Importing Data to Tableau

Importance of Data in Tableau

Data is crucial in Tableau for various reasons:

Data Analysis

Tableau provides powerful tools for data analysis. It includes features like filtering, sorting, and aggregation. It allows users to better understand their data set. 

Data Visualisation

Tableau allows users to create visually appealing tables and dashboards. It turns complex data into visual representations. Visualisation helps users in data exploration and communication.

Different types of visual symbols are: 

• Symbol card: Uses symbols on the map to represent data points based on their location.
   
• Tree card: Represents hierarchical data using nested rectangles.

Interactive Discovery

With Tableau, users can interactively explore and drill into their data. It allows users to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and outliers. With this, users can derive deeper insights from the data set.

Data Connection

Tableau supports connections to a variety of data sources. Tableau can connect with databases, cloud services, and big data platforms. Thus, users can import and analyse data from multiple sources in one go.

Data Transformation

Tableau's data preparation capabilities allow users to clean, reshape, and transform raw data. It ensures it is in the right format for analysis. Tableau enables data consolidation from disparate sources.

Smart Business

Tableau is a powerful business intelligence tool. Tableau allows users to explore and analyse data from various sources. Users can discover patterns, and identify growth opportunities.

Data Mining

Tableau allows users to interactively explore data and drill down to specifics, and ask special questions. Thus, allowing them to deepen their understanding and uncover new insights about the data. 

Importing Data from Excel to Tableau

Let's say you have a Microsoft Excel file that contains sales data for different products. The Excel file has multiple sheets. Each sheet represents sales data for a specific region. Thus, importing data to Tableau becomes an important step. 

You can upload the Excel file into Tableau to analyze this data.

Importing data from Excel to Tableau is a simple process. Here are the steps involved:

Select Excel

Select the "Excel" option from the available data sources.

Locate the Excel File

Navigate to the location of the Excel file on your computer and select it. 

Default View

After Excel sheet is imported, you get the following view:

Review and Edit

Tableau displays a preview of the data. Review and make necessary adjustments.

Start Scanning

When data is imported, Tableau opens a new workbook with the imported data. 

You can explore and analyse data using Tableau's visualisation and analysis features.

Select Sheet or Range

Select the worksheet or range in the Excel file containing the data you want to import.

You can choose the rows and columns you want to work with from the Excel sheet.

By following above steps, you can easily import Excel data into Tableau. 

Importing Data from JSON to Tableau

Let's say you work for a social media company. The employees have data stored in a JSON format. The JSON file contains information about user engagement. Thus importing data to Tableau through JSON becomes a vital step. 

You can upload the JSON file into Tableau to analyze this data.

Importing data from JSON to Tableau is a straightforward process. Here are the steps involved:

Select JSON

Select the "JSON file" option from the list of available data sources.

Locate the JSON File

Navigate to the location of the JSON file on your computer and select it. 

Flatten the Data

You may need to flatten the data to accommodate analysis in Tableau. Tableau provides options for flattening data during import.

Review and Edit

Tableau will display a preview of the JSON data. Review and make any necessary adjustments. 

Select the Columns

Before doing this click on “sheet1”.

Now you can choose and drop the columns to the rows.

Here, we select the "id" and drop it into rows.

Similarly we can do for “Name”.

Visualise

Now click "show me", and you can surf through all the available visualisations.

Finally, we get the below output.

By following above steps, you can easily import data from JSON into Tableau. 

Importing Data from Text Files to Tableau

Let's say you work for a retail company and have sales data stored in a CSV file. The file contains information like the date of sale, product category, quantity sold, and revenue generated. In such cases, importing data to Tableau from a text file is vital.

Importing data from a text file into Tableau is a straightforward process. Here are the steps involved:

Select a Text File

Select the "Text file" option from the list of available data sources.

Locate the Text File

Navigate to the location of the text file on your computer and select it. 

Review and Edit

Tableau displays a preview of the data in the text file. Review and make necessary adjustments.

Further Exploration

To explore more features and visualisation tools click on “sheet1”.

Adding Columns to Rows

You can add the columns you want to work with. 

Here we added "Order ID", "Customer Name", and "Measure Names"

Final Output

After importing data to tableau we get the below output.

Importing Data from PDF to Tableau

Importing data from PDF to Tableau is pretty straight forward. Here are the general steps involved:

Select Structured File

Select the pdf option from the list of available data sources.

Locate the PDF File

Navigate to the location of the PDF file on your computer and select it. 

Selection of Pages

After you have imported the pdf, a dialogue box pops up.

In the dialogue box, we have various options. You can select the starting and ending pages for the data you want to scan. You can also select one specific page.

But for now, we will select all the PDF pages to be scanned.

Note:- It may take 10-20 seconds for the tables to be loaded.

Select the tables to work with.

After the PDF is scanned, you get a list of data available.

You can drag and drop the tables to work with.

Review and Edit

Tableau displays a preview of the structured data. Review and make necessary adjustments.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can we import data from web-based APIs services into Tableau?

To import data from a Web API  into Tableau, you can use Web Data Connector (WDC). WDC allows you to connect by providing the required credentials and endpoints.

Can we combine data from multiple sources when importing into Tableau?

Tableau allows you to combine data from multiple sources as you import. Using Tableau's data merge capabilities, you can connect to different sources and merge or join them.

What are some techniques for cleaning and transforming data during the import process?

Tableau provides many techniques for cleaning and transforming data. Features including filtering, sorting, aggregating etc. are available. Tableau's data preparation capabilities include reshaping data, splitting columns, and changing data types.

Is it possible to schedule automatic data refreshes in Tableau after importing?

Yes, Tableau allows you to schedule automatic data refreshes. You can configure a data source refresh schedule in Tableau Server or Tableau Online for frequent updates.

Does Tableau support real time data import?

Yes, Tableau has the capability to connect to real-time data sources and update visualizations in real time. You can connect to streaming data sources, such as databases or APIs, to visualize and analyze data as it's generated.

Conclusion

Importing data to Tableau is the key to unleashing its power. Connecting to various data sources allows users to turn raw data into valuable insights. Tableau's flexibility allows importing from structured formats and unstructured sources. Data cleaning and transformation features improve the quality of imported data. Mastering data entry paves the way for effective data-driven analysis.  

We recommend reading the following articles:

• Introduction to Data Analysis
• Tableau Interview Questions
• Tableau and Big Data
• Descriptive Statistics
   

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