Tableau Public Tutorial — Build Your Portfolio Dashboard

Tableau Public is the free version of Tableau — the industry-leading data visualization tool. It's how data analysts showcase their work to recruiters and employers.

Why Tableau Public?

1. Free Portfolio Hosting

• Publish unlimited dashboards to public.tableau.com
• No credit card, no hidden fees
• Each dashboard gets a shareable URL

2. Recruiter-Friendly

• Embedded dashboards (put in your website, LinkedIn)
• No login required for viewers
• Google-indexed (SEO boost)
• Tableau Public Gallery (discover page for visibility)

3. Industry Standard

• Same tool as Tableau Desktop (learn real Tableau for free)
• Used by: The New York Times, The Economist, FiveThirtyEight, BBC
• Tableau skills = instant credibility

Tableau Public vs Tableau Desktop

| Feature | Tableau Public | Tableau Desktop | |---------|----------------|-----------------| | Price | Free | $70/month (Creator license) | | Data | Public only (no privacy) | Private dashboards | | Connectors | Limited (Excel, CSV, Google Sheets) | 100+ (databases, APIs, cloud) | | Save location | Cloud only (Tableau Public) | Local files + Tableau Server | | Best for | Portfolios, practice, public projects | Professional work, company data |

For learning: Tableau Public is perfect. Learn the full Tableau experience for free, just publish public projects.

Real Example: Building Your Portfolio

Good portfolio structure:

1. Sales Dashboard — Business analytics (revenue trends, KPIs)
2. Product Analytics — User behavior (funnels, retention)
3. Data Story — Narrative viz (like NYTimes data journalism)

Three projects in Tableau Public = strong portfolio. Let's build your first one.

Download and Install

1. Go to: https://public.tableau.com/app/discover
2. Click: "Sign Up" (top-right) → Create free account
3. Download: Tableau Public Desktop (Windows or Mac)
4. Install: Run installer (requires ~1.5 GB disk space)
5. Launch: Open Tableau Public from Applications/Start menu

System Requirements:

• Windows 10+ or macOS 10.15+
• 8 GB RAM minimum (16 GB recommended)
• 1.5 GB disk space

Interface Tour

Tableau's interface is visual-first (different from Power BI's Excel-like approach).

Key Areas:

1. Data Pane (left) — Your tables, dimensions (categories), measures (numbers)
2. Canvas (center) — Drag-and-drop workspace for charts
3. Marks Card (left-center) — Control color, size, labels, tooltips
4. Show Me (top-right) — Recommended chart types based on selected fields
5. Shelves (top/right of canvas) — Columns, Rows, Filters, Pages (where you drop fields)

Load Sample Data

For this tutorial, we'll use a public dataset: Swiggy Restaurant Reviews (fictional but realistic).

Download: Swiggy Reviews Dataset (CSV)

Columns:

• Restaurant_Name (text)
• City (text: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune)
• Cuisine (text: North Indian, Chinese, Italian, etc.)
• Rating (number: 1.0 to 5.0)
• Delivery_Time_Min (number: minutes)
• Order_Value (number: ₹)
• Review_Date (date)
• Customer_ID (text)

Connect to CSV

1. Connect → To a File → Text file
2. Select swiggy_reviews.csv → Open
3. Data Source page opens (preview your data)

Data Source Page — Check and Clean

1. Check Data Types (icons in column headers):

• Rating, Delivery_Time_Min, Order_Value → Should be # (number)
• Review_Date → Should be calendar icon (date)
• Restaurant_Name, City, Cuisine → Should be Abc (text)

Fix wrong types: Click icon → Change data type

2. Preview Data:

• Scroll through rows
• Check for nulls, weird values
• Verify column names make sense

3. Rename Data Source (top-left):

• Double-click "swiggy_reviews.csv" → Rename to "Swiggy Reviews"

4. Go to Sheet 1 (click orange tab at bottom) → Start building visualizations

Understanding Tableau's Data Model

Dimensions (blue fields): Categorical data

• Restaurant_Name, City, Cuisine
• Review_Date (Tableau treats dates as dimensions by default)

Measures (green fields): Numeric data

• Rating, Delivery_Time_Min, Order_Value
• COUNT(Restaurant_Name) — auto-generated count measure

Key Difference from Power BI:

• Tableau auto-generates aggregations (SUM, AVG, COUNT)
• You don't write DAX — you drag fields and Tableau aggregates automatically
• For custom calculations, use Calculated Fields (similar to DAX but simpler syntax)

Let's build 5 core visualizations for a restaurant analytics dashboard.

Visual 1: Average Rating by City (Bar Chart)

Drag-and-Drop Method:

1. Drag City → Rows shelf
2. Drag Rating → Columns shelf
3. Chart appears: Horizontal bar chart
4. Right-click SUM(Rating) pill → Measure → Average
5. Sort: Click sort descending button in toolbar (bars sorted by avg rating)

Result: Bars show which city has highest average restaurant ratings.

Formatting:

• Color: Click Color on Marks card → Choose blue gradient
• Labels: Click Label on Marks card → Check "Show mark labels"
• Axis: Right-click X-axis (Rating) → Edit Axis → Range: Fixed (1 to 5)
• Title: Double-click title → "Average Restaurant Rating by City"

Visual 2: Order Value Distribution (Histogram)

Method:

1. Drag Order_Value → Columns
2. Drag Order_Value → Rows (yes, same field twice)
3. Change Rows pill: Right-click → Measure → Count
4. Right-click Columns pill → Show Missing Values (fills gaps)
5. Create Bins: Right-click Order_Value (in Data pane) → Create → Bins
   • Bin size: 100 (creates ₹0-100, ₹100-200, etc. buckets)
6. Replace Columns pill: Drag Order_Value (bin) to replace Order_Value

Result: Histogram showing how many orders fall into each price range.

Insight: "Most orders are ₹200-400 (80% of volume)"

Visual 3: Rating Trend Over Time (Line Chart)

Method:

1. Drag Review_Date → Columns
2. Drag Rating → Rows
3. Change aggregation: Right-click SUM(Rating) → Measure → Average
4. Time granularity: Right-click YEAR(Review_Date) pill → Month (changes from yearly to monthly)

Result: Line chart showing monthly average rating trend (up/down over time).

Add trend line:

1. Analytics pane (left sidebar) → Drag Trend Line to canvas
2. Trend line shows overall direction (improving or declining ratings)

Formatting:

• Line color: Marks card → Color → Orange (stands out)
• Add reference line (average): Analytics pane → Reference Line → Drag to axis → Average (shows baseline)

Visual 4: Delivery Time vs Rating (Scatter Plot)

Method:

1. Drag Delivery_Time_Min → Columns
2. Drag Rating → Rows
3. Change both aggregations to Average (right-click pills)
4. Drag Restaurant_Name → Detail on Marks card (one dot per restaurant)
5. Add color: Drag City → Color on Marks card (color-code by city)
6. Add size: Drag CNT(Order_Value) → Size (bubble size = order volume)

Result: Scatter plot showing relationship between delivery time and rating. Bubbles colored by city, sized by order count.

Insight: "Restaurants with 20-30 min delivery tend to have highest ratings (4.2+). 45+ min delivery correlates with lower ratings."

Visual 5: Top 10 Restaurants (Horizontal Bar)

Method:

1. Drag Restaurant_Name → Rows
2. Drag Rating → Columns (set to Average)
3. Filter to Top 10:
   • Drag Restaurant_Name to Filters shelf
   • Select: Top → By field → Top 10 by Average Rating
   • Click OK
4. Sort: Click sort button (bars highest to lowest)
5. Show filter: Right-click filter pill → Show Filter (creates sidebar filter for users)

Result: Top 10 restaurants by average rating, user can adjust N in sidebar (top 5, top 20, etc.)

Calculated Fields (Custom Metrics)

Create a "High Value Order" flag:

1. Analysis → Create Calculated Field
2. Name: "Is High Value"
3. Formula:

IF [Order_Value] > 500 THEN "High Value"
ELSE "Standard"
END

1. Click OK

Use it: Drag "Is High Value" to Color on any chart → Color-codes high vs standard orders.

More Calculated Field Examples:

Rating Category:

IF [Rating] >= 4.0 THEN "Excellent"
ELSEIF [Rating] >= 3.0 THEN "Good"
ELSE "Poor"
END

Days Since Review (freshness):

DATEDIFF('day', [Review_Date], TODAY())

Order Value Bucket:

IF [Order_Value] < 200 THEN "Budget"
ELSEIF [Order_Value] < 500 THEN "Mid-Range"
ELSE "Premium"
END

Now let's combine individual sheets (visualizations) into one interactive dashboard.

Create a New Dashboard

1. Click New Dashboard button (bottom tabs, next to Sheet tabs)
2. Dashboard canvas opens
3. Set size: Left sidebar → Size → Automatic (responsive) or Desktop (1366×768 fixed)

Drag Sheets to Dashboard

Layout Structure:

How to Add:

1. Left sidebar shows list of your sheets
2. Drag sheet (e.g., "Rating by City") → Drop on canvas
3. Position: Gray box appears showing where it'll land → Release
4. Repeat for all 5 sheets

Add Title:

1. Objects section (bottom-left) → Drag Text to top of dashboard
2. Edit text: "Swiggy Restaurant Analytics Dashboard"
3. Format: Font size 20, bold, center-aligned

Add Interactivity

1. Enable Click-to-Filter:

• Default: Clicking any chart filters others (cross-filtering enabled by default in Tableau)
• Test: Click a bar in "Rating by City" (e.g., Mumbai) → All other charts filter to Mumbai data
• Disable for specific chart: Select chart → Dashboard → Use as Filter (toggle off)

2. Add Filter Controls (Slicers):

Date Range Filter:

1. Select the "Rating Trend" sheet on dashboard
2. Click dropdown arrow (top-right of chart) → Filters → Review_Date
3. Sidebar filter appears → Users can select date range
4. Format filter: Right-click filter → Customize → Range of Dates slider

City Multi-Select Filter:

1. Objects → Drag Blank object to sidebar (placeholder)
2. Right-click any chart on dashboard → Filters → City → Show Filter
3. Filter appears in sidebar
4. Change style: Right-click filter title → Multiple Values (list) → Checkboxes

3. Add Tooltips (Hover Details):

Tooltips are the pop-ups when you hover over data points.

Customize Tooltip:

1. Select a sheet (e.g., bar chart)
2. Marks card → Click Tooltip button
3. Edit text: Add context

1. Use bold/colors for emphasis: <strong>Rating:</strong> <AGG(Rating)>

4. Add Legends and Descriptions:

• Legend: If chart uses color/size, legend appears automatically (move/hide via layout)
• Caption: Dashboard → Show Caption (adds description below chart)

Layout and Formatting

Tiled vs Floating:

• Tiled (default): Charts snap to grid, auto-resize, no overlap
• Floating: Charts can overlap, fixed size, pixel-perfect control
• Recommendation: Use Tiled for responsive dashboards (adapts to screen size)

Formatting:

1. Dashboard → Format → Choose:
   • Font: Lato, Helvetica, or Tableau's default
   • Shading: Alternate worksheet shading (light gray background)
   • Borders: Show worksheet borders (light lines)
2. Color scheme: Dashboard → Format → Workbook → Choose theme (e.g., "Tableau 10")

Mobile Layout (Optional):

1. Dashboard → Device Layouts → Phone
2. Tableau creates phone-optimized layout
3. Rearrange charts for vertical scroll (single column)

This is how you share your work and build your portfolio.

Publish Your Dashboard

1. File → Save to Tableau Public As...
2. Sign in to your Tableau Public account
3. Name your workbook: "Swiggy Restaurant Analytics Dashboard"
4. Click Save

What happens:

• Data uploads to Tableau Public servers
• Dashboard goes live at: public.tableau.com/app/profile/[your-username]/viz/[workbook-name]
• You get a shareable URL

Manage Your Tableau Public Profile

Profile Page: public.tableau.com/app/profile/[your-username]

Add Profile Info:

1. Click your name (top-right) → My Profile
2. Edit profile:
   • Profile picture (professional headshot)
   • Bio: "Data Analyst | Tableau Enthusiast | Building dashboards that drive decisions"
   • Location: "Bangalore, India"
   • Website: Link to LinkedIn or personal portfolio site

Organize Dashboards:

• Pin featured dashboard (your best work)
• Create collections: Group related projects ("Sales Analytics", "Product Dashboards")
• Add descriptions: Click dashboard → Edit → Write description (explain what it shows, data source, insights)

Embed in Your Portfolio Website

Get Embed Code:

1. Open your published dashboard on Tableau Public
2. Click Share button (bottom) → Embed Code
3. Copy the <iframe> code
4. Paste into your website's HTML

Example:

<div class='tableauPlaceholder' style='width: 1366px; height: 768px;'>
  <iframe src='https://public.tableau.com/views/SwiggyRestaurantAnalytics/Dashboard1'
    width='1366' height='768' frameborder='0'></iframe>
</div>

Add to LinkedIn:

1. LinkedIn → Create post
2. Add link to your Tableau Public dashboard
3. LinkedIn auto-generates preview card with thumbnail
4. Write caption: "Built an interactive restaurant analytics dashboard in Tableau. Key insights: Mumbai restaurants have 12% higher ratings than Delhi, delivery time under 30 min drives 4.5+ ratings. [Link]"

SEO Tips for Visibility

Make Your Dashboard Discoverable:

1. Title: Use keywords ("Restaurant Analytics Dashboard India", not just "Dashboard 1")
2. Description: Explain what it shows, data source, key insights (3-5 sentences)
3. Tags: Add 5-10 tags ("restaurant analytics", "swiggy", "food delivery", "india", "tableau")
4. Thumbnail: Tableau auto-generates, but you can customize (Dashboard → Format → Background Image)

Result: Your dashboard appears in:

• Tableau Public Gallery (discover page)
• Google search results (indexed)
• Recruiter searches for "Tableau restaurant analytics India"