Topic 2: Time Series

Analysis &
Forecasting
With
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Tableau

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 Time Series Analysis
“A time series is nothing but a sequence of various data points that
occurred in a successive order for a given period of time”
Time series analysis is crucial to understanding your data. The ability to look forward and backward,
to drill down from years to days and see data trends over different periods of time is essential for
the most comprehensive analysis. Tableau’s built-in date and time functions let you drag and drop
to analyze time trends, drill down with a click, analyze times by day of the week, and easily perform
time comparison like year-over-year growth and moving averages.

Time Series Analysis is the way of studying the characteristics of the response variable with respect to
time, as the independent variable. To estimate the target variable in the name of predicting or
forecasting, use the time variable as the point of reference. TSA is the backbone for prediction and
forecasting analysis, specific to the time-based problem statements.

 Analyzing the historical dataset and its patterns

 Understanding and matching the current situation with patterns derived from the previous
stage.
 Understanding the factor or factors influencing certain variable(s) in different periods.

With help of “Time Series” we can prepare numerous time-based analyses and results.

 Forecasting
 Segmentation
 Classification
 Descriptive analysis

Components of Time Series Analysis

 Trend
 Seasonality
 Cyclical
 Irregularity

Trend: In which there is no fixed interval and any divergence within the given dataset is a continuous
timeline. The trend would be Negative or Positive or Null Trend

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Seasonality: In which regular or fixed interval shifts within the dataset in a continuous timeline. Would
be bell curve or saw tooth

Cyclical: In which there is no fixed interval, uncertainty in movement and its pattern

Irregularity: Unexpected situations/events/scenarios and spikes in a short time span

Time series has the below-mentioned limitations, we have to take care of those during our analysis,

 Similar to other models, the missing values are not supported by TSA
 The data points must be linear in their relationship.
 Data transformations are mandatory, so a little expensive.
 Models mostly work on Uni-variate data

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Visualizing time series data
Time series analysis is a statistical technique used to record and analyze data points over a period of
time, such as daily, monthly, yearly, etc. A time series chart is the graphical representation of the
time series data across the interval period. In this guide, you will learn how to build a time series
chart in Tableau. The starting point of forecasting is a time series visualization, which provides the
flexibility to reflect on historical data and analyze trends and seasonal components. It also helps to
compare multiple dimensions over time, spot trends, and identify seasonal patterns in the data. A
few examples include stock market analysis, population trend analysis using a census, or sales and
profit trends over time.

To look at a specific time period, you can filter your data to a set of exact dates or take advantage of
Tableau’s relative date filters. With relative date filters, you can look at relative periods, like “last
week” or “last month.” These periods update each time you open the view to incorporate new data,
making them a powerful tool for reporting. When working with time series, it’s often necessary to
smooth or perform other temporal calculations. Tableau possesses a rich feature set designed to
simplify common time-series operations such as moving averages, year-over-year calculations, and
running totals. As previously discussed, Tableau’s Table Calculations feature lets you choose from a
common set of time series manipulations (Quick Table Calculations) or write custom computations.

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Time Series Analysis How is done in Tableau
Tableau provides convenient options for building time series charts. The built-in date and time
functions allow you to use the drag-and-drop option to create and analyze time trends, drill down
with a click, and easily perform trend analysis comparisons.
To build a time series chart in Tableau, we will use the built-in Sample Superstore data that comes
with the Tableau installation. Please follow the steps outlined below to create a time series chart.
Drag the Order Date field to the Columns shelf and the Sales variable to the Rows shelf. The default
chart will give us a yearly trend line chart. The Marks shelf automatically selects a line graph for the
chart.

In the chart above, we see that the display is in years. To further drill down to quarter and month
levels, we can simply click on the plus icon on the order date in the Columns shelf. This will generate
the following output, which now displays the data broken down to the month and quarter level.

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The above chart is useful, but it is displayed in a discrete format. It will be more beneficial if the data
is displayed in continuous form. To convert the chart into a continuous format time series chart, the
first step is to roll up the YEAR (Order Date) back to year level, and then the second step is to right-
click on it and select the Year and Continuous options. This is illustrated in the chart below.

Another option in Tableau to build the continuous chart is to directly select the line chart type in
the Show Me card, as shown in the chart below

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The above chart shows the trend of annual sales during the period 2016 through 2019. There is a
continuous trend of increase in sales volume. However, it is better to analyze the time series data by
breaking it down to a monthly level.
It is easy to change the chart breakdown from annual to monthly. This can be done by simply
changing the Columns shelf from YEAR (Order Date) to MONTH (Order Date). This will generate a
monthly time series chart. From an analytics perspective, this chart is more insightful as it allows us
to see the sales fluctuations across months and years. This is also useful for decomposing the
seasonality and trend components of the time series data.

Tableau also provides the ability to change the path property as well as the chart type.
Change the Path Property

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We can change the path property by going into the Marks shelf and clicking on the Path option.
There are three options for the type of line graph for the view, and selecting the second option will
produce the following chart. The output is like the previous chart, but the trend shifts are more
pronounced now.

Change the Chart Type

We can change the chart type to options such as a bar or an area chart, either from the Marks shelf
or from the Show Me option. However, for time series data, this is not suggested as the line chart is
the best option.

Adding Categories to Time Series

In the previous sections, we have learned how to build a time series chart with two
variables, sales and time. However, sometimes it is important to add more variables to a chart to

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understand and analyze it better. For instance, it could be useful to visualize sales by segment across
time. This can be done easily in two ways. First, simply drag the Segment field to the Color pane in
the Marks shelf. The second method is to move the category to the Rows shelf to show it separately.

If I wanted to see an end result vs. a starting point and eliminate distracting
data, the best charts to use are Slope Charts in Tableau.

These charts show the top eight New York City bike stations and the number of journeys over the
course of a year. The top chart shows how each station’s traffic has changed over the course of time
in a regular line chart. The bottom is the same data visualized in a slope chart. With a regular line
chart, you can quickly see the seasonal lows and peaks of all of the stations, but the noise between
the start and end of the data set hides the biggest insight of all. The slope chart eliminates the in-
between data points and immediately reveals that the W. 20th Street station went from the number
one station to the number eight station. Imagine we have the following chart line chart. How useful
is this? How much insight can we pull from this noise? Very little. With the data highlighter, that
would help, but still we would have to go one at a time.

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What if we just wanted to compare a start point vs. an end result and eliminate the noise in
between? For this, we can use a Slope Chart. Slope Charts look like this. They show the starting
point and the ending point, and they eliminate all the points in between. They’re great for showing
a before/after scenario, and can also reveal rankings, changes, and the magnitude of said change.

Start by bringing Profit to Rows and Order Date to Columns

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  Click the drop down arrow on Order Date to Month (May 2015). It’s in the second set of
dates. We’re making this date continuous, not discrete. The pill should now be green.
 Bring Order Date to the Filter shelf, and set it Range of Dates.
 Click the down arrow on this filter and choose Show Filter.
 Now, create a calculation called “First or Last.” Do this by right clicking in Measures >
Create Calculated Field, or by choosing the drop down arrow from the top of the data pane
near Dimensions.
 Write the following formula: FIRST() = 0 or LAST() = 0. Choose Ok.
 Drop this on Size. You’ll see that the ends of the line get larger, while there isn’t much
change in the middle.
 A size legend will appear. Right click on false and then choose Hide.
 Drop Product Sub-Category onto the Labels shelf.
 Your view should now look like this below

Click the Color shelf icon and under Effects > Markers, set it to the second icon with the dots. This
will create a circle for each end of the line.
Hold down the Ctrl key and drag a second instance of Profit to the right on the Rows shelf.
Click the down arrow on that second Profit pill and choose Dual Axis.
Right click on that second axis and then choose Synchronize Axis.
Set the date field by typing in 10/1/2009 and 10/31/2012 in the Order Date filter at the top right.
Your view should now look like this:

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Click the down arrow on the Product Sub-Category pill and turn on the Data Highlighter. You can
now highlight a particular element and see changes.
On the first, Sum(Profit) Shelf on the left, click the Label icon, and turn off “Show Mark Labels.”
On the second one, click Label and ensure Show Mark Labels is checked. Down below that, set
Marks to Label to Line Ends. Beneath that, uncheck the box that says “Allow labels to overlap other
marks.” We can immediately see that Office Machines have become much more profitable for us,
while Copiers and Faxes have dropped dramatically and are now losing money.
With the data highlighter in use, we can zero in on any product line, like this:

For marketers, using a slope chart to visualize social media data can reveal more insights about
follower growth, brand-name mentions, engagement, and reach against competitors.

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How to make slope graphs. See the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piGtaCUpbaE

This visualization shows ten years of wildlife strikes on airplanes across the United States. If you
were to see this on a regular line chart, you might notice that there were more strikes in 2010 than
there were in 2000, but key insights remain missing. Because a cycle plot allows you to visualize
several periods of time and see multiple trends at once, you can see that bird strikes are far more
common in August, September, and October than the other months of the year. The black line
shows the monthly average, and the blue line shows the annual trend for that month.

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For real estate agents or sales reps, cycle plots can quickly show important trends just under the
surface of your data. Cycle plots will answer questions like: How has sales changed on each weekday
over the past six months? What days of the week in each month are better for closing deals? Or
what hour of the day is the highest performing? Knowing this information can drastically improve
quarter planning and seasonal decision-making.

How to make a Cycle Plot see the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjeEPBz4puc

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Using both month and year, this highlight table shows how common birth dates are in the US compared
to the UK. The darker the color, the more common the birthday. You can look at individual dates as well
as trends in the colors.

If you’re a scientist, a government worker, or even a journalist, highlight tables come in handy when you
need to show impact over time in a more meaningful way. This chart shows the US drought index for
each month for almost twenty years. The colors quickly direct your eye to the particularly driest months

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/cirs/climdiv/climdiv-pdsidv-v1.0.0-20230206

You can also take your highlight table a step further, and visualize the same time data on a map to
reveal the driest regions over time, like the New York Times did in this visualization.

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Time Series Forecasting
Time series forecasting occurs when you make scientific predictions based on historical time
stamped data. It involves building models through historical analysis and using them to make
observations and drive future strategic decision-making. An important distinction in forecasting is
that at the time of the work, the future outcome is completely unavailable and can only be
estimated through careful analysis and evidence-based priors.

What is time series forecasting?

Time series forecasting is the process of analyzing time series data using statistics and modeling to
make predictions and inform strategic decision-making. It’s not always an exact prediction, and
likelihood of forecasts can vary wildly—especially when dealing with the commonly fluctuating
variables in time series data as well as factors outside our control. However, forecasting insight
about which outcomes are more likely—or less likely—to occur than other potential outcomes.
Often, the more comprehensive the data we have, the more accurate the forecasts can be. While
forecasting and “prediction” generally mean the same thing, there is a notable distinction. In some
industries, forecasting might refer to data at a specific future point in time, while prediction refers to
future data in general. Series forecasting is often used in conjunction with time series analysis. Time
series analysis involves developing models to gain an understanding of the data to understand the
underlying causes. Analysis can provide the “why” behind the outcomes you are seeing. Forecasting
then takes the next step of what to do with that knowledge and the predictable extrapolations of
what might happen in the future.

Here are several examples from a range of industries to make the notions of time series
analysis and forecasting more concrete:

 Forecasting the closing price of a stock each day.

 Forecasting product sales in units sold each day for a store.
 Forecasting unemployment for a state each quarter.
 Forecasting the average price of gasoline each day.

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Forecasting modelling time series types
There are many ways to model a time series in order to make predictions. Here, I will present:
 moving average
 exponential smoothing

Moving average
The moving average model is probably the most naive approach to time series modelling. This model
simply states that the next observation is the mean of all past observations. Although simple, this
model might be surprisingly good and it represents a good starting point. Otherwise, the moving
average can be used to identify interesting trends in the data. We can define a window to apply the
moving average model to smooth the time series, and highlight different trends.

Example of a moving average on a 24h window. In the plot above, we applied the moving average model
to a 24h window. The green line smoothed the time series, and we can see that there are 2 peaks in a
24h period. Of course, the longer the window, the smoother the trend will be. Below is an example of
moving average on a smaller window.

Example of a moving average on a 12h window

Exponential smoothing
Exponential smoothing uses a similar logic to moving average, but this time, a different decreasing weight is
assigned to each observations. In other words, less importance is given to observations as we move further from the
present

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Example of exponential smoothing

From the plot above, the dark blue line represents the exponential smoothing of the time series using a
smoothing factor of 0.3, while the orange line uses a smoothing factor of 0.05. As you can see, the
smaller the smoothing factor, the smoother the time series will be. This makes sense, because as the
smoothing factor approaches 0, we approach the moving average model.

Double exponential smoothing

Double exponential smoothing is used when there is a trend in the time series. In that case, we use this
technique, which is simply a recursive use of exponential smoothing twice.

Example of double exponential smoothing

Additive and multiplicative forecasting

Additive model calculates a seasonal index for historical data that does not have a trend. The method
produces exponentially smoothed values for the level of the forecast and the seasonal adjustment to
the forecast. The seasonal adjustment is added to the forecasted level, producing the seasonal additive

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forecast. This method is best for data without trend but with seasonality that does not increase over
time. It results in a curved forecast that reproduces the seasonal changes in the data.

Multiplicative model calculates a seasonal index for historical data that does not have a trend. The
method produces exponentially smoothed values for the level of the forecast and the seasonal
adjustment to the forecast. The seasonal adjustment is multiplied by the forecasted level, producing the
seasonal multiplicative forecast. This method is best for data without trend but with seasonality that
increases or decreases over time. It results in a curved forecast that reproduces the seasonal changes in
the data.

Things that are random will never be forecast accurately, no matter how much data we collect or how
consistently. For example: we can observe data every week for every lottery winner, but we can never
forecast who will win next. Ultimately, it is up to your data and your time series data analysis as to when
you should use forecasting, because forecasting varies widely due to various factors. Use your judgment
and know your data. Keep this list of considerations in mind to always have an idea of how successful
forecasting will be.

Forecasting in Tableau uses a technique known as exponential smoothing. Forecast algorithms try to
find a regular pattern in measures that can be continued into the future. All forecast algorithms are
simple models of a real-world data generating process (DGP). For a high quality forecast, a simple
pattern in the DGP must match the pattern described by the model reasonably well. Quality metrics
measure how well the model matches the DGP. If the quality is low, the precision measured by the
confidence bands is not important because it measures the precision of an inaccurate estimate.

Tableau automatically selects the best of up to eight models, the best being the one that generates the
highest quality forecast. The smoothing parameters of each model are optimized before Tableau
assesses forecast quality. The optimization method is global. Therefore, choosing locally optimal
smoothing parameters that are not also globally optimal is not impossible. However, initial value
parameters are selected according to best practices but are not further optimized. So it is possible for
initial value parameters to be less than optimal. The eight models available in Tableau are among those
described at the following location on the OTexts web site: A taxonomy of exponential smoothing
methods.

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Exponential smoothing models with trend or seasonal components are effective when the measure to
be forecast exhibits trend or seasonality over the period of time on which the forecast is based. Trend is
a tendency in the data to increase or decrease over time. Seasonality is a repeating, predictable
variation in value, such as an annual fluctuation in temperature relative to the season. In general, the
more data points you have in your time series, the better the resulting forecast will be. Having enough
data is particularly important if you want to model seasonality, because the model is more complicated
and requires more proof in the form of data to achieve a reasonable level of precision. On the other
hand, if you forecast using data generated by two or more different DGPs, you will get a lower quality
forecast because a model can only match one.

Seasonality in forecasting
Seasonality refers to periodic fluctuations. For example, electricity consumption is high during the day

and low during night, or online sales increase during Christmas before slowing down again.

Tableau tests for a seasonal cycle with the length most typical for the time aggregation of the time series
for which the forecast is estimated. So if you aggregate by months, Tableau will look for a 12-month
cycle; if you aggregate by quarters, Tableau will search for a four-quarter cycle; and if you aggregate by
days, Tableau will search for weekly seasonality. Therefore, if there is a six-month cycle in your monthly
time series, Tableau will probably find a 12-month pattern that contains two similar sub-patterns.
However, if there is a seven-month cycle in your monthly time series, Tableau will probably find no cycle
at all. Luckily, seven-month cycles are uncommon.

Tableau can use either of two methods for deriving season length. The original temporal method uses
the natural season length of the temporal granularity (TG) of the view. Temporal granularity means the
finest unit of time expressed by the view. For example, if the view contains either a continuous green
date truncated to month or discrete blue year and month date parts, the temporal granularity of the
view is month. The new non-temporal method, introduced with Tableau 9.3, uses periodic regression to
check season lengths from 2 to 60 for candidate lengths.

Tableau automatically selects the most appropriate method for a given view. When Tableau is using a
date to order the measures in a view, if the temporal granularity is quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily or
hourly, the season lengths are almost certainly 4, 12, 13, 7 or 24, respectively. So only the length natural
to the TG is used to construct the five seasonal exponential smoothing models supported by Tableau.
The AIC of the five seasonal models and the three non-seasonal models are compared and the lowest
returned. (For an explanation of the AIC metric, see Forecast Descriptions.)

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When Tableau is using an integer dimension for forecasting, the second method is used. In this case
there is no temporal granularity (TG), so potential season lengths must be derived from the data. The
second method is also used if the temporal granularity is yearly. Yearly series rarely have seasonality,
but, if they do, it must also be derived from the data.

The second method is also used for views with temporal granularity of minute or second. If such series
have seasonality, the season lengths are likely 60. However, when measuring a regular real world
process, the process may have a regular repetition which does not correspond to the clock. So, for
minutes and seconds, Tableau also checks for a length different from 60 in the data. This does not mean
that Tableau can model two different season lengths at the same time. Rather, ten seasonal models are
estimated, five with a season length of 60 and another five with the season length derived from the
data. Whichever of the ten seasonal models or three non-seasonal models has the lowest AIC, that
model is used to compute the forecast.

For series ordered by year, minute, or second, a single season length from the data is tested if the
pattern is fairly clear. For integer ordered series, up to nine somewhat less clear potential season lengths
are estimated for all five seasonal models, and the model with the lowest AIC is returned. If there are no
likely season length candidates, only the non-seasonal models are estimated. Since all selection is
automatic when Tableau is deriving potential season lengths from the data, the default Model Type of
“Automatic” in the Forecast Options Dialog Model Type menu does not change. Selecting “Automatic
without seasonality” improves performance by eliminating all season length searching and estimation of
seasonal models.

The heuristic that Tableau uses to decide when to use season lengths derived from the data depends on
the distribution of errors for the periodic regression of each candidate season length. Since the assembly
of season length candidates by periodic regression usually produces one or two clear winning lengths if
seasonality actually exists in the data, the return of a single candidate indicates likely seasonality. In this
case, Tableau estimates seasonal models with this candidate for year, minute and second granularity.
The return of less than the maximum of ten candidates indicates possible seasonality. In this case,
Tableau estimates seasonal models with all returned candidates for integer ordered views. The return of
the maximum number of candidates indicates that errors for most length are similar. Therefore, the
existence of any seasonality is unlikely. In this case, Tableau estimates only non-seasonal models for an
integer-ordered or yearly ordered series, and only the seasonal models with a natural season length for
other temporally ordered views.

Forecasting with Time

When you are forecasting with a date, there can be only one base date in the view. Part dates are
supported, but all parts must refer to the same underlying field. Dates can be on Rows, Columns,
or Marks (with the exception of the Tooltip target).

Tableau supports three types of dates, two of which can be used for forecasting:

 Truncated dates reference a particular point in history with specific temporal granularity, such
as February 2017. They are usually continuous, with a green background in the view. Truncated
dates are valid for forecasting.

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  Date parts refer to a particular member of a temporal measure such as February. Each date part
is represented by a different, usually discrete field (with a blue background). Forecasting
requires at least a Year date part. Specifically, it can use any of the following sets of date parts
for forecasting:

o Year

o Year + quarter

o Year + month

o Year + quarter + month

o Year + week

o Custom: Month/Year, Month/Day/Year

Other date parts, such as Quarter or Quarter + month, are not valid for forecasting. See Convert
Fields between Discrete and Continuous for more details about different date types.

 Exact dates refer to a particular point in history with maximum temporal granularity such as
February 1, 2012 at 14:23:45.0. Exact dates are invalid for forecasting.

Granularity and Trimming

When you create a forecast, you select a date dimension that specifies a unit of time at which date
values are to be measured. Tableau dates support a range of such time units, including Year, Quarter,
Month, and Day. The unit you choose for the date value is known as the granularity of the date. The
data in your measure typically does not align precisely with your unit of granularity. You might set your
date value to quarters, but your actual data may terminate in the middle of a quarter—for example, at
the end of November. This can cause a problem because the value for this fractional quarter is treated
by the forecasting model as a full quarter, which will typically have a lower value than a full quarter
would. If the forecasting model is allowed to consider this data, the resulting forecast will be inaccurate.
The solution is to trim the data, such that the trailing periods that could mislead the forecast are
ignored. Use the Ignore Last option in the Forecast Options dialog box to remove—or trim—such partial
periods. The default is to trim one period.

Getting More Data

Tableau requires at least five data points in the time series to estimate a trend, and enough data points
for at least two seasons or one season plus five periods to estimate seasonality. For example, at least
nine data points are required to estimate a model with a four quarter seasonal cycle (4 + 5), and at least
24 to estimate a model with a twelve month seasonal cycle (2 * 12). If you turn on forecasting for a view
that does not have enough data points to support a good forecast, Tableau can sometimes retrieve
enough data points to produce a valid forecast by querying the data source for a finer level of
granularity:

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  If your view contains fewer than nine years of data, by default, Tableau will query the data
source for quarterly data, estimate a quarterly forecast, and aggregate to a yearly forecast to
display in your view. If there are still not enough data points, Tableau will estimate a monthly
forecast and return the aggregated yearly forecast to your view.
 If your view contains fewer than nine quarters of data, by default Tableau will estimate a
monthly forecast and return the aggregated quarterly forecast results to your view.
 If your view contains fewer than nine weeks of data, by default, Tableau will estimate a daily
forecast and return the aggregated weekly forecast results to your view.
 If your view contains fewer than nine days of data, by default, Tableau will estimate an hourly
forecast and return the aggregated daily forecast results to your view.
 If your view contains fewer than nine hours of data, by default, Tableau will estimate an
minutely forecast and return the aggregated hourly forecast results to your view.
 If your view contains fewer than nine minutes of data, by default, Tableau will estimate an
secondly forecast and return the aggregated minutely forecast results to your view.

These adjustments happen behind the scene and require no configuration. Tableau does not change the
appearance of your visualization, and does not actually change your date value. However, the summary
of the forecast time period in the Forecast Describe and Forecast Options dialog will reflect the actual
granularity used. Tableau can only get more data when the aggregation for the measure you are
forecasting is SUM or COUNT.

Forecasting – how is done in Tableau

Watch a video:

https://www.tableau.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/forecasting?
_ga=2.32083710.1705089464.1676111370-451242052.1673859977

You can add a forecast to a view when there is at least one date dimension and one measure in the
view. To turn forecasting on, right-click (control-click on Mac) on the visualization and choose Forecast
>Show Forecast, or choose Analysis >Forecast >Show Forecast. You can forecast quantitative time-series
data using exponential smoothing models in Tableau Desktop. With exponential smoothing, recent
observations are given relatively more weight than older observations. These models capture the
evolving trend or seasonality of your data and extrapolate them into the future. Forecasting is fully
automatic, yet configurable. Many forecast results can become fields in your visualizations. When a
forecast is showing, future values for the measure are shown next to the actual values.

For Model Type “Automatic” in integer-, year-, minute- and second-ordered views, candidate season
lengths are always derived from the data whether or not they are used. Since model estimation is much
more time consuming than periodic regression, the performance impact should be moderate.

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An additive model is one in which the contributions of the model components are summed, whereas a
multiplicative model is one in which at least some component contributions are multiplied.
Multiplicative models can significantly improve forecast quality for data where the trend or seasonality
is affected by the level (magnitude) of the data:

Keep in mind that you do not need to create a custom model to generate a forecast that is
multiplicative: the Automatic setting can determine if a multiplicative forecast is appropriate for your
data. However, a multiplicative model cannot be computed when the measure to be forecast has one or
more values that are less than or equal to zero.

Questions.

1. What is the Use of Time Series Analysis in Business? Search the web and provide a screen shot
of time series analysis with a screenshot and a link. Give a description of one paragraph for your
case.
2. What is a slope chart, cycle pots and highlight tables and when should be used to visualize
business data?
3. What is Forecasting and how it is used in business? Search the web and provide a screen shot of
time series analysis with a screenshot and a link. Give a description of one paragraph for your
case.
4. Describe the moving average and exponential smoothing forecasting models?

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5. When additive and multiplicative models should be used for forecasting in Tableau instead of
the default model (exponential smoothing)?
6. What is the effect of seasonality in forecasting? Provide an example.
7. What are the data requirements for forecasting in Tableau?

Business Analytics

Assignment 2

1. Use the P1-Long term unemployment statistics.xls and create trend lines of unemployment (a)
for the whole population and (b) chart for males and females.
[Screenshot]

2. Use a slope chart to show the progression of unemployment between years 2010-2014.

[Screenshot]

3. Use a cycle plot chart to identify any circles of employment for the whole data set.

[Screenshot]

4. Use the Fredgraph.xls create a standard forecasting on IHLIDXNEWUS. Define the period you
want for your forecasting
[Screenshot]

5. Repeat forecasting for IHLIDXNEWUS and IHLIDXUS at the same time for a month. Derive the
summary description of the forecasting and the forecasting model description.
[Screenshots]

6. Repeat 5 using additive and multiplicative models. Comment on the appropriateness of using
these models for the specific data set.
[Screenshots]

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