Introduction to Data
You are likely to have a basic grasp of the concept of data – it is difficult to avoid in a world increasingly driven by information, in which this information is both easier to gather and more valuable than ever. However, it is useful to begin with a basic definition.
Take, for example, a coffee chain store. Every day for the past five years, there has been an abundance of data collected for the number of sales, the number of cups of coffee sold, the different types of coffee sold, and even the stocks of coffee. A regional store manager may want to be able to see how well their sales are doing, which stores are performing best, and whether their specialty drinks are selling better than the classics. Five years of data can be hard to analyze in spreadsheets, and this is where Tableau can be the ideal tool for use. Tableau can connect to the data source and build dynamic dashboards that can help answer these questions. It can even define any outliers that exist, allowing the coffee chain to make data-driven decisions to help improve its business.
The following topics will be discussed in this chapter:
- Connecting to sources
- Data structure
- Choosing an appropriate data source type
- Connecting to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud
- Connection management
This chapter is designed to inform you how to connect to data in Tableau with different data sources and servers that are available.
