Live and static insights

Previously, you learned about data storytelling and interpreting your dataset through a narrative. In this reading, you will explore the difference between live and static insights to make your data even clearer.

Live versus static

Identifying whether data is live or static depends on certain factors:

• How old is the data?
• How long until the insights are stale or no longer valid to make decisions?
• Does this data or analysis need updating on a regular basis to remain valuable?

Static data involves providing screenshots or snapshots in presentations or building dashboards using snapshots of data. There are pros and cons to static data.

PROS

• Can tightly control a point-in-time narrative of the data and insight
• Allows for complex analysis to be explained in-depth to a larger audience

CONS

• Insight immediately begins to lose value and continues to do so the longer the data remains in a static state
• Snapshots can't keep up with the pace of data change

Live data means that you can build dashboards, reports, and views connected to automatically updated data.

PROS

• Dashboards can be built to be more dynamic and scalable
• Gives the most up-to-date data to the people who need it at the time when they need it
• Allows for up-to-date curated views into data with the ability to build a scalable “single source of truth” for various use cases
• Allows for immediate action to be taken on data that changes frequently
• Alleviates time/resources spent on processes for every analysis

CONS

• Can take engineering resources to keep pipelines live and scalable, which may be outside the scope of some companies' data resource allocation
• Without the ability to interpret data, you can lose control of the narrative, which can cause data chaos (i.e. teams coming to conflicting conclusions based on the same data)
• Can potentially cause a lack of trust if the data isn’t handled properly

Key takeaways

Analysts need to familiarize themselves with the business and data so they can recommend when an updated static analysis is needed or should be refreshed. Also, this data insight will help you make the case for what sorts of analyses, visualizations, and additional data are recommended for the types of decisions that the business needs to make.

Keep this customer survey spreadsheet on hand as it will be useful for the next video.

Hands-On Activity: Creating, filtering, and customizing charts

Question 1

Activity overview

You have learned that you can create charts in spreadsheets and in Tableau, and that you can customize the information displayed in them using filters. Before working in Tableau, you will work with the spreadsheet chart editor.

By the time you complete this activity, you will be able to create a chart in a spreadsheet and customize it by using filters and applying different styles. This will enable you to use spreadsheets in another helpful way, which is important for using all the tools at your disposal in your career as a data analyst.

What you will need

To get started, first access the sample data.

To use the data for this course item, click the link below and select “Use Template.”

Link to sample data: Cosmetics Inc.

OR

If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the attachment below.

Cosmetics Inc.

Creating a chart in a spreadsheet

Important note: The following steps are for Google Sheets but they can help guide you to similar features in Excel. Refer to the Additional resources section if you need more specific instructions for creating charts in Excel.

1. In the spreadsheet that you copied or downloaded, practice creating a chart by clicking the second tab named Create your chart here. This tab contains the total purchases calculated for each store from the first tab. All of the original data is preserved in the first tab so you can explore chart creation in the second tab without changing or deleting any of the original data.
2. Highlight cells B4 through C7 as the data for your chart.
3. From the main menu, click Insert, and select Chart.

4. A chart is created automatically and a chart editor opens on the right so you can change the chart type. If a pie chart is displayed, click the Chart type drop-down and select a column chart so your chart looks like the one below.

5. Within the Setup section of the Chart Editor (right hand side of page), click on the three dots option to "Add labels" within the X-axis formatting section. Make sure the string values within the range B4:B7 is indicated to the left of the three dots, and once the "Add labels" option is chosen, the data columns will gain a vertical indicative label on each column.

6. To filter the data shown in the column chart, make sure the pink row 1 is highlighted and then click the filter icon in the toolbar. (The filter icon is the third "funnel" icon from the right in the toolbar.) This adds a filter icon in each column of your data.
7. Within cell B3, click the triple-lined filter icon for Store Name and uncheck Candy's Beauty Supply.

8. Click OK and your chart will automatically update to exclude the data for Candy's Beauty Supply, as shown below.

Note: To include the data for Candy's Beauty Supply again, simply click the filter icon for Store Name and click Candy's Beauty Supply to add the check mark back.

Applying Styles

You can also apply different styles to the chart. For example, the default blue in the chart isn't the most appropriate for accessibility when the background is white.

1. Double-click anywhere within the chart to open the chart editor.
2. Click the Customize tab, then click the Series in the chart editor to expand the options.

3. Under Format, click the drop-down for Fill color, and select Custom.

4. Change the Hex value for the color from #4a86e8 to one of the blue hues recommended for use on white backgrounds for accessibility. The difference between the current color and these accessible colors may seem minimal, but a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 is important for people who cannot see the full color spectrum. Read through the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh's accessibility guidelines to learn more about web accessibility guidelines.

• #0071bc
• #046b99
• #205493

5. Click OK and the chart will automatically update with the newly assigned color.

Additional resources

Here are a few more resources you can reference as you learn more about charts in spreadsheets:

• Graphs in Google Sheets: Not only does this resource contain a detailed example of chart creation in spreadsheets, but it also provides you with downloadable sample data you can use to practice. As you have learned throughout this course, practicing these skills helps you learn more about the tools you are using. This example data is a great way to start!
• Add and edit a chart or graph in Google Sheets: This article includes steps for creating, editing, and changing charts in Google Sheets with how-to videos. It also has a more in-depth guide to editing and customizing your chart after you have created it.
• Create a Microsoft Excel chart from start to finish: This how-to guide from Microsoft’s support site includes instructions and a video tutorial for adding charts to Excel spreadsheets. This is a useful resource if you are working specifically with Excel spreadsheets. It also links to other useful articles about creating charts in Excel.
• Microsoft Excel: Creating and modifying charts: This is an explanation of Excel charts with downloadable handouts. This resource is especially useful because it has downloadable content that you can save to reference later when you start creating charts in your own spreadsheets.

Confirmation and reflection

Which changes can you make to customize a chart in a spreadsheet? Select all that apply.

• Change the chart colors by using the Series drop-down
• Animate the chart by using the Multimedia drop-down
• Change the chart type by using the Chart type drop-down
• Change the chart's data by updating relevant cells

Explain: To customize a chart in a spreadsheet, you can change the colors, data, and type of chart. Going forward, you can apply your knowledge of charts to future lessons about data visualization. This will help you prepare for future lessons about data visualization.

Question 2

During this activity, you created a chart within a spreadsheet. In the text box below, write a 2-3 sentence (40-60 words) response to each of the following questions:

• What are some advantages and disadvantages of creating a chart directly in a spreadsheet?
• How did this activity build your knowledge of spreadsheets and data visualization?

Explain: Congratulations on completing this hands-on activity! A good response would include how the spreadsheet chart editor is a simple and convenient way to visualize data. Beyond that, consider the following:

Data analysts use spreadsheets for a variety of data analysis tasks, including creating charts. What you’ve learned about visualizations in spreadsheets you can apply to dashboard visualizations. In upcoming activities, you will use this knowledge in Tableau, another data visualization platform. This will help you practice more data visualizations—an essential tool in every data analyst’s toolkit.

Identify when to set up a dashboard

You have been learning about data analytics dashboards, their benefits, and their challenges. As an analyst, it will be important to know when a dashboard is an appropriate tool—and when it might not be.

In what circumstances do you envision dashboards will be helpful in your future career? How might they save you time? What are some considerations or pitfalls to keep in mind? Also consider why you would choose to start with basic dashboards for a core set of users versus implementing a full-feature dashboard design right from the start.

Please submit 3-5 sentences (150-200 words) in response. Then, visit the discussion forum to read what other learners have written, and engage in at least three discussions about their posts.

Creating your first Tableau dashboard

You're going to take what you've learned about data visualizations and create a dashboard.

Tableau contains tons of other functionality to build dashboards that update in real time and include interactive visualizations.

Dashboards are important in data analysis because they enable people to visualize data in dynamic and interactive ways, which can help enhance what you can do with your data presentations. Data visualizations are most useful when they are presented in a dashboard style format to stakeholders because dashboards put all the key information in the same place, making it easier to understand what's really important. Many dashboards also constantly update to reflect new data and can be interactive. No matter what style of dashboard you choose, they can help you present your data to stakeholders in an impactful way.

Open Tableau

You'll need to navigate and sign-in to the Tableau Public online app. You may also refer back to the reading on how to create an account, a profile, loading, and linking datasets using the Tableau public app - Using Tableau Public.

Accessing the Dataset

Click on this following link to create your own copy of the CO2 Dataset.

If you do not have a Google account, you may directly download the CO2 dataset by clicking below:

CO2 Dataset

Load the Dataset

1. Now that you have logged into Tableau Public, access the data source dashboard by clicking on the Create tab, then the Web Authoring option at the top of the landing page. Next, click on the center button titled "Upload from computer", and select the CO2 Dataset that has been downloaded to your device.
2. Once the dataset has been loaded, direct your attention to the bottom of the data source tabs in the bottom left corner of the window. This opens the data sources folder Tableau public has created on your machine by default. Going forward, you should save any datasets you're working with to the data sources folder. Keeping your data files in one place is a best practice that will keep you organized.
3. Make a note that all of the tabs within the dataset are arranged into a vertical toolbar on the left side of the page.
4. Drag the Sheet titled "CO2 Data Cleaned" from the left bar to the middle of the page and click on the button "Update Automatically" option after dragging the sheet icon.
5. Navigate back to the tab titled Sheet 1 at the bottom of the page and click on it. At this point, a new window with a vertical dashboard titled "Tables" will appear.
6. Drag the green "# Year" icon to the Columns box located at the top of the page.
7. Drag the green "# CO2 (kt)" icon to the Rows box located at the top of the page.
8. Drag the blue "Abc Region" icon to the Colors icon containing the 4-colored dots.
9. You have now created your first basic timeline dashboard, which indicates the level of CO2 (kilotons) emitted by the various parts of the globe from 1960 to 2012.
10. You may also do a preliminary analysis of the number of categories, rows, data ranges, and any null values that appear in the data source page. This will give you a sense of more dashboard types and styles that can be generated from the dataset.

Create Additional Dashboards

Directions on how to create additional dashboard types with Tableau are here.

Great, you've created your first basic dashboard!

Hands-On Activity: Build a dashboard in Tableau

Activity overview

The video you just watched showed you how to create a dashboard in Tableau. Now, you can use the template, dataset, and instructions in this activity to create the visualization yourself. Feel free to refer back to the previous video if you get stuck.

In previous activities, you linked data sources and created data visualizations. Now, you’ll use what you learned about the process of data visualization to add data to a dashboard.

By the time you complete this activity, you will be able to create and use a dashboard to present data in an accessible and interactive way. This will enable you to communicate your work and display dynamic data in professional settings.

Note: You will need the Tableau Public Desktop app to import the Dashboards Starter Template in this activity. For more information on downloading the Tableau Public app, see the Reading: Optional: Using Tableau Desktop. If you are unable to download the app to your device, use the two visualizations you created in the last Tableau activities as Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 of this activity.

What you will need

A starter template with a few existing data sources and visualizations and a data set have been provided. Click the link to the folder containing the starter template and data set.

If you are logged into your Google Account:

Click and drag to highlight both the template and the data set. Then, right-click on the selected files and click Download.

If you are not logged into your Google Account:

To download both items, click the DOWNLOAD ALL button in the top right corner of the page. You do not need a Google account to download the files.

Download the starter template and data set: Starter template and data set

Open the template and load the data

In a business context, data visualizations are most useful when they are presented in a dashboard-style format to stakeholders. Dashboards put all the pertinent information in the same place, making it easier to understand the important takeaways. Many dashboards are also constantly updating to reflect new data, and some are even interactive. No matter what style of dashboard you choose, they can help you deliver the work you’ve done when creating visualizations.

Now it's time to begin the activity. After you download the Dashboards Starter Template, find the file in your storage and open it in Tableau Public Desktop.

Upon opening the Tableau project template, your screen should look like this:

The Dashboards Starter Template workbook allows you to explore and manipulate the visualizations found in two sheets: Sheet 1 and Sheet 2. However, the Tableau workbook does not contain the actual dataset. Next, you will load the dataset.

To load the actual dataset:

1. Click the Data Source tab in the bottom left-hand corner of the window. This will open the Datasources folder Tableau Public has created on your computer by default.
2. Navigate to the location on your computer where you downloaded the World Bank CO2 dataset and open it.
3. Locate the My Tableau Repository folder on your computer. This is usually placed in the Documents folder of your local files. If you cannot find the folder, use the search bar in your computer’s file explorer.
4. Double-click the folder My Tableau Repository, then double-click the folder Datasources.
5. Drag your datasets for Tableau from where you downloaded them into the Datasources folder. This will help you keep track of your datasets for various projects and stay organized.

Note: As a best practice, you should always move your datasets for Tableau into the Datasources folder.

Create a dashboard

The example project contains the World Bank CO2 dataset, with two separate visualizations. Click Sheet 1. This visualization shows the average CO2 per capita of each country. Now, click Sheet 2. This visualization is a line chart of the CO2 production of each global region over time.

You will use these visualizations to create a dashboard. Click the Add Dashboard button, which is the middle button on the bottom row with a symbol that appears like a spreadsheet with a plus sign.

This will open a new dashboard. Your screen should appear like this:

Now, you just need to add some visualizations to your dashboard.

Add visualizations

To add visualizations, drag the appropriate sheets onto the dashboard in the layout that you prefer. In this case, you’ll add the map visualization from Sheet 1 on top of the line graph from Sheet 2.

1. Start by finding Sheet 1 in the Sheets section on the left side of the screen. Click and drag Sheet 1 onto the area that says Drop sheets here. Your screen should appear like this:

2. Click and drag Sheet 2 onto the visualization. You’ll notice that the visualization adjusts to show the layout depending on where you drag the sheet. Place Sheet 2 so that it takes up the bottom half.

Clean the dashboard

The dashboard currently contains three legends, but only two of them are needed. The topmost legend of grayscale values represents the CO2 Per Capita by size.

CO2 per capita is represented by size and color. As such, Tableau creates two legends. To simplify the visualization, your best choice is to delete the topmost legend that corresponds to size.

The relationship between small and large emissions can be interpreted by the relative sizes of the circles. However, the color representing the number of emissions per capita is not interpretable without the legend.

1. Delete the topmost legend. To do this, click it and then click the X attached to it to remove it from the dashboard.

Now that it’s been removed, you’ll set the remaining legends to float.

2. Click on a legend.
3. Click the arrow pointing downwards for More Options. From there, select Floating.

4. Drag the legend onto the top-right corner of the map visualization.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 and float the remaining legend onto the top-right corner of the bottom graph. Once you’ve done it, your dashboard should appear like this:

You’ve now created a basic dashboard. Tableau contains tons of other functionality that allows for dashboards that update in real-time or interactive dashboards and visualizations.

Reflection

In this activity, you created a dashboard that can help you share your findings. In the text box below, write 2-3 sentences (40-60 words) in response to each of the following questions:

• How did you arrange the sheets onto the dashboard to effectively present the data?
• What are some other ways in which you might use dashboards?
• Is there a dashboard that you would like to create? If so, what kinds of data might it feature?

Explain: Congratulations on completing this hands-on activity! A good response would include how you can arrange the layout of a dashboard with visualizations and corresponding legends to help highlight key takeaways from the data.

A data analyst’s effectiveness is strongly dependent on their ability to communicate their findings to stakeholders. Dashboards are an accessible and thorough way of communicating by telling stories with data visualizations.

Test your knowledge on using dashboards

Question 1

Fill in the blank: A dashboard organizes information from multiple datasets into one central location. This enables the information to be _____. Select all that apply.

• protected
• tracked
• visualized
• analyzed

Explain: A dashboard is used to track, analyze, and visualize information.

Question 2

A data analyst is choosing their dashboard layout. They want the layout to automatically resize itself based on the dashboard size. They should use a tiled layout. True or False?

A. True

B. False

It is true statement. Explain: To automatically resize the layout based on the dashboard size, the analyst should use a tiled layout.

Question 3

What are some reasons why you might choose to use filters when creating a dashboard view? Select all that apply.

• To highlight individual data points
• To remove outliers that don't conform to your hypothesis
• To zero in on what's important to your stakeholders
• To put the data in chronological order

Explain: You might choose to use filters in order to highlight individual data points or to zero in on what's important to your stakeholders.