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Tableau Prep Cookbook

Tableau Prep Cookbook

By : Kleine
4.7 (10)
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Tableau Prep Cookbook

Tableau Prep Cookbook

4.7 (10)
By: Kleine

Overview of this book

Tableau Prep is a tool in the Tableau software suite, created specifically to develop data pipelines. This book will describe, in detail, a variety of scenarios that you can apply in your environment for developing, publishing, and maintaining complex Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) data pipelines. The book starts by showing you how to set up Tableau Prep Builder. You’ll learn how to obtain data from various data sources, including files, databases, and Tableau Extracts. Next, the book demonstrates how to perform data cleaning and data aggregation in Tableau Prep Builder. You’ll also gain an understanding of Tableau Prep Builder and how you can leverage it to create data pipelines that prepare your data for downstream analytics processes, including reporting and dashboard creation in Tableau. As part of a Tableau Prep flow, you’ll also explore how to use R and Python to implement data science components inside a data pipeline. In the final chapter, you’ll apply the knowledge you’ve gained to build two use cases from scratch, including a data flow for a retail store to prepare a robust dataset using multiple disparate sources and a data flow for a call center to perform ad hoc data analysis. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to create, run, and publish Tableau Prep flows and implement solutions to common problems in data pipelines.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)
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Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
Reviews
1
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Tableau Prep
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Tableau Prep
Technical requirements
Installing Tableau Prep Builder
Checking out the user interface
Using Tableau Prep for ad hoc data analysis
Preparing data for generic BI tools
Preparing data for Tableau Desktop ad hoc analysis
Free Chapter
2
Chapter 2: Extract and Load Processes
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Chapter 2: Extract and Load Processes
Technical requirements
Connecting to text and Excel files
Connecting to PDF files
Connecting to SAS, SPSS, and R files
Connecting to on-premises databases
Connecting to cloud databases
Connecting to Tableau extracts
Connecting to JDBC or ODBC data sources
Writing data to CSV and Hyper files
Writing data to databases
Setting up an incremental refresh
Publishing a flow to Tableau Server
3
Chapter 3: Cleaning Transformations
Chapter 3: Cleaning Transformations
Technical requirements
Renaming columns
Filtering your dataset
Changing data types
Auto-validating data
Validating data with a custom reference list
Splitting fields with multiple values
4
Chapter 4: Data Aggregation
Chapter 4: Data Aggregation
Technical requirements
Determining granularity
Aggregating values
Using fixed LOD calculations for grouping data
Grouping data
5
Chapter 5: Combining Data
Chapter 5: Combining Data
Technical requirements
Combining data with Union
Combining data ingest and Union actions
Combining datasets using an inner join
Combining datasets using a left or right join
Expanding datasets using a full outer join
Expanding datasets using a not inner join
6
Chapter 6: Pivoting Data
Chapter 6: Pivoting Data
Technical requirements
Pivoting columns to rows
Pivoting columns to rows using wildcards
Pivoting rows to columns
7
Chapter 7: Creating Powerful Calculations
Chapter 7: Creating Powerful Calculations
Technical requirements
Creating calculated fields
Creating conditional calculations
Extracting substrings
Changing date formats with calculations
Creating relative temporal calculations
Creating regular expressions in calculations
8
Chapter 8: Data Science in Tableau Prep Builder
Chapter 8: Data Science in Tableau Prep Builder
Technical requirements
Preparing Tableau Prep to work with R
Embedding R code in a Tableau Prep flow
Forecasting time series using R
Preparing Tableau Prep to work with Python
Embedding Python code in a Tableau Prep flow
9
Chapter 9: Creating Prep Flows in Various Business Scenarios
Chapter 9: Creating Prep Flows in Various Business Scenarios
Technical requirements
Creating a flow for transaction analytics
Creating a call center flow for instant analysis
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Connecting to PDF files

In this recipe, we'll connect to a PDF file containing text and a table with data. Tableau Prep has an exciting feature that can automatically detect the presence of tables in PDF files and extract the data for you.

Getting ready

To follow along with the recipe, download the Sample Files 2.2 folder from the book's GitHub repository.

How to do it…

To get started, ensure you have the sample PDF file ready on your computer, and open Tableau Prep Builder:

  1. Tableau Prep Builder will not show us the entire PDF document, so it's best to open it in a PDF viewer and review what data we want to extract from our PDF. In our example document here, we have a single table and so we expect a table in Tableau Prep with the headers Department and Amount:
    Figure 2.14 – Sample PDF file with a table embedded in it

    Figure 2.14 – Sample PDF file with a table embedded in it

  2. In Tableau Prep Builder, select the Connect to Data button, followed by PDF file to open the file browse dialog and select our sample PDF file, Sales Summary.pdf:
    Figure 2.15 – Select PDF file from the Connect pane

    Figure 2.15 – Select PDF file from the Connect pane

  3. Once connected, Tableau Prep Builder will automatically detect the tables within the PDF file. In our sample, we can see the Department and Amount fields coming through as expected:

    Figure 2.16 – PDF tables are automatically extracted

    Figure 2.16 – PDF tables are automatically extracted

  4. Each table is listed separately in the Tables part of the Connections pane to the left. This allows you to digest PDF files with multiple tables within them just as easily. The name of the table is automatically generated and refers to the page number in the PDF file and its position on the page:
Figure 2.17 – Tableau Prep can detect multiple tables in a single PDF file

Figure 2.17 – Tableau Prep can detect multiple tables in a single PDF file

In this recipe, you have learned how to connect to PDF files and extract data for processing in Tableau Prep.

How it works…

Tableau Prep converts each table in a PDF document into a data table when ingesting the file into a new flow. As such, Tableau Prep removes the complexity of parsing PDF documents and allows you to treat this like any other data connection.

End of Section 4
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