Aggregating values

There are several methods to pre-aggregate your data in your Tableau Prep pipeline. Ideally, your data will be aggregated in your data connection. For example, when connecting to a database, you may be able to write a query that includes a GROUP BY statement so that the data is aggregated before being ingested into Tableau Prep.

Often, such an ideal scenario is not available for a variety of reasons, and sometimes it is simply not possible, for example, when connecting to files such as Excel or CSV files.

In this recipe, we'll look at the preferred methods for most users when aggregating data in Tableau Prep, using the aptly named Aggregate step.

Getting ready

To follow along with this recipe, download the Sample Files 4.2 folder from this book's GitHub repository. In this flow, you'll find a slimmed-down version of the sample Superstore flow provided by Tableau.

The last step in this flow contains more than 20 fields and outputs more...