. I
instantly assume that New York and Clarinets were the only two interesting factors in the data,
but the curiosity of wanting to learn more about data analysis led me to try to analyze it more. I
was able to encounter that California did even better than New York in terms of profit, I
understood that what caused New York to do good were the clarinets, and that New York City
was the city that had the largest gain.
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Workbook Sheets

 In the Profit and Units Sold by Region/Department, I am showing the profits and units
sold for each item each year. This information is divided by region and department. There
are many things one can notice by observing this data. The first significant factor I
noticed is that woodwinds are the departments that led to more profits. The second factor
I noticed is that clarinets were the item that sold the most. The third factor I noticed was
that woodwinds did better in 2021 than in 2020, a fact that is the opposite for the brass
department which did better in 2020 than in 2021. The fourth factor was that the
department that did the worst in both years was strings. The fifth factor was that the
second item that did better than the other items was Tubas (in 2020). The sixth factor was
that the two regions that did the best in terms of profit were the East and West regions.
What led me to this visualization was the desire to see most of the data in only one
illustration, and because I knew that this type of visualization was going to lead to seeing
many interesting factors instantly and effectively. Plus, this format does a great job
putting all the data in one place while making it easy to understand. This
visualization/analytic is meaningful because it serves as an impactful starter for the
development of this project and the explanation of the data’s results.
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 In the East Vs. West Map worksheet, I am illustrating the profits from 2020-2021 of the
states in the East and West regions (the regions with the largest gains) in a map. From
this visualization of the data, I was able to learn that the West region only had eleven
states in which the items were sold and that the East region had fourteen, and still the
West region did better than the East region. I learned that this happen because a few
states in the East region did not do too well in comparison with the rest. Lastly, I learned
that California and New York are the top two states in terms of profit. I particularly chose
the symbol map because it helps visualize the spread of profits in the East and West
regions better than either the bars or a normal map could. I personally enjoyed analyzing
the information with maps as I believe it makes it more fun. Moreover, this analysis helps
to better target the different regions and states to increase profit. Also, I decided to keep
the previous colors so that they don’t have to adapt to another set and can assimilate the
information better. Lastly, this analytic / visualization is meaningful because of how the
states influence the profit of each region.
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 In the Profit in the East by Items worksheet, I am showing how much profit from each
item the East region gains in 2020 and 2021. Information I also divided by department.
When analyzing this data, I was able to learn about the profit that each item brought to
each department. For example, I noticed that clarinets were the item with the largest gain
in 2021, that tubas were the item that did almost equally as good in both years, and that
the item that did the worst in both years was violins. The desire to see which items sold
the most in the East region (one of the most profitable regions) to later be able to make a
well-informed recommendation is what led me to this visualization. I chose the
highlighted table with the set of colors because I believe it makes it easier to notice which
items did really well, and which ones did not so as well. This analytic / visualization is
meaningful because it helps to focus only on the items. It allows the person evaluating the
data to easily notice the items that are contributing most significantly to the East region’s
profit. Also, it helps evaluate which of these items have impressively contributed to both
years, or which ones did better or worst in a particular year.
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 In the Profit in the West by Items worksheet, I am showing how much profit from each
item the West region gains in 2020 and 2021. Information I also divided by department.
When analyzing this data, I was able to learn about the profit that each item brought to
each department in the specific years. For example, I noticed that the item that
contributed the most in 2021 was clarinets followed by saxophones. Moreover, I noticed
that the item that contributed the most in 2020 was tubas followed by trumpets. Also, I
noticed that violins did not do good in the West region either. As I said before, I chose
the highlighted table with the set of colors because I believe it makes it easier to notice
the items’ overall contribution to the region. This analytic / visualization is meaningful
because it focuses only on items by leaving most of the factors previously evaluated
behind.
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 In the Profit and Units Sold by State worksheet, I am showing the profit and units sold by
each state with colors that help notice that California, New York, and Texas are the top
three states in terms of both profit and units sold in the two years. Also, by using this
visualization I was able to notice which states did not do so well including Iowa, Maine,
and South Dakota. The last factor I noticed is that profit and units sold are data that are
closely related, this led me to just focus on profit in the next visualizations. I decided to
include this analytic because even though I knew that the East and West regions did
better than the other regions I wanted to see how states alone were doing. As I said
before, the side-by-side bars help the reader to interpret any data most easily, and the
colors make any data stand out from the rest. This is what I wanted to show with the
profits and units sold in the states. Lastly, this analytic / visualization is meaningful
because it is showing the data by state, a factor that was not included in the previous one.
Also, the goal is to evaluate the profit of the states regardless of dates, departments, or
items.
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 In the Profit by City worksheet, I am showing the profit of all the cities in California,
New York, and Texas. The three states with the largest gain in the years 2020 and 2021.
From this visualization, I learned that California did better than the other states because
most of its cities contributed significantly and that the city that had the largest gain was
Los Angeles. Moreover, I learned that New York City was the city that had the largest
gain, but unfortunately, the rest of the cities did not do as well as the cities in California.
Also, I learned that Texas did not have a city that stood out, but I noticed that its cities’
profits were more evenly distributed than in New York. I decided to use the horizontal
bars to illustrate this part of the data because I wanted to help with the readability of the
cities without removing the attention from the illustration of the profit amounts. The
colors and the labels help to catch most of the attention of the profits. This analytic /
visualization is meaningful because it shows the profit by city, a part of the data that was
not portrayed in the previous visualizations which helps notice interesting new
information from the data. For example, I was able to see that the city that sold the most
was New York City even though California was the state that had the largest gain in
profit.
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Workbook Dashboard

 In the Regional Profit dashboard, I included the East Vs. West Profit Map, the Profit in
the East by Items, and the Profit in the West by Items. Also, I added an interaction in the
map that alters the profits displayed in the highlighted tables when clicking in the
different states. In other words, when one clicks on one of the states the highlighted
tables will display the profit for each of the items for those specific states instead of the
region. Also, I applied the state filter to all of the worksheets, this means that one can
exclude states to understand how each affects the region’s profit. I included the map with
the highlighted tables to show the same information that I showed for the regions in the
previous worksheets, for each state within those regions when clicking on them. As a
group illustrates the items’ profits for the East and West regions, and for each of the
states encountered in these regions using a map and two highlighted tables.
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The Story
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 In the East Vs. West story, I included the Profit and Units Sold by Region/Department
worksheet, the East Vs. West Profit Map worksheet, the Profit by State worksheet, the
Profit by city worksheet, and the Regional Profit dashboard. I started my story with the
first worksheet I created because I want to tell my story analysis in order, and because is
the one that includes most of the information in just one visualization. This worksheet is
the one that got me started, the one that helped me notice many interesting facts in the
data including that the East and West regions were the most profitable. Therefore, I
continued by adding the East Vs. West Profit Map worksheet to reflect this fact that I
found, an analytic that helped notice that California was the most profitable state
followed by New York. A finding that led to creating the third worksheet I included,
Profit by State. I included it to show that even though the East and West regions were the
most profitable, Texas was the third most profitable state after New York. Later, because
I was able to find this interesting information, I decided to create the fourth worksheet I
created, Profit by City. With this sheet, I was able to understand why California was the
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state most profitable and to discover that New York City was the most profitable city
even though New York state was the second most profitable. Lastly, I included the
Regional Profit dashboard to show two of my other worksheets that led to discovering the
data deeply. With this dashboard, I was able to understand and show the items’ profits for
the East and West regions, and for each of the states encountered in these regions using a
map and two highlighted tables.

After analyzing this data with Excel and Tableau I believe I can share valuable recommendations
to increase profits and reduce costs. First, I would say that the production of units should be
reduced in both the North and South regions or adjustments can be made to the way this
population is marketed, these two regions are not doing as well as the other two. Also, reduce the
production in states like Maine, West Virginia, Vermont, and Montana to be able to focus on the
most profitable states or invest heavily in marketing. For cities like Concord, Pico Rivera,
Pomona, and many more cities that are not doing well at all in the various regions I could
recommend either reducing the production or even removing them from the company’s points of
sale. When making recommendations on products that are not selling too well and that profits
have decreased in 2021 (trombones, cellos, and violins), I say that should be closely monitored.
Also, primary research should be conducted to understand why the customers are not wanting to
buy this. If the reason why can be improved then make the necessary adjustments, but if it cannot
be improved then definitely reduce the production. On the other hand, I would recommend the
continuation in all aspects in the East and West Regions. Maybe investments in marketing can be
reduced if the capital can be used to market the less profitable zones. The same can be said for
states like California, cities like New York City, and items like clarinets, saxophones, and tubas.

Using Tableau, I have been able to learn how data visualization can positively influence how
someone understands and evaluates data. I have learned how to connect a source of data from my
documents, and how to create worksheets, dashboards, and stories. I have learned how to predict
outcomes, manipulate data, and understand it. Also, I have been able to learn how to format the
data using colors, interactions, labels, shapes, filters, formulas, maps, charts, and more.