Salesforce Updated Analytics-Con-301 Exam Questions and Answers by md

Using an extract filter is an effective way to reduce the amount of data in a Tableau extract. Extract filters allow you to specify a subset of the data to include, which can significantly decrease the size of the extract by excluding unnecessary data. This is particularly useful when you only need partial data from a larger SQL Server data source.

To effectively display quarterly profit growth and aggregated sales totals across different product categories, a combination of a Waterfall chart and a Tree Map is recommended:

Waterfall Chart: This chart type is excellent for visualizing the sequential growth or decline of profits across different quarters for each sub-category. It clearly shows how profits accumulate over time, highlighting both positive and negative changes, which makes it ideal for tracking profit growth or decline through the quarters.

Tree Map: A Tree Map can efficiently display aggregated sales totals where each block size represents the total sales of a product category, providing a quick, visually impactful comparison across categories. This is especially useful when the client wants to understand which categories contribute most to sales in a glanceable format.

Together, these charts provide a comprehensive overview of both profit trends over time (Waterfall Chart) and a comparative snapshot of sales performance across categories (Tree Map), meeting the client's need to analyze performance dynamics in a detailed yet consolidated manner.

References

These recommendations are based on common best practices for data visualization in Tableau, where specific chart types are chosen for their strengths in communicating certain types of data relationships and dynamics, as detailed in Tableau's official visualization guides.

For a consultant designing a dashboard to be consumed across multiple device types, the best approach is:

Multi-device Layout: Tableau provides the capability to design device-specific layouts within a single dashboard. This feature allows the dashboard to adapt its layout to best fit the screen size and orientation of desktops, tablets, and phones.

Fixed Size Layouts: By fixing the size of each layout, the consultant can ensure that the dashboard appears consistent and maintains the intended design elements and user experience across devices. Fixed sizes prevent components from resizing in ways that could disrupt the dashboard’s readability or functionality.

Implementation: In Tableau, you can create these layouts by selecting 'Device Preview' and adding custom layouts for each device type. Here, you define the dimensions and the positioning of sheets and controls tailored to each device's typical viewing mode.

References

This approach leverages Tableau’s device designer capabilities, which are specifically designed to optimize dashboards for multiple viewing environments, ensuring a seamless user experience regardless of the device used. This functionality is well documented in Tableau’s official guides on creating and managing device-specific dashboards.

The correct calculation to count all distinct orders placed in 2010 involves placing the conditional inside the aggregation function, not the other way around. Here's how to correct the client's calculation:

Original Calculation Issue: The client’s original calculation attempts to apply the COUNTD function within an IF statement, which does not work as expected because the COUNTD function cannot conditionally count within the scope of the IF statement.

Correct Calculation: COUNTD(IF YEAR([Date]) = 2010 THEN [OrderID] END). This calculation checks each order date; if the year is 2010, it returns the OrderID. The COUNTD function then counts all unique OrderIDs that meet this condition.

Why It Works: This method ensures that each order is first checked for the year condition before being counted, effectively filtering and counting in one step. It efficiently processes the data by focusing the distinct count operation only on relevant records.

References

This approach is consistent with Tableau's guidance on using conditional logic inside aggregation functions for accurate and efficient data calculations, as detailed in the Tableau User Guide under "Aggregations and Calculations".