1. What is the difference between Traditional BI Tools and Tableau?

Traditional BI Tools vs Tableau

Traditional BI Tools Tableau
1. Architecture has hardware limitations. 1. Do not have dependencies.

2. Based on Associative Search which makes it dynamic

2. Based on a complex set of technologies.
and fast
3. Do not support in-memory, multi-thread, multi-core 3. Supports in memory when used with advanced
computing. technologies.
4. Uses predictive analysis for various business
4. Has a predefined view of data.
operations.
2. What is Tableau?

 Tableau is a business intelligence software.

 It allows anyone to connect to the respective data.
 Visualizes and creates interactive, shareable dashboards.

3. What are the different Tableau Products and what is the latest version of Tableau?

Here is the Tableau Product family.

(i)Tableau Desktop:

It is a self service business analytics and data visualization that anyone can use. It translates pictures of data
into optimized queries. With tableau desktop, you can directly connect to data from your data warehouse for
live upto date data analysis. You can also perform queries without writing a single line of code. Import all
your data into Tableau’s data engine from multiple sources & integrate altogether by combining multiple
views in a interactive dashboard.

(ii)Tableau Server:
It is more of an enterprise level Tableau software. You can publish dashboards with Tableau Desktop and
share them throughout the organization with web-based Tableau server. It leverages fast databases through
live connections.

(iii)Tableau Online:

This is a hosted version of Tableau server which helps makes business intelligence faster and easier than
before. You can publish Tableau dashboards with Tableau Desktop and share them with colleagues.

(iv)Tableau Reader:

It’s a free desktop application that enables you to open and view visualizations that are built in Tableau
Desktop. You can filter, drill down data but you cannot edit or perform any kind of interactions.

(v)Tableau Public:

This is a free Tableau software which you can use to make visualizations with but you need to save your
workbook or worksheets in the Tableau Server which can be viewed by anyone.

4. What are the different datatypes in Tableau?

Tableau supports the following data-types:

5. What are Measures and Dimensions?

Measures are the numeric metrics or measurable quantities of the data, which can be analyzed by dimension
table. Measures are stored in a table that contain foreign keys referring uniquely to the associated dimension
tables. The table supports data storage at atomic level and thus, allows more number of records to be
inserted at one time. For instance, a Sales table can have product key, customer key, promotion key, items
sold, referring to a specific event.

Dimensions are the descriptive attribute values for multiple dimensions of each attribute, defining multiple
characteristics. A dimension table ,having reference of a product key form the table, can consist of product
name, product type, size, color, description, etc.

6. What is the difference between .twb and .twbx extension?

 A .twb is an xml document which contains all the selections and layout made you have made in your
Tableau workbook. It does not contain any data.
  A .twbx is a ‘zipped’ archive containing a .twb and any external files such as extracts and background
images.7. What are the different types of joins in Tableau? The joins in Tableau are same as
SQL joins. Take a look at the diagram below to understand it.

8. How many maximum tables can you join in Tableau?

You can join a maximum of 32 tables in Tableau.

9. What are the different connections you can make with your dataset?

We can either connect live to our data set or extract data onto Tableau.

 Live: Connecting live to a data set leverages its computational processing and storage. New queries
will go to the database and will be reflected as new or updated within the data.
 Extract: An extract will make a static snapshot of the data to be used by Tableau’s data engine. The
snapshot of the data can be refreshed on a recurring schedule as a whole or incrementally append data.
One way to set up these schedules is via the Tableau server.

The benefit of Tableau extract over live connection is that extract can be used anywhere without any
connection and you can build your own visualization without connecting to database.

10. What are shelves?

They are Named areas to the left and top of the view. You build views by placing fields onto the shelves.
Some shelves are available only when you select certain mark types.
11. What are sets?

Sets are custom fields that define a subset of data based on some conditions. A set can be based on a
computed condition, for example, a set may contain customers with sales over a certain threshold.
Computed sets update as your data changes. Alternatively, a set can be based on specific data point in your
view.

12. What are groups?

A group is a combination of dimension members that make higher level categories. For example, if you are
working with a view that shows average test scores by major, you may want to group certain majors together
to create major categories.

13. What is a hierarchical field?

A hierarchical field in tableau is used for drilling down data. It means viewing your data in a more granular
level.

14. What is Tableau Data Server?

Tableau server acts a middle man between Tableau users and the data. Tableau Data Server allows you to
upload and share data extracts, preserve database connections, as well as reuse calculations and field
metadata. This means any changes you make to the data-set, calculated fields, parameters, aliases, or
definitions, can be saved and shared with others, allowing for a secure, centrally managed and standardized
dataset. Additionally, you can leverage your server’s resources to run queries on extracts without having to
first transfer them to your local machine.

15. What is Tableau Data Engine?

Tableau Data Engine is a really cool feature in Tableau. Its an analytical database designed to achieve
instant query response, predictive performance, integrate seamlessly into existing data infrastructure and is
not limited to load entire data sets into memory.
If you work with a large amount of data, it does takes some time to import, create indexes and sort data but
after that everything speeds up. Tableau Data Engine is not really in-memory technology. The data is stored
in disk after it is imported and the RAM is hardly utilized.

16. What are the different filters in Tableau and how are they different from each other?

In Tableau, filters are used to restrict the data from database.

The different filters in Tableau are: Quick , Context and Normal/Traditional filter are:

o Normal Filter is used to restrict the data from database based on selected dimension or measure. A
Traditional Filter can be created by simply dragging a field onto the ‘Filters’ shelf.
o Quick filter is used to view the filtering options and filter each worksheet on a dashboard while
changing the values dynamically (within the range defined) during the run time.
o Context Filter is used to filter the data that is transferred to each individual worksheet. When a
worksheet queries the data source, it creates a temporary, flat table that is uses to compute the chart.
This temporary table includes all values that are not filtered out by either the Custom SQL or the
Context Filter.

17. How to create a calculated field in Tableau?

 Click the drop down to the right of Dimensions on the Data pane and select “Create > Calculated
Field” to open the calculation editor.
 Name the new field and create a formula.

Take a look at the example below:

18. What is a dual axis?

Dual Axis is an excellent phenomenon supported by Tableau that helps users view two scales of two
measures in the same graph. Many websites like Indeed.com and other make use of dual axis to show the
comparison between two measures and their growth rate in a septic set of years. Dual axes let you compare
multiple measures at once, having two independent axes layered on top of one another. This is how it looks
like:
19. What is the difference between a tree map and heat map?

A heat map can be used for comparing categories with color and size. With heat maps, you can compare two
different measures together.

A tree map
also does the same except it is considered a very powerful visualization as it can be used for illustrating
hierarchical data and part-to-whole relationships.
20. What is disaggregation and aggregation of data?

The process of viewing numeric values or measures at higher and more summarized levels of the data is
called aggregation. When you place a measure on a shelf, Tableau automatically aggregates the data, usually
by summing it. You can easily determine the aggregation applied to a field because the function always
appears in front of the field’s name when it is placed on a shelf. For example, Sales becomes SUM(Sales).
You can aggregate measures using Tableau only for relational data sources. Multidimensional data sources
contain aggregated data only. In Tableau, multidimensional data sources are supported only in Windows.

According to Tableau, Disaggregating your data allows you to view every row of the data source which can
be useful when you are analyzing measures that you may want to use both independently and dependently in
the view. For example, you may be analyzing the results from a product satisfaction survey with the Age of
participants along one axis. You can aggregate the Age field to determine the average age of participants or
disaggregate the data to determine what age participants were most satisfied with the product.

21. What is the difference between joining and blending in Tableau?

 Joining term is used when you are combining data from the same source, for example, worksheet in an
Excel file or tables in Oracle database
 While blending requires two completely defined data sources in your report.

22. What are Extracts and Schedules in Tableau server?

Data extracts are the first copies or subdivisions of the actual data from original data sources. The
workbooks using data extracts instead of those using live DB connections are faster since the extracted data
is imported in Tableau Engine.After this extraction of data, users can publish the workbook, which also
publishes the extracts in Tableau Server. However, the workbook and extracts won’t refresh unless users
apply a scheduled refresh on the extract. Scheduled Refreshes are the scheduling tasks set for data extract
refresh so that they get refreshed automatically while publishing a workbook with data extract. This also
removes the burden of republishing the workbook every time the concerned data gets updated.

23. How to view underlying SQL Queries in Tableau?

Viewing underlying SQL Queries in Tableau provides two options:

  Create a Performance Recording to record performance information about the main events you
interact with workbook. Users can view the performance metrics in a workbook created by Tableau.
Help -> Settings and Performance -> Start Performance Recording
Help -> Setting and Performance -> Stop Performance Recording.
 Reviewing the Tableau Desktop Logs located at C:UsersMy DocumentsMy Tableau Repository. For
live connection to data source, you can check log.txt and tabprotosrv.txt files. For an extract, check
tdeserver.txt file.

24. How to do Performance Testing in Tableau?

Performance testing is again an important part of implementing tableau. This can be done by loading Testing
Tableau Server with TabJolt, which is a “Point and Run” load generator created to perform QA. While
TabJolt is not supported by tableau directly, it has to be installed using other open source products.

25. Name the components of a Dashboard.

 Horizontal – Horizontal layout containers allow the designer to group worksheets and dashboard
components left to right across your page and edit the height of all elements at once.
 Vertical – Vertical containers allow the user to group worksheets and dashboard components top to
bottom down your page and edit the width of all elements at once.
 Text – All textual fields.
 Image Extract – A Tableau workbook is in XML format. In order to extracts images, Tableau applies
some codes to extract an image which can be stored in XML.
 Web [URL ACTION] – A URL action is a hyperlink that points to a Web page, file, or other web-
based resource outside of Tableau. You can use URL actions to link to more information about your
data that may be hosted outside of your data source. To make the link relevant to your data, you can
substitute field values of a selection into the URL as parameters.

26. How to remove ‘All’ options from a Tableau auto-filter?

The auto-filter provides a feature of removing ‘All’ options by simply clicking the down arrow in the auto-
filter heading. You can scroll down to ‘Customize’ in the dropdown and then uncheck the ‘Show “All”
Value’ attribute. It can be activated by checking the field again.
27. How to add Custom Color to Tableau?

Adding a Custom Color refers to a power tool in Tableau. Restart you Tableau desktop once you save .tps
file. From the Measures pane, drag the one you want to add color to Color. From the color legend menu
arrow, select Edit Colors. When a dialog box opens, select the palette drop-down list and customize as per
requirement.
28. What is TDE file?

TDE is a Tableau desktop file that contains a .tde extension. It refers to the file that contains data extracted
from external sources like MS Excel, MS Access or CSV file.
There are two aspects of TDE design that make them ideal for supporting analytics and data discovery.

 Firstly, TDE is a columnar store.

 The second is how they are structured which impacts how they are loaded into memory and used by
Tableau. This is an important aspect of how TDEs are “architecture aware”. Architecture-awareness
means that TDEs use all parts of your computer memory, from RAM to hard disk, and put each part to
work what best fits its characteristics.

29. Mention whether you can create relational joins in Tableau without creating a new
table?
Yes, one can create relational joins in tableau without creating a new table.
30. How to automate reports?

You need to publish report to tableau server, while publishing you will find one option to schedule
reports.You just need to select the time when you want to refresh data.
31. What is Assume referential integrity?

In some cases, you can improve query performance by selecting the option to Assume Referential
Integrity from the Data menu. When you use this option, Tableau will include the joined table in the query
only if it is specifically referenced by fields in the view.

32. Explain when would you use Joins vs. Blending in Tableau?

If data resides in a single source, it is always desirable to use Joins. When your data is not in one place
blending is the most viable way to create a left join like the connection between your primary and secondary
data sources.

33. What is default Data Blending Join?

Data blending is the ability to bring data from multiple data sources into one Tableau view, without the need
for any special coding. A default blend is equivalent to a left outer join. However, by switching which data
source is primary, or by filtering nulls, it is possible to emulate left, right and inner joins.

34. What do you understand by blended axis?

In Tableau, measures can share a single axis so that all the marks are shown in a single pane. Instead of
adding rows and columns to the view, when you blend measures there is a single row or column and all of
the values for each measure is shown along one continuous axis. We can blend multiple measures by simply
dragging one measure or axis and dropping it onto an existing axis.

35. What is story in Tableau?

A story is a sheet that contains a sequence of worksheets or dashboards that work together to convey
information. You can create stories to show how facts are connected, provide context, demonstrate how
decisions relate to outcomes, or simply make a compelling case. Each individual sheet in a story is called a
story point.

36. What is the difference between discrete and continuous in Tableau?

There are two types of data roles in Tableau – discrete and continuous dimension.

 Discrete data roles are values that are counted as distinct and separate and can only take individual
values within a range. Examples: number of threads in a sheet, customer name or row ID or State.
Discrete values are shown as blue pills on the shelves and blue icons in the data window.
 Continuous data roles are used to measure continuous data and can take on any value within a finite or
infinite interval. Examples: unit price, time and profit or order quantity. Continuous variables behave in
a similar way in that they can take on any value. Continuous values are shown as green pills.

37.How to create stories in Tableau?

There are many ways to create story in Tableau. Each story point can be based on a different view or
dashboard, or the entire story can be based on the same visualization, just seen at different stages, with
different marks filtered and annotations added. You can use stories to make a business case or to simply
narrate a sequence of events.
  Click the New Story tab.
 In the lower-left corner of the screen, choose a size for your story. Choose from one of the predefined
sizes, or set a custom size, in pixels.
 By default, your story gets its title from its sheet name. To edit it, double-click the title. You can also
change your title’s font, color, and alignment. Click Apply to view your changes.
 To start building your story, drag a sheet from the Story tab on the left and drop it into the center of the
view
 Click Add a caption to summarize the story point.
 To highlight a key takeaway for your viewers, drag a text object over to the story worksheet and type
your comment.
 To further highlight the main idea of this story point, you can change a filter or sort on a field in the
view, then save your changes by clicking Update above the navigator box.

38. What is the DRIVE Program Methodology?

Tableau Drive is a methodology for scaling out self-service analytics. Drive is based on best practices from
successful enterprise deployments. The methodology relies on iterative, agile methods that are faster and
more effective than traditional long-cycle deployment.

A cornerstone of this approach is a new model of partnership between business and IT.

39. How to use group in calculated field?

By adding the same calculation to ‘Group By’ clause in SQL query or creating a Calculated Field in the
Data Window and using that field whenever you want to group the fields.

 Using groups in a calculation. You cannot reference ad-hoc groups in a calculation.

 Blend data using groups created in the secondary data source: Only calculated groups can be used
in data blending if the group was created in the secondary data source.
 Use a group in another workbook. You can easily replicate a group in another workbook by copy and
pasting a calculation.

40. Mention what is the difference between published data sources and embedded data
sources in Tableau?

The difference between published data source and embedded data source is that,

 Published data source: It contains connection information that is independent of any workbook and
can be used by multiple workbooks.
 Embedded data source: It contains connection information and is associated with a workbook.

41. Mention what are different Tableau files?

Different Tableau files include:

 Workbooks: Workbooks hold one or more worksheets and dashboards

 Bookmarks: It contains a single worksheet and its an easy way to quickly share your work
 Packaged Workbooks: It contains a workbook along with any supporting local file data and
background images
 Data Extraction Files: Extract files are a local copy of a subset or entire data source
 Data Connection Files: It’s a small XML file with various connection information

42. How to embed views onto Webpages?

You can embed interactive Tableau views and dashboards into web pages, blogs, wiki pages, web
applications, and intranet portals. Embedded views update as the underlying data changes, or as their
workbooks are updated on Tableau Server. Embedded views follow the same licensing and permission
restrictions used on Tableau Server. That is, to see a Tableau view that’s embedded in a web page, the
person accessing the view must also have an account on Tableau Server.

Alternatively, if your organization uses a core-based license on Tableau Server, a Guest account is available.
This allows people in your organization to view and interact with Tableau views embedded in web pages
without having to sign in to the server. Contact your server or site administrator to find out if the Guest user
is enabled for the site you publish to.

You can do the following to embed views and adjust their default appearance:

 Get the embed code provided with a view: The Share button at the top of each view includes embed
code that you can copy and paste into your webpage. (The Share button doesn’t appear in embedded
views if you change the showShareOptions parameter to false in the code.)
 Customize the embed code: You can customize the embed code using parameters that control the
toolbar, tabs, and more. For more information, see Parameters for Embed Code.
 Use the Tableau JavaScript API: Web developers can use Tableau JavaScript objects in web
applications. To get access to the API, documentation, code examples, and the Tableau developer
community, see the Tableau Developer Portal.

43. Design a view in a map such that if user selects any state, the cities under that state has
to show profit and sales.

According to your question you must have state, city, profit and sales fields in your dataset.

Step 1: Double click on the state field

Step 2: Drag the city and drop it into Marks card.

Step 3: Drag the sales and drop it into size.

Step 4: Drag profit and drop it into color.

Step 5: Click on size legend and increase the size.

Step 6: Right click on state field and select show quick filter.

Step 7: Select any state now and check the view.

44. Think that I am using Tableau Desktop & have a live connection to Cloudera Hadoop
data. I need to press F5 to refresh the visualization. Is there anyway to automatically
refresh visualization every ‘x’ seconds instead of pressing F5?

Here is an example of refreshing the dashboard for every 5 seconds.

All you need to do is replace the api src and server url with yours.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>
<title>Tableau JavaScript API </title>

<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://servername/javascripts/api/tableau_v8.js"></script>

</head>

<div id="tableau Viz"></div>

<script type='text/javascript'>

var placeholderDiv = document.getElementById("tableau Viz");

var url = "http://servername/t/311/views/Mayorscreenv5/Mayorscreenv2";

var options={

hideTabs:True,

width:"100%",

height:"1000px"

};

var viz= new tableauSoftware.Viz(placeholderDiv,url,options);

setInterval (function() {viz.refreshDataAsync()},5000);

</script>

</body>

</html>
Some Additional Tricky Tableau Interview Questions
45. Suppose my license expires today, will users be able to view dashboards or workbooks
which I published in the server earlier?

If your server license expires today, your username on the server will have the role ‘unlicensed’ which
means you cannot access but others can. The site admin can change the ownership to another person so that
the extracts do not fail.

46. Is Tableau software good for strategic acquisition?

Yes! For sure. It gives you data insight to the extent that other tools can’t. Moreover, it also helps you to
plan and point the anomalies and improvise your process for betterment of your company.

47. Can we place an excel file in a shared location and and use it to develop a report and
refresh it in regular intervals?

Yes, we can do it. But for better performance we should use Extract.
48. Can Tableau be installed on MacOS?

Yes, Tableau Desktop can be installed on both on Mac and Windows Operating System.

49. What is the maximum no. of rows Tableau can utilize at one time?

Tableau is not restricted by the no. of rows in the table. Customers use Tableau to access petabytes of data
because it only retrieves the rows and columns needed to answer your questions.

50. When publishing workbooks on Tableau online, sometimes a error about needing to
extract appears. Why does it happen occasionally?

This happens when a user is trying to publish a workbook that is connected to an internal server or a file
stored on a local drive, such as a SQL server that is within a company’s network.

I hope that these Tableau Interview Questions were helpful to you. I will be coming up with more Tableau
blogs for you all soon.
Tableau Interview Questions for Experienced

1. What Are the Data Types Supported in Tableau?

Following data types are supported in Tableau:

 Text (string) values

 Date values

 Date and time values

 Numerical values

 Boolean values (relational only)

 Geographical values (used with maps)

2. How Will You Understand Dimensions and Measures?

Dimensions Measures

 Measures contain
numeric, quantitative
values that you can
 Dimensions contain qualitative values (such as names,
measure (such as Sales,
dates, or geographical data)
Profit)
 You can use dimensions to categorize, segment, and reveal
 Measures can be
the details in your data.
aggregated
 Example: Category, City, Country, Customer ID,
 Example: Profit,
Customer Name, Order Date, Order ID
Quantity, Rank, Sales,
Sales per Customer,
Total Orders

3. What is Meant by ‘discrete’ and ‘continuous’ in Tableau?

Tableau represents data depending on whether the field is discrete (blue) or continuous (green).
  Discrete - "individually separate and distinct."

 Continuous - "forming an unbroken whole without interruption."

The values are as shown:

4. What Are the Filters? Name the Different Filters in Tableau.

This is one of the most frequently Tableau interview questions. And you must try giving a thorough answer
to this one! Tableau filters are a way of restricting the content of the data that may enter a Tableau
workbook, dashboard, or view.

The Different Types of Tableau Filters are:

 Extract filters

 Context filters

 Data source filters

 Filters on measures

 Filters on dimensions

 Table calculation filter

5. There Are Three Customer Segments in the Superstore Dataset. What Percent of the Total
Profits Are Associated with the Corporate Segment?

Follow these steps:

1. Drag segment field to the rows shelf. Here, segment consists of Consumer, Corporate, and
Home Office

2. Double-click on the profit field under Measures.

3. Right-click on SUM (Profit) under marks card, select Quick Table Calculation and click
on Percent of the total.

Looking above, the corporate segment has 32.12 percent of the total profits.

6. What Are the Different Joins in Tableau?

Joining is a method for combining related data on a common key. Below is a table that lists the different
types of joins:
7. What is the Difference Between Joining and Blending?

Combining the data from two or more different sources is data blending, such as Oracle, Excel, and SQL
Server. In data blending, each data source contains its own set of dimensions and measures.
Combining the data between two or more tables or sheets within the same data source is data joining. All the
combined tables or sheets contain a common set of dimensions and measures.

Differences between joins and data blending

Data blending simulates a traditional left join. The main difference between the two is when the aggregation
is performed. A join combines the data and then aggregates. A blend aggregates and then combines the data.

Left join

When you use a left join to combine data, a query is sent to the database where the join is performed. A left
join returns all rows from the left table and any corresponding rows from the right table. The results of the
join are then sent back to Tableau and aggregated for display in the visualization.

A left join takes all rows from the left table. The common columns are User ID and Patron ID; where there
is corresponding information from the right table, that data is returned. Otherwise, there is a null.

Suppose you have the same tables, but flip the order. This new left join produces different results. Again, a
left join takes all the data from the new left table, but essentially ignores a row from the right table. The row
of data for User ID = 4 is not included because there is no row for Patron ID = 4 in the left table.
Data blending
When you use data blending to combine data, a query is sent to the database for each data source that is used
on the sheet. The results of the queries are sent back to Tableau as aggregated data and presented together in
the visualization.

Note: Aggregating measures is straightforward—we can take the sum, average, maximum, or other
aggregation of a number with ease. Measure values are aggregated based on how the field is aggregated in
the view. However, all fields from a secondary data source must be aggregated. How does that work for
dimensions? Dimension values are aggregated using the ATTR aggregate function, which returns a single
value for all rows in the secondary data source. If there are multiple values contained in those rows, an
asterisk (*) is shown. This can be interpreted as "there are multiple values in the secondary data source for
this mark in the view".

The view uses all values from the primary data source (functioning as the left table) and the corresponding
rows from the secondary data source (the right table) based on the linking field(s).

Suppose you have the following tables. If the linking fields are User ID and Patron ID, not all values can
be a part of the resulting table because of the following:

 A row in the left table does not have a corresponding row match in the right table, as indicated by the
null value in the results.

 There are multiple corresponding values in the rows in the right table, as indicated by the asterisk (*)
in the results.

When measures are involved, they are also aggregated, as seen below:
Important: an asterisk (*) in a view with blended data indicates multiple values. This can be resolved by
ensuring there is only one matching value in the secondary data source for each mark in the primary data
source, potentially by swapping the primary and secondary data sources. For more information,
see Troubleshoot Data Blending.

8. What is the Difference Between a Live Connection and an Extract?

This is another frequently asked Tableau interview question. Tableau Data Extracts are snapshots of data
optimized for aggregation and loaded into system memory to be quickly recalled for visualization.

Example: Hospitals that monitor incoming patient data need to make real-time decisions.

Live connections offer the convenience of real-time updates, with any changes in the data source reflected in
Tableau.

Example: Hospitals need to monitor the patient’s weekly or monthly trends that require data extracts.

Did You Know?

When you create an extract of the data, Tableau doesn't need access to the database to build the
visualization, so processing is faster.

If you have a Tableau server, the extract option can be set to a refresh schedule to be updated.

9. What is a Calculated Field, and How Will You Create One?

A calculated field is used to create new (modified) fields from existing data in the data source. It can be used
to create more robust visualizations and doesn’t affect the original dataset.

For example, let’s calculate the “average delay to ship.”

The data set considered here has information regarding order date and ship date for four different regions.
To create a calculated field:

1. Go to Analysis and select Create Calculated Field.

2. A calculation editor pops up on the screen. Provide a name to the calculated field:
Shipping Delay.

3. Enter the formula: DATEDIFF (‘day’, [Order Date], [Ship Date])

4. Click on Ok.

5. Bring Shipping Delay to the view.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 to create a new calculated field ‘Average Shipping Delay’ using the
formula: AVG (DATEDIFF (‘day,’ [Order Date], [Ship Date]))

7. Drag Region field to Rows shelf and SUM(Average Shipping Delay) to the marks card;
the average delay for each region gets displayed.

10. How Can You Display the Top Five and Bottom Five Sales in the Same View?

We can display it using the In/Out functionality of sets.

Follow these steps:

1. Drag the Customer Name field to Rows shelf and Profit field to Columns shelf to get the
visualization.

2. Create a set by right-clicking on the Customer Name field. Choose to create an option and
click on Set.

3. Provide the name ‘Top Customers’ to the set. Configure the set by clicking on Top tab,
selecting By field, and filling the values as Top, 5, Profit, and Sum.

4. Similarly, create a second set called ‘Bottom Customers’ and fill the By Field values as
Bottom, 5, Profit, and Sum.

5. Select these two sets and right-click on it. Use the option Create Combined Set. Name it
‘Top and Bottom Customers’ and include all members of both sets. Pull the Top and
Bottom Customers onto Filters.

The top five and bottom five are displayed:

11. Is There a Difference Between Sets and Groups in Tableau?

A Tableau group is one dimensional, used to create a higher level category by using lower-level category
members. Tableau sets can have conditions and can be grouped across multiple dimensions/measures.

Example: Sub-category can be grouped by category.

Top Sales and profit can be clubbed together for different categories by creating a set:

1. Continuing with the above example of Sets, select the Bottom Customers set where
customer names are arranged based on profit.

2. Go to the ‘Groups’ tab and select the top five entries from the list.

3. Right-click and select create a group option.

4. Similarly, select the bottom five entries and create their group. Hide all the other entries.
A key difference here is that the groups will consist of the same customers even if their profits change later.
While for sets, if the profit changes, the top five and bottom five customers will change accordingly.

Did You Know?

We can’t use groups in calculated fields, but we can use sets.

12. What is a Parameter in Tableau? Give an Example.

A parameter is a dynamic value that a customer could select, and you can use it to replace constant values in
calculations, filters, and reference lines.

For example, when creating a filter to show the top 10 products based on total profit instead of the fixed
value, you can update the filter to show the top 10, 20, or 30 products using a parameter.

Continuing with the same example of top-five and bottom five customers, follow these steps:

1. Select the drop-down arrow on the top right corner of the Data pane.

2. Click on Create Parameter and fill in the details:

 Name - Number of top/bottom customers

 Select ‘Range’ for Allowable Values and fill the fields as:

 Minimum - 5

 Maximum - 20

 Step - 5

 Edit the set ‘Top Customers’ by changing the ‘By Field’ value of 5 with ‘Select number
of top/bottom customers.’ Do the same changes in the ‘Bottom Customers’ set.

 Go to the created parameter on the Data pane, right-click on it and select ‘Show Parameter
Control.’ Now, if you increase the step within the range, the data appears as per the
parameter value set.

Following is the visualization for a step size of 10:

13. What is the Difference Between Treemaps and Heat Maps?

Heat Maps

A Heat map is used to compare categories using color and size. In this, we can distinguish two measures.

Scenario: Show sales and profit in all regions for different product categories and sub-categories.

Follow these steps:

1. Drag Region field to Columns shelf, and Category and Sub-Category fields in Rows
shelf.

2. Use the ShowMe tool and select the Heat Map.

3. Observe the hotter and colder regions in the heat map produced:
A heat map is not only defined by color, but you can also use its size. Here we define the size by sale by
dragging the Sales tab to Size under marks card, comparing profit and sales through the color and size.

Analysis: Profit is represented by color and ranges from orange for loss to blue for profit. The total sales are
represented by size.

Tree Maps

A Treemap is used to represent hierarchical data. The space in the view is divided into rectangles that are
sized and ordered by a measure.
Scenario: Show sales and profit in all regions for different product categories and sub-categories.

1. Select two dimensions Category and Sub-Category

2. Select two measures Sales and Profit from the data pane.

3. Use the Show-me tool and select tree-map.

This is how it looks:

Analysis: The larger the size of the node, the higher the profit in that category. Similarly, the darker the
node, the more sales in that category.

14. What is the Difference Between .twbx And .twb?

This is one of the most frequently asked Tableau interview questions, and you must answer this one in
detail.

.twbx

The .twbx contains all of the necessary information to build the visualization along with the data source.
This is called a packaged workbook, and it compresses the package of files altogether.

.twb
The .twb contains instructions about how to interact with the data source. When it's building a visualization,
Tableau will look at the data source and then build the visualization with an extract. It can’t be shared alone
as it contains only instructions, and the data source needs to be attached separately.

15. Explain the Difference Between Tableau Worksheet, Dashboard, Story, and Workbook?

 Tableau uses a workbook and sheet file structure, much like Microsoft Excel.

 A workbook contains sheets, which can be a worksheet, dashboard, or a story.

 A worksheet contains a single view along with shelves, legends, and the Data pane.

 A dashboard is a collection of views from multiple worksheets.

 A story contains a sequence of worksheets or dashboards that work together to convey

information.

Also Read: Tableau Dashboard: Your One-Stop Solution For The Dashboards In Tableau

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16. What Do You Understand the Blended Axis?

Blended Axis is used to blend two measures that share an axis when they have the same scale.

Scenario: Show Min and Max profit in the same pane and have a unified axis for both, so that it is quicker
and easier to interpret the chart.
First, create a visualization that shows sales over time. Next, see profit along with sales over the same time.
Here, you get two visualizations, one for sales over time and the other for-profit over time.

To see a visualization that has a blended axis for sales over time and profit over time, we bring in Measure
Values and select the properties that we want to keep (Sales and Profit), removing all of the rest. You can
now see profit and sales over one blended axis.
17. What is the Use of Dual-axis? How Do You Create One?

Dual Axis allows you to compare measures, and this is useful when you want to compare two measures that
have different scales.

Considering the same example used in the above question, first create a visualization with sales over time
and profit over time. To create a dual-axis, right-click on the second pill of the measures and select Dual
Axis.
Observe that sales and profit do not share the same axis, and profit is much higher towards the end.

The difference between a blended axis and a dual-axis chart is that the blended axis uses the same scale,
while a dual-axis could have two different scales and two marks cards.

Scenario: We want to show Sales by year and Profit Ratio by year in the same view.

We create a visualization of sales over time and profit ratio over time. Observe that sales and profit ratio
can’t use the same scale as the profit ratio is in percentage. As we want the two parameters in the same area,
we right-click on Profit Ratio and select Dual Axis.
18. What Will the Following Function Return?

Left(3, “Tableau”)

Choose the correct answer:

 Tab

 Eau

 Error

 None of the above

It will return an error because the correct syntax is: left(string, num_chars). So, it should be: Left(“Tableau,”
3)

Left returns a specific number of characters from the start of the given string. If the correct syntax is
followed, the result would be ‘Tab.’

19. Find the Top Product Subcategories by Sales Within Each Delivery Method. Which
Subcategory Is Ranked #2 for First-class Ship Mode?

1. First, draw a visualization using ship mode and subcategory.

 2. Next, we take sales on to the visualization as a rank table calculation.

3. Right-click on Sales and select Add Table Calculation and change the Calculation Type to
Rank.

4. Select Table Down, and you get the data as shown:

The chair is the subcategory, which is ranked #2 for the first class shipment mode.

20. What is the Rank Function in Tableau?

The ranking is assigning something a position usually within a category and based on a measure. Tableau
can rank in several ways like:

 rank

 rank_dense

 rank_modified

 rank_unique

Consider five stores whose sales are as shown:

Let us understand how they are ranked based on their sales:

1. Drag Store field to Rows shelf and Sales field to the marks card.

2. Create a Calculated Field named Rank and use the formula: RANK (SUM(Sales))

3. Bring the Rank field to the marks card.

4. Double-click on the Rank field, and you can see the rank assigned to the stores based on
sales.

Next, duplicate the Rank field by right-clicking on it and selecting Duplicate. Name the copy as ‘Rank
Modified’ and use the formula:

RANK MODIFIED (SUM(Sales))

Bring Rank Modified to the marks card to view the data.

Repeat the same steps to create ‘Rank Dense’ and use the formula:

RANK DENSE (SUM(Sales))

Similarly, create ‘Rank Unique’ and use the formula:

RANK UNIQUE (SUM(Sales))

21. What Would You Do If Some Countries/Provinces (Any Geographical Entity) are Missing
and Displaying a Null When You Use Map View?

When working with maps and geographical fields, unknown or ambiguous locations are identified by the
indicator in the lower right corner of the view.

Click the indicator and choose from the following options:

 Edit Locations - correct the locations by mapping your data to known locations

 Filter Data - exclude the unknown locations from the view using a filter. The locations
will not be included in calculations

 Show Data at Default Position - show the values at the default position of (0, 0) on the
map.

22. What is the Level of Detail (LOD) Expression?

A level of detail expression is used to run complex queries involving many dimensions at the data source
level instead of bringing all the data to Tableau interface.

Consider a visualization as shown:

Here, the scales are shown for a category like Furniture and its sub-categories (Chairs, Tables, etc.). To look
at sales for the furniture category as a whole and not its sub-categories, remove the sub-category from the
calculation field as shown:

Now, the visualization looks like:

23. How Do You Calculate the Daily Profit Measures Using LOD?

LOD expressions allow us to easily create bins on aggregated data such as profit per day.

Scenario: We want to measure our success by the total profit per business day.

Create a calculated field named LOD - Profit per day and enter the formula:
FIXED [Order Date] : SUM ([Profit])

Create another calculated field named LOD - Daily Profit KPI and enter the formula:

IF [LOD - Profit per day] > 2000 then “Highly Profitable.”

ELSEIF [LOD - Profit per day] <= 0 then “Unprofitable”

ELSE “Profitable”

END

To calculate daily profit measure using LOD, follow these steps to draw the visualization:

1. Bring YEAR(Order Date) and MONTH(Order Date) to the Columns shelf

2. Drag Order Id field to Rows shelf. Right-click on it, select Measure and click on
Count(Distinct)

3. Drag LOD - Daily Profit KPI to the Rows shelf

4. Bring LOD - Daily Profit KPI to marks card and change mark type from automatic to
area.

The visualization is as shown:

24. How Can You Schedule a Workbook in Tableau after Publishing It?
 1. When you’re signed in to Tableau Server, go to Content > data sources or Content >
Workbooks, depending on the type of content you want to refresh.

2. Select the checkbox for the data source or workbook you want to refresh, and then select
Actions > Extract Refresh.

3. In the Refresh Extracts dialog, select Schedule a Refresh, and complete the following
steps:

1. Select the schedule you want.

2. If available, specify whether you want a full or incremental refresh.

25. What Are the Different Types of Tableau?

The different types of Tableau are Desktop, Prep, Online, and Server.

Scenario-based Tableau Interview Questions

26. How Do You Handle Null and Other Special Values?

If the field contains null values or if there are zeros or negative values on a logarithmic axis, Tableau cannot
plot them. Tableau displays an indicator in the lower right corner of the view, and you can click the indicator
and choose from the following options:

 Filter Data
Excludes the null values from the visualization using a filter. In that case, the null values
are also excluded from any calculations used in the view.

 Show Data at Default Position

Shows the data at a default location on the axis.

27. Find the Customer with the Lowest Overall Profit. What is Their Profit Ratio?

Draw a visualization between Customers and their profit and sort it from smallest to biggest.
Here, Cindy Stewart is the one who has the lowest profit. To determine her profit ratio:

1. Create a calculated field named Profit Ratio.

2. Right-click on Profit Ratio under Measures and select Edit.

3. Enter the formula: SUM (PROFIT) / SUM (SALES)

4. Next, drag the Profit Ratio to the Label to find out Cindy’s profit ratio.
28. How Can You Embed a Webpage in a Dashboard?

Follow these simple steps to embed a webpage in a dashboard:

1. Go to dashboard

2. Double click the ‘Webpage’ option available under ‘Objects.’

3. Enter the URL (here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/) of the webpage in the dialog box
that appears

You can see the webpage appears on the dashboard.

29. How Do You Make the Webpage Dynamic?

Begin by bringing Map by Sales into view. It shows the state's name and its sales.
 1. Go to the dashboard.

2. Double click the ‘Webpage’ option available under ‘Objects.’

3. Do not provide a URL in the dialog box that appears and click on Ok.

4. Click on the Dashboard in the menu and select ‘Action.’

5. Click on ‘Add Action’ and select ‘Go to URL.’

6. Enter ‘https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/’ under the URL option. Click on the arrow

adjacent to it and select ‘State.’

7. Click on ‘Select option’ and hit ‘Ok.’

Now, when you click on any state like California, it brings up the California Wikipedia page. This is how to
make it dynamic.
30. Design a View to Show Region Wise Profit and Sales.

Follow these simple steps to show region wise profit and sales:

1. Drag Profit and Sales field to the Rows shelf

2. Drag Region field to the Columns shelf

But for such Tableau interview questions, the interviewer may be looking for your mapping capabilities in
Tableau. So, you need to follow these steps to show region wise profit and sales in a better way:

1. Double click on the State field to get its view

2. Go to Marks card and change the mark type from Automatic to Map.

3. Bring Region field to Color on the Marks card

4. Drag Profit, Sales, and State fields to Label on the Marks card

These steps produce a better view of region-wise profit and sales, as shown:
31. How Can You Optimize the Performance of a Dashboard?

There are multiple ways to optimize the performance of the dashboard like:

 Maximize the number of fields and records. You can exclude unused fields from your
visualization or use extract filters.

 Limit the number of filters used, by avoiding quick filters and using action and parameter
filters instead. These filters reduce query loads.

 use Min/Max instead of Average because average functions require more processing time
than Min/Max

 Use boolean or numerical calculations more than string calculations. Computers can
process integers and boolean much faster than strings.

Boolean > int > float > date-time > string

32. Which Visualization Will Be Used in the given Scenarios?

1. To show aggregated sales totals across a range of product categories and subcategories

2. To show the duration of events or activities

3. To show quarter wise profit growth

We would use the following visualizations for the given scenarios:

 1. Treemap

2. Gantt chart

3. Waterfall chart

The video below will take you through some of the most asked Tableau interview questions and answers
that will help you prepare for your next interview.
Translate to English
The syntax may be a bit off-putting for some and not that intuitive, so it’s good to know how to
actually understand it. In order to ease this process, I’ll use a method that Coach Andy describes
in his blog FIXED LOD to plain English.

You can translate your FIXED LOD as ‘For every dimension calculate the aggregate expression’:

Translates to: For every Category, calculate the sum of sales.

With FIXED, you can also not specify any dimensions. This will result in calculating the grand total
for the given aggregate expression:

Translates to: Compute total sum of sales.

Pro tip: here, you can skip FIXED and the colon:

This will have the same result as FIXED on nothing.

Since we’re using fixed here, we don’t really care what is in the view. The data calculated for this
calculation will be based on 1. Category and Sales and 2. Sales only.

Each LOD is calculated separately, so the data the LOD is using will depend only on the LOD in
question.

LOD vs basic calculations in the view

Let’s try and recreate the situation above. We want to have Category and Sub-Category in the
view and look at sum(Sales). Normally, this means you will have different values for all Category
and Sub-Category combinations. But we also want to compare these values with the Sales at the
Category level and with the overall Sales.

Let’s prepare the view: Category, Sub-Category and Sales in the view:
Let’s create Category Sales (calculation 1 above):

If I add it to the view, you can see below that for different Sub-Categories within the same
Category, I’m getting the same values and for different Categories, I’m getting different values. I
can also compare it with subtotals to make sure the values are correct:
Let’s create Overall Sales and add it to the view.

Now, I’m getting the same value for all of the rows, no matter the Category or Sub-Category.
Comparing it with the Grand Total, I can see that the value is correct:
The difference between basic calculations such as SUM(Sales) and LODs is that the basic
calculations will be computed based on what is in the view, whereas FIXED LOD will be calculated
based on dimensions and measures specified in the LOD.

LODs in calculations
You may wonder why to go through all that trouble just to get the same values as in Subtotals and
Grand Total. The totals are useful to compare values in the view but you can’t really use them in
your calculations. You can, however, use LODs in calculations.

To compute Sub-Category contribution to Overall Sales, we can create another field Sub-Category
Sales Contribution:
The advantage of FIXED LOD is that it also isn’t affected by dimension filters so if we now filter to
only see Furniture Category or Appliances Sub-Category, the LOD values should remain the
same, while the Totals will change their values:
INCLUDE Level of Detail
The syntax for INCLUDE LOD is very similar compared to FIXED. The only difference is changing
the keyword to ‘include’. The meaning, however, is quite different. You may recall that I used
Coach Andy’s approach to translate FIXED LODs into plain English. I decided to apply the idea to
INCLUDE LODs as well.

You can translate INCLUDE LOD as ‘For every dimension in the view AND every listed dimension,
calculate the aggregate expression’:

For example, if we already have Sub-Category and Category in the view, the calculation will get
the sum of Sales for each Sub-Category, Category and Product:

Hold on, but what happens now? We don’t have Product in the view, so what are we actually
seeing?

Whenever you use INCLUDE LOD, you’re using more granular data than what you have in the
view, so then this calculation needs to be aggregated to get back to the original (view) level of
detail:
To make sure you use the correct aggregation for INCLUDE calculation, you can wrap the whole
expression in the function of choice or right-click on the field pill -> Default Properties ->
Aggregation -> [choose the aggregation here].

Use Case
Let’s say you want to know what are the average Sales by product within each Sub-Category. One
way is to have Sub-Category, Product ID and Sales in the view creating a bar chart and then
finding the average with a reference line:
It doesn’t look very nice, slightly too busy especially that we only want to see the averages, we
don’t really care about particular product sales.

Another way is to use an INCLUDE calculation:

Apart from cleaning up the view, you can easily sort the data based on the average Sales.

You could argue that this can be also achieved with a FIXED LOD, which is true:

INCLUDE, however, adds more flexibility: you can add more dimensions in the view and values
will change accordingly:
FIXED LOD would result in wrong values, unless you build a separate calculation for each of the
options.

EXCLUDE Level of Detail

EXCLUDE LOD is pretty much the opposite of INCLUDE. Instead of adding more dimensions,
you’re getting rid of them.

You can translate EXCLUDE LOD as ‘For every dimension in the view EXCEPT the listed
dimension(s), calculate the aggregate expression’:
If we have Sub-Category and Category in the view, the sum of Sales will be calculated for each
Category, disregarding the Sub-Category field:

This time the calculation is performed at a less granular level than what you have in the view and
so the resulting values will be duplicated in the view:

Use Case
One thing you can use exclude for is to present detailed data together with less granular values for
reference. For example, you can calculate the difference between average sales for Sub-
Categories and average sales for the corresponding Category.
You’ll need one EXCLUDE LOD for this:

And a basic calculation using the above:

If you add Category, Sub-Category, Avg(Sales) and the two calculations above, this is what you
get in your view:

Again, you could argue that instead of EXCLUDE you could use FIXED. This is true (again). With
EXCLUDE (just like with INCLUDE), you can add more dimensions into the view and the values
will be recalculated: