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Dashboard questions
Posted October 29th, 2008 by Chris Hane
Hi,
I'm trying to create a dashboard showing multiple line graphs of cost for a series of years. Is there a way to synchronize the Y-axis scale for all the worksheets in the dashboard? I am doing this by fixing the axes in each worksheet now.
Also, I would like to have a line graph that shows the range of differences in costs from year to year. That's easy using a calculation field. However, I'd like the same filter applied to the original line graph to applied in this view too. I can't use a global filter because there are other graphs too. Right now the user has to keep two filters in synch themselves to do this.
Thanks!
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Comments
Hi Chris,
I think maybe a viz technique we call "small multiples" is close to what you're looking for.
If you want multiple line graphs that share a Y axis, well then just put your years on the row shelf, and you should get a line graph for each year.
Also in that vein, you can combine different measures using the Measure Values field to create a view made up of graphs for each of several measures. (This would allow your filter to apply to your combined graphs.)
I've attached a workbook with examples.
Thanks, Jim, but that missed the point of using a dashboard.
I want my dashboard to have small multiples of different sheets, where the different sheets have a synch'ed Y-Axis.
Each sheet I have applies filters to show a part of the hierarchy. Without this there would be too many lines per chart. When I do this today, each sheet sets its own Y-axis.
Chris,
What about this (see attached image). Change the filters and the axes change, or you can fix the axes by measure, I think (Right click the axis in question, select Edit Axis, then choose Fixed and have set the limits. Do this for each.
Michael W Cristiani
Market Intelligence Group
(Sorry about the poor quality of the images. How do you Tableau folks get such crisp screen shots, etc.?)
So what you're telling me is that your different sheets are actually the same sheet, each containing a different portion of the domain. I'm still not convinced that you need or want a dashboard instead of one sheet containing multiple charts.
If there's no logical partitioning of your hierarchy (i.e. just arbitrarily selecting 1-100 for chart 1, 101-200 for chart 2, etc), then yes, you're (almost) stuck in your current situation. Different sheets in a dashboard are not (and can not) be linked behaviorally.
If you're partitioning your data domain by the values of a higher level within your hierarchy, though, you could just throw that level on your columns shelf, producing small multiples that shared a Y-axis. Forgive me if I'm still not seeing the whole of your situation, but I just don't see "the point of using a dashboard" rather than one sheet here.
Jim, OK I'm new to Tableau, so I need to "Tableau-ify" my design more.
I initially was thinking to use the Dashboard to wrap the columns, i.e. change a 1 row 10 column sheet into a 2x5 dashboard view.
Another idea was if the dimension with 10 items grows to 30 items, then the Dashboard would still allow a 2x5 view where the user could use filters to pick the 10 values to show.
But in all these cases I think its better to marry the design to closer Tableau features.
Thanks!