Problem Set 2: Introduction to Tableau

Link to the description of the supermarket sales data available in the Supermarket Sales Data Overview.

Part 0: Before You Begin

If you are still on the 14-day free trial, you will need to apply for your 1-year academic license through the Tableau for students site. After you register, you will receive your product activation key.

Part 1: Getting started with Tableau

Open Tableau and connect to the Supermarket Sales Data (supermarket_sales.csv).

Answer the following questions using information on the Start Page, Data Source Page, and by opening a new Worksheet/Workspace.

  1. Describe your steps in connecting to the data.

  2. Describe the dataset.

    • What type of data is supermarket_sales.csv?

    • How many sheets are included in supermarket_sales.csv?

    • How many data fields are included in supermarket_sales.csv?

    • What is the type of the variable City?

    • What is the type of the variable Total?

  3. Describe the elements of the dataset.

    • What is the role of the variable City?

    • What is the role of the variable Total?

Part 2: Data visualizations with Tableau

  1. Create a data visualization that shows total spending by city. Make sure to include a useful title and ensure that axes labels are easy to read and informative.

  2. Write a paragraph that discusses the figure created in Question 4. If you were presenting this to the regional manager, how might they use this information to increase sales?

  3. Create a data visualization that shows total spending by city and by gender. Make sure to include a useful title and ensure that axes labels are easy to read and informative.

  4. Write a paragraph that discusses the figure created in Question 6. If you were presenting this to the regional manager, how might they use this information to increase sales?

Save your workbook and publish your visualizations to your Tableau Public site. Follow these instructions to connect your Tableau Desktop to your Tableau Public account.

Part 3: Applying the D3M Process to Tableau

In this section, you will apply the Data-Driven Decision-Making (D3M) process to analyze the Supermarket Sales data in Tableau.

Your goal is to determine staffing needs at each branch based on sales trends and department-level insights. Follow the D3M framework to guide your analysis:

Step 1: Define the Objective

Choose one of the following objectives to answer using Tableau:

Option 1: Identify Peak and Low Sales Times

Question: What times of day have the highest and lowest total sales?

Option 2: Compare Peak Sales Hours Across Branches

Question: Are there differences in peak sales hours across the three store branches?

Option 3: Department Sales Breakdown in Yangon

Question: How do sales differ across departments in Yangon?

Step 2: Establish a Hypothesis

Before conducting the analysis, write down what you expect to find (i.e., write down your hypothesis). Consider the following:

  • Do you expect sales to peak at certain times of the day or week?
  • Do you expect different store branches to have unique sales patterns that require customized staffing?
  • Do you expect departments to have different staffing needs based on sales volume and timing?

Step 3: Collect and Explore the Data

Describe what elements of your dataset you will use to test your hypothesis and answer your question. Recall that your dataset includes:

  • Transaction timestamps to analyze sales trends by time and day.
  • Branch locations to compare sales patterns across stores.
  • Product categories to group sales into departments.

Use Tableau to and organize the data before building visualizations.

Step 4: Analyze and Visualize

Create a data visualization that you will show to the regional manager to provide data-driven insights to help them optimize their staffing needs. For each question, consider the following:

  • Option 1: Create a line or bar chart to visualize sales by hour.
  • Option 2: Create a comparative visualization, such as a line chart depicting sales over time for each branch.
  • Option 3: Create a bar chart to compare total sales by department.

Your visualization should include a clear title, proper formatting, and annotations to explain insights. Be sure to save your visualization to a worksheet with an appropriate name.

Step 5: Interpret and Apply Insights

  • Explain how your insights gathered from creating the data visualization would inform staffing needs.

Step 6: Communicate Insights

Summarize your key findings and provide actionable staffing recommendations based on your analysis. Consider: - What adjustments should store managers make to staffing schedules? - How do differences between branches and departments impact resource allocation?

Use annotations in Tableau to communicate these insights clearly in your final dashboard.

Save your workbook and publish your visualizations to your Tableau Public site.

How to Submit

  1. Create a Webpage on Your Google Site:
  • Title the new webpage Problem Set 2.
  1. Include the Following Content:
  • Provide responses to Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the problem set, including paragraphs that describe your visualizations.
  • Copy the embed code generated for your visualization in Tableau Public to embed the corresponding figures directly onto your PS2 Google webpage. The video below goes through these steps.
  1. Submit the Link to Your Google Site Page:
  • Copy the URL of your Google Site webpage for Problem Set 2.
  • Submit this link via Canvas.