Introduction to Table Calculations

Calculations in Tableau

Agata Bak-Geerinck

Senior Data Analyst, Telenet

What are Table Calculations?

A Table Calculation is a transformation to the values in a visualization based only on what is currently on the canvas.

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Disregard measures or dimensions that are filtered out or not present on the canvas

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Computed on the local data in Tableau

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Virtual table of what's in the view versus the underlying data source

Table Calculations vs. data source

Underlying dataset:

An example of the dataset, with orders, products, sellers, region and profit

Visualization:

An example of a bar chart, with products in rows and summed profit in columns

Virtual table:

An example of a virtual table, with product and sum of profit.

Examples of Table Calculations

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Running (cumulative):

Two bar charts, left one presenting sum of profit per quarter, right one presenting running total of this summed profit, per quarter

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Percentage of total:

Two bar charts, left one presenting sum of profit per quarter, right one presenting percentage of quarterly profit in a year

Examples of Table Calculations

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Difference from:

Two bar charts, left one presenting sum of profit per quarter, right one presenting a difference of the sum of profit from the preceding quarter

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Ranking:

Two bar charts, left one presenting sum of profit per quarter, right one presenting ranking of quarters based on the sum of profit

Quick Table Calculations in Tableau

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Tableau UI screenshot, presenting how to access Quick Table Calculations

¹ Tableau makes most common calculations easy with built-in Quick Table Calculations.

Multiple dimensions: addressing and partitioning

Profit per product per year

A table presenting profit for two products, per month and year

Partitions:

Dimension(s) defining how to group = the scope
- E.g. 1) by year and month
- E.g. 2) by product and year

Remaining dimensions = addressing fields:

Determine in which direction the calculation moves:
- E.g. 2) month is an addressing field: ordering it from newest to oldest will change the calculation

Formulas behind Table Calculations

Running functions:

E.g. RUNNING_SUM(),RUNNING_AVG()...

Example of a running sum formula

Window functions:

E.g. WINDOW_SUM(),WINDOW_AVG()...

Example of a window sum formula

Profit per product per year

Table of profit per product, month and year, with a running sum calculation

Profit per product per year

Table of profit per product, month and year, with a window sum calculation

Tableau's Table Calculations assistant

A visual of Tableau's Table Calculations assistant

The dataset: UK clothing business

A visual with a silhouette of the United Kingdom and examples of textile products sold, e.g. a sweater

Let's practice!

Calculations in Tableau