Tableau Lesson 49 – Full Dashboard Project | Dataplexa

Tableau Course

I. Tableau Basics
1. Introduction to Tableau 2. Installing Tableau 3. Tableau Interface 4. Connecting Data 5. Data Types 6. Dimensions & Measures 7. Visual Shelf 8. Basic Charts 9. Sorting & Grouping 10. Hierarchies
II. Data Cleaning & Preparation
11. Cleaning Data Overview 12. Joins 13. Data Blending 14. Relationships 15. Pivoting Data 16. Splitting Fields 17. Rename & Alias 18. Extracts 19. Data Source Filters 20. Metadata
III. Charts & Visual Analytics
21. Bar & Line Charts 22. Area & Scatter 23. Histogram & Box Plot 24. Tree Map 25. Heat Map 26. Highlight Table 27. Dual Axis 28. Maps 29. Density Map 30. Geospatial Analytics
IV. Filters, Parameters & Calculations
31. Filters 32. Quick Filters 33. Parameters Basics 34. Parameters Advanced 35. Basic Calculations 36. Table Calculations 37. Conditional Calculations 38. LOD (Level of Detail) 39. FIXED / INCLUDE / EXCLUDE 40. Advanced LOD
V. Dashboards & Stories
41. Dashboard Basics 42. Actions 43. Interactive Dashboards 44. Story Points 45. Layout & Formatting 46. Mobile Dashboards 47. Dashboard Performance 48. Best Practices 49. Full Dashboard Project 50. Story Points Project
VI. Projects & Certification Prep
51. Sales Analysis Project 52. Financial Analysis 53. HR Analysis 54. Retail Analysis 55. Marketing Analysis 56. Live Dashboard 57. Advanced Geospatial 58. Predictive Modeling 59. Tableau Public 60. Tableau Capstone Project
Section IV — Lesson 49

Full Dashboard Project

This lesson walks through building a complete sales performance dashboard from scratch — from raw data to a polished, interactive, mobile-ready output. Every step applies techniques from earlier in the course. Follow along in Tableau Desktop using the dataset provided below.

The Dataset

We will use a single flat table of 20 order rows. Enter this manually as a text file or paste it directly into Tableau using the clipboard data source option.

orders.csv — paste into a text file and connect via Text File 
Order ID,Order Date,Region,Category,Sub-Category,Sales,Profit,Quantity
ORD-001,2024-01-05,East,Technology,Phones,1820,364,2
ORD-002,2024-01-12,West,Furniture,Chairs,940,94,3
ORD-003,2024-01-18,East,Office Supplies,Binders,210,42,5
ORD-004,2024-02-02,South,Technology,Accessories,580,116,4
ORD-005,2024-02-14,West,Office Supplies,Paper,130,39,10
ORD-006,2024-02-20,East,Technology,Phones,2100,420,2
ORD-007,2024-03-03,Central,Furniture,Tables,1200,-60,1
ORD-008,2024-03-11,West,Technology,Laptops,3400,680,1
ORD-009,2024-03-19,South,Office Supplies,Labels,90,27,8
ORD-010,2024-04-01,East,Furniture,Chairs,860,86,2
ORD-011,2024-04-08,Central,Technology,Accessories,470,94,3
ORD-012,2024-04-22,West,Office Supplies,Binders,190,38,4
ORD-013,2024-05-05,East,Technology,Laptops,2900,580,1
ORD-014,2024-05-14,South,Furniture,Bookcases,760,-38,2
ORD-015,2024-05-20,West,Technology,Phones,1650,330,2
ORD-016,2024-06-02,Central,Office Supplies,Paper,150,45,12
ORD-017,2024-06-10,East,Furniture,Tables,1100,-55,1
ORD-018,2024-06-18,West,Technology,Accessories,620,124,5
ORD-019,2024-06-25,South,Office Supplies,Binders,240,48,6
ORD-020,2024-06-30,Central,Technology,Laptops,3100,620,1

Project Overview — What We Are Building

The finished dashboard answers this question: "How is sales performance tracking across regions, categories, and time — and where should we focus?" It will contain four sheets arranged in a two-zone layout, three quick filters, one parameter, and a phone layout.

Sheet Chart Type Question It Answers Dashboard Zone
KPI Summary Big number tiles (text table) What are the headline numbers? Top row
Sales by Category Horizontal bar chart Which category drives the most revenue? Left
Monthly Trend Line chart Is sales growing month over month? Right
Region Breakdown Stacked bar chart How does each region compare by category mix? Bottom

Step 1 — Connect the Data

1
Save the CSV content above as orders.csv. Open Tableau Desktop → Connect → To a File → Text File → select orders.csv.
2
In the Data Source tab, confirm field types: Order Date is Date, Sales/Profit/Quantity are Number (decimal), all others are String. Fix any type that loaded incorrectly by clicking the type icon.
3
Create an extract now: Data menu → Extract Data → Extract. This gives us a .hyper file for fast query performance throughout the build.

Step 2 — Create a Calculated Field for Profit Margin

Before building any chart, create one calculated field that all sheets will reuse.

Calculated field: Profit Margin 
SUM([Profit]) / SUM([Sales])

Right-click the new field in the Data pane → Default Properties → Number Format → Percentage → 1 decimal place. This saves you from formatting it on every sheet individually.

Step 3 — Sheet 1: KPI Summary

1
On a new sheet, drag Sales, Profit, and Profit Margin onto the Text shelf. Tableau creates a simple text table showing the three totals.
2
Format Sales and Profit as currency: right-click each → Format → Numbers → Currency (Custom) → $#,##0.
3
Format → Sheet → Shading → set Pane to a light blue (#e0f2fe). Increase the font size to 18pt bold via Format → Sheet → Font.
4
Double-click the sheet tab and rename it KPI Summary. Hide the sheet title (Worksheet → Show Title — toggle off).
KPI Summary sheet — expected result
Total Sales $24,310 Total Profit $3,657 Profit Margin 15.0%

Step 4 — Sheet 2: Sales by Category

1
New sheet. Drag Category to Rows, Sales to Columns. Tableau creates a vertical bar chart. Click Swap Rows and Columns in the toolbar to make it horizontal.
2
Sort descending: click the sort icon on the Sales axis. Drag Sales to the Label shelf on the Marks card. Format the label as $#,##0.
3
Format → Lines → Grid Lines → None. Right-click the Sales axis → Edit Axis → clear the Title field. Remove the axis entirely: right-click axis → Uncheck Show Header.
4
Click the Colour shelf → change the bar colour to #0ea5e9 (sky blue). Double-click the sheet title and type: Technology Leads in Total Sales. Rename the tab Sales by Category.
Sales by Category — expected result
Technology Leads in Total Sales Technology $14,140 Furniture $4,860 Office Supplies $1,010

Step 5 — Sheet 3: Monthly Trend

1
New sheet. Drag Order Date to Columns. Right-click the pill and select Month (discrete) — the label shows Jan, Feb, Mar. Drag Sales to Rows.
2
Change the mark type to Line. Drag Sales to the Label shelf and set alignment to Top. Format labels as $#,##0.
3
Set line colour to #7c3aed (purple). Remove grid lines. Double-click the title and type: Sales Rising — Strongest Month in June. Rename the tab Monthly Trend.

Step 6 — Sheet 4: Region Breakdown

1
New sheet. Drag Region to Columns and Sales to Rows. Drag Category to the Colour shelf. Tableau creates a grouped bar — right-click the Sales axis → Stack Marks → On to convert to stacked bars.
2
Click Colour → Edit Colors → assign: Technology = #0ea5e9, Furniture = #f97316, Office Supplies = #22c55e. These match the brand colours used across the dashboard.
3
Format the Sales axis as $#,##0. Double-click the title and type: West and East Lead — Technology Dominant in All Regions. Rename the tab Region Breakdown.

Step 7 — Build the Dashboard Layout

1
Click the new dashboard tab at the bottom. Set size to Automatic. In the Layout panel, set the dashboard background colour to #f8fafc.
2
Drag a Vertical container onto the canvas. Inside it, drag a Horizontal container at the top — this holds the KPI tile. Drag KPI Summary into it. Set the container height to 80px in the Layout pane.
3
Below the KPI row, drag another Horizontal container. Drag Sales by Category into the left half and Monthly Trend into the right half. Set each to 50% width by dragging the divider to the centre.
4
Below the two-chart row, drag Region Breakdown directly into the vertical container — it spans the full width. Select each container and set Outer Padding to 6 on all sides via the Layout pane.
5
Drag a Text object above the KPI row — type the dashboard title: Sales Performance — H1 2024. Set font to 22pt bold, colour #0f172a.
Finished dashboard layout — wireframe
Sales Performance — H1 2024 Total Sales $24,310 Total Profit $3,657 Profit Margin 15.0% Technology Leads in Total Sales $14,140 $4,860 $1,010 Technology Furniture Office Supp. Sales Rising — Strongest Month in June Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun West and East Lead — Technology Dominant in All Regions Central East South West

Step 8 — Add Filters and a Filter Action

1
On the Sales by Category sheet, drag Region to the Filters shelf. Right-click the Region filter → Show Filter. Back on the dashboard, the filter card appears. Set its style to Multiple Values (dropdown). Check Apply to Worksheets → All Using This Data Source.
2
Add a Dashboard → Actions → Add Action → Filter. Set: Source = Region Breakdown, Target = all sheets, Run On = Select. Now clicking a bar in the Region chart filters all other sheets — this is the primary interactive behaviour.
3
Set the Clearing the Selection behaviour to Show all values — this returns the dashboard to its full-data state when the viewer clicks a blank area to deselect.

Step 9 — Add a Phone Layout

1
In the device toolbar below the canvas, click Phone → Add Phone Layout. Tableau creates a starting single-column layout.
2
Rearrange so the order from top to bottom is: KPI Summary → Sales by Category → Monthly Trend. Hide Region Breakdown on the phone layout (click its X tile) — it is too wide for a phone screen at this data size.
3
Set each remaining sheet to full width on the phone canvas. Give each 8px outer padding. Switch back to Desktop in the device toolbar to confirm the desktop layout is unchanged.

Step 10 — Final Review Against the Checklist

Before publishing, run through each item from the Lesson 48 checklist against this dashboard:

Check Status in This Dashboard
Purpose ✅ Answers "How is H1 2024 sales tracking and where should we focus?"
Hierarchy ✅ KPIs at the top, primary bar and trend in the middle, detail breakdown at the bottom
Chart types ✅ Bar for comparison, line for trend, stacked bar for part-to-whole by region
Colour ✅ Three purposeful colours — sky blue, orange, green — consistently used across all sheets
Titles ✅ Insight titles on all three charts — not descriptor titles
Numbers ✅ Currency formatted, percentages at one decimal place, no raw decimals
Performance ✅ Extract created in Step 1 — all queries run against .hyper file
Device ✅ Phone layout built in Step 9 with three stacked sheets
📌 Teacher's Note

Notice how many decisions in this project were made before opening the chart builder — the question the dashboard answers, which sheets to include, what each title would say. That upfront thinking is what makes the build fast. When you sit down already knowing what you are making, the technical steps follow naturally. With your own data, take five minutes to write the dashboard question and the four sheet names on paper before touching Tableau. You will finish in half the time.

Practice Questions

1. Before building any charts in this project, a Profit Margin calculated field was created and formatted at the field level. Why is setting the default format at the field level better than formatting it sheet by sheet?

2. The Region Breakdown chart should filter all other sheets when a bar is clicked. What are the steps to set this up as a dashboard filter action?

3. The Region Breakdown chart was hidden from the phone layout. What was the reason for hiding it, and which three sheets were kept?

Quiz

1. At which step of this project should the extract be created, and why does creating it early in the process help the overall build?


2. The dashboard layout has a KPI row at the top, two side-by-side charts in the middle, and a full-width chart at the bottom. Which container structure produces this layout?


3. The Region quick filter needs to update all four sheets when a value is selected. Which setting on the filter card achieves this?


Next up — Lesson 50: Story Points Project — building a complete narrative story from the sales performance data using story points, annotations, and guided analysis.

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