Working with Steps in Tableau Prep Builder

IN THIS COURSE

• 1.  Adding Clean steps
  5m 16s
  Once the input step in your flow has been defined and your source connected, you can start cleaning and configuring the data that has been brought in to Tableau Prep Builder. Clean steps can be used to perform a number of clean-up operations, including merging fields, renaming data values, and converting invalid data to null values. FREE ACCESS
• 2.  Managing fields
  4m 30s
  Tableau Prep Builder gives you a whole suite of tools to prepare, clean, and configure your data, but to do this control over fields and their properties is crucial. You can rename fields without changing the original source file, duplicate fields if you want to experiment with clean-up actions, and use different views to visualize your field properties and changes that you have made to the data. FREE ACCESS
• 3.  Organizing flows
  4m 49s
  Data in Tableau Prep Builder is edited, cleaned, and controlled using steps. Steps are the building blocks of your flow, and can be used to perform a huge number of actions, including configuring and preparing the source connection, unioning and pivoting fields, and cleaning and joining data. See how to add and edit steps, copy steps in your flow, and change your step properties, such as its name, description, and even color. FREE ACCESS
• 4.  Reorganizing your flow layout
  3m 7s
  Tableau Prep Builder offers a standard layout, with each default flow laid out and processed from left to right. On the left of the canvas, you'll find your Input steps, and on the right your Output steps. As you add steps and build your flow, you'll need to how to navigate through your data operations using the Flow pane and the Flow Navigator, select and move the steps you have added, and keep track of your fields from step to step. FREE ACCESS
• 5.  Filtering data
  3m 52s
  Filtering is a key tool in cleaning up data and can help you control and refine the dataset that you are working with. Filtering can be performed at numerous points and steps in your flow, from the Input step onwards. See how to use one-click filtering, filter on selected values in a step or remove null values quickly, and remove filters that are no longer required. FREE ACCESS
• 6.  Using advanced filter options
  6m
  Tableau Prep Builder offers a number of more advanced filter tools to help you focus on the data that matters to you. You can filter to specific data ranges or set minimum or maximum values, use relative date filters, set up wildcard filters, and even build your own calculated filters using arguments and calculations. FREE ACCESS
• 7.  Joining data
  4m 20s
  Sometimes you will need to use data spread across multiple related tables. To do this, you can use Tableau Prep Builder to implement data joins, effectively links that combine data in a single table. This is a great step to use early on when working with data in your flow, but for joins to work properly, you need to make sure that you are working data of the same type. FREE ACCESS
• 8.  Working with unions
  5m 21s
  Unions are a useful tool for combining data from multiple data sources or tables. A union works by appending data from one table onto another table, which is useful if the data you want to work with is spread across multiple locations in a piecemeal fashion, such as multiple Excel worksheets in the same workbook or CSV files stored in the same location. To get the most out of unions, unioned tables need to have an identical structure, with the same number of fields, the same field names, and the same data types. Tableau Prep Builder's Union step can, however, help you to fix mismatched fields once the operation is underway. FREE ACCESS
• 9.  Pivoting data
  4m 17s
  You can use the Pivot tools in Tableau Prep to change the data structure in your flow. The standard Pivot operation in Tableau Prep Builder is a columns-to-rows pivot, which is useful for converting "wide" datasets to "tall" datasets. A pivot can be inserted as a fresh step in your flow or prepared as part of the clean-up operations in a Clean step. FREE ACCESS
• 10.  Pivoting data with wildcard searches
  2m 26s
  If you are working with extremely large datasets or sources that are changing frequently over time, you can create a pivot operation using a wildcard search. This can be very useful if data is constantly and regularly being added to your source, as rather than recreating the pivot operation each time it is updated, you can use a wildcard pivot and just refresh your data connection. FREE ACCESS
• 11.  Pivoting rows to columns
  3m 39s
  Although the typical pivot operation in Tableau Prep Builder is a columns-to-rows pivot, pivoting rows to columns is also possible, and allows a user to convert "tall" data to "wide" data. This is sometimes referred to as "unpivoting" fields, and can be very useful in situations where data is highly normalized, perhaps where data has been structured to simplify data entry and storage with key-value pairs, or contains multiple data values and types that would work better separated out and structured across multiple columns. FREE ACCESS