Data

Posts on Data

(No Tableau posts included here)

• Why SaaS Prices Are Increasing, and Will Continue To
  As a rule of thumb, I’ve been trying to build MergeYourData.com’s policies around things I did and didn’t like while having corporate jobs
• Warning: The bottom 50% of BI devs will be on the chopping block
  As a rule of thumb, I’ve been trying to build MergeYourData.com’s policies around things I did and didn’t like while having corporate jobs
• Top 5 New Features in Tableau Desktop 2022.2
  Woah, big Tableau release in mid-2022! I’m going to do a video walk-through for 2022.2 and a brief text summary below.
• Quick Tip: Create calculated fields from table calculations with drag and drop
  This one is great for advanced developers and beginners alike. It’s a fast way to create a table calculation Calculated Field without having to actually think about it.
• Torn between remote work and hybrid for my business
  As a rule of thumb, I’ve been trying to build MergeYourData.com’s policies around things I did and didn’t like while having corporate jobs
• Top 3 New Features in Tableau Desktop 2022.1
  New year, new Tableau release! I’m going to do a video walk-through for 2022.1 and a brief text summary below.
• Quick Tip: Refit Clusters after refreshing extracts on Tableau Desktop
  Ever make a saved cluster in Tableau, only to have it disappear when you refresh data? Learn how to fix it fast!
• Tableau 2021.4 top new features
  Like the last time I walked through the top new features (for 2021.2), I’m going to do a video walk-through for 2021.4 and a brief text summary below. Walk-through video Summary of top features Tableau Desktop and Web Editing 1. Copy and Paste in Dashboards… Read more: Tableau 2021.4 top new features
• Bad bookmark behavior – an inside look at a personal habit
  Click here to jump straight to the dashboard Some people are normal when it comes to saving things they care about. Some people have problems physically hoarding objects that link them to past memories. But me… I have problems with digital hoarding. It’s probably related… Read more: Bad bookmark behavior – an inside look at a personal habit
• Game-changing features in Tableau Online 2021.2
  I’m going to try a little different format for this post. Instead of mostly text, I did a walk-through video of the new features. There’s still a summary of the best new Tableau Online features in 2021.2 below, and some additional information I didn’t cover… Read more: Game-changing features in Tableau Online 2021.2
• Quick Tip: How to develop more efficiently with big data sets Tableau Desktop
  If so, you’ve come across frequent loading screens when you switch dashboards or worksheets. This is when Tableau is querying the data source again to grab the most up-to-date data.
• Quick Tip: The MAKEDATE Function in Tableau Desktop
  Have you ever had a pesky data set in Tableau that has Year, Quarter, Month, Day, Minutes as separate fields? Let’s fix that.
• Quick Tip: Hide the Null indicator in Tableau Desktop when you don’t want to filter the data
  Let’s say you want to leave everything as-is, but don’t want to have that ugly NULL bubble in the bottom right corner of your worksheet view. The way you can do that is LITERALLY THE EASIEST THING EVER.
• The hardest part about making dashboards for Tableau Public
  Tableau Public is great. It’s a free option for data visualization developers to publish their Tableau work for the world to see. No matter if you’re a fresh, new developer or a seasoned expert. Publishing to Tableau Public is great because it does a few… Read more: The hardest part about making dashboards for Tableau Public
• Fails to Deliver and GameStop – A Look Inside
  Note: Like what you see? I’m available for contract work! Reach out to me (407-906-6902) if you have an analytics project you’re looking to complete! Click here to jump straight to the dashboard You probably haven’t heard anything about GameStop in the past few years.… Read more: Fails to Deliver and GameStop – A Look Inside
• My Top 5 Quick Tips for Speeding Up Development in Tableau Desktop
  What are some ways that a Tableau developer can hop into the next echelon of skill? I’ve compiled five of my favorite quick tips to speed up your workflow.
• 2020 Presidential Election: Florida early and mail-in voting participation
  Election day is closing in! Let’s take a look at one of the swing states current voting stats: Florida. Florida releases early voting and mail-in voting statistics on their Division of Elections site. I used that data to build a visualization of current trends. I’d… Read more: 2020 Presidential Election: Florida early and mail-in voting participation
• Twitter still hasn’t unlocked the New York Post’s account
  Then one must ask, why is the New York Post’s Twitter account still locked?
• What could the polls be missing in this Presidential election?
  Recently I wrote an article on the New York Post’s Twitter account still being locked. This is still the case, and it made me brainstorm many other topics associated with elections . This thinking session brought up the topic of polls and predictions. How accurate… Read more: What could the polls be missing in this Presidential election?
• Quick Tip: Filtering and Searching in Tableau’s Data Pane
  Did you know that Tableau has the option to filter the data pane by field types on top of just their names? As of 2020.3 you can filter your searches by 4 different queries: C:, M:, D:, and F:.
• Some awesome new features announced at Tableau Conference-ish 2020
  This post will be relatively short. There were a few announcements at Tableau Conference-ish over the first couple days that are a huge deal for Tableau Desktop developers. These new feature announcements are certainly not exhaustive but are in my opinion, the highest impact. Big… Read more: Some awesome new features announced at Tableau Conference-ish 2020
• Quick Tip: Create and use custom color palettes in Tableau
  Looking to speed up your dashboard development and add a personal touch to your dashboards? I’ve got a quick and easy tip for you. Make your own custom color palettes! Tableau Desktop allows you to modify the preferences file (found under My Tableau Repository and… Read more: Quick Tip: Create and use custom color palettes in Tableau
• Fixing Empty Spaces in Tableau’s Layout Containers: Part Two
  You might’ve come across my previous post about fixing empty layout containers in Tableau. That post was about fixing a specific bug when everything else is configured correctly. This post is about a few common configuration issues that are usually the issue (before encountering the… Read more: Fixing Empty Spaces in Tableau’s Layout Containers: Part Two
• Quick Tip: Use the SIGN() function in Tableau for easy color indicators
  If you’ve ever developed KPIs or BANs on a Tableau dashboard, there’s a chance you’ve also implemented color indicators for those numbers. Green being good, red being bad, and gray being neutral. This color indicator might also exist in your bar charts to show YoY […]

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• Top 5 Quick Tips for Better Tableau Dashboard Performance
  There are hundreds of blog posts, articles, and checklists about improving Tableau dashboard performance. I personally don’t like reading through lengthy posts, watching long videos, or drilling through checklists just to have a list of 100 things to check. So I’ve compiled the five most […]

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• Where Did PPP Loans Go? Taking a Deeper Dive.
  Recently, I published a dashboard that took a broad look at PPP loan data. Over the past few weeks, I looked deeper into that data set in order to pull more interesting findings from it. Before you take a look, here are the most significant […]

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• Top 5 Most Impactful Tableau Server 2020.3 Features
  Recently I made a post on the 5 most impactful Tableau Desktop features released in 2020.3. Now it’s time for Tableau Server! Tableau released 20 new features for Tableau Server. Most of these features are also applicable to Tableau Online as well (if you were […]

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• Top 5 Most Impactful Tableau Desktop 2020.3 Features
  Tableau released 2020.3 on August 12th, 2020 with 12 new features for Tableau Desktop. All are useful, but these are the 5 that will have the most impact on developers’ workflow and capabilities in my opinion when creating dashboards. I’ve ranked them in the order […]

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• Looking at PPP Loan Data – A Visualization
  $667 billion dollars were set aside in 2020 for businesses across the US. This program was called the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP for short). It was meant to be a stimulus package to hold over businesses who were impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns. Without revenue streams, […]

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• How Are Your (Tableau) Relationships?
  Not your personal relationships! Although I do hope those are going well for you. I’m talking about Tableau Desktop’s new feature in 2020.2. This is an important one. For both experienced data analysts/scientists and new beginners. The implications of this new feature will impact the […]

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• The Most Important Tableau Concept Of All
  I don’t care what anyone else says when it comes to the most important Tableau concept. Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh… but for me, there is one that trumps all. This concept drives every single calculation and visualization on a dashboard. If a developer… Read more: The Most Important Tableau Concept Of All
• My Top Upcoming Tableau Features in 2020
  Have you ever seen the Tableau Coming Soon page? If not, you should check it out. It gives you a good idea of where Tableau is focusing their efforts and the direction of the platform. As someone who works with many products within Tableau’s platform,… Read more: My Top Upcoming Tableau Features in 2020
• Making a Direct CSV Download Button For Tableau Server
  So if you want to give an easy, 1-click option, you can add a button with a link. This can be configured to download specific worksheet data or the full data set. For this demo we’re just going show how to download the whole data set.
• Why Tableau Metrics Is a Game Changer
  With the release of Tableau 2020.2, the Metrics feature was released. And it’s one of the biggest impact changes implemented this year.

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• My Biggest Tableau Desktop Headaches (and Probably Yours Too)
  I love Tableau. It’s my hammer that makes everything look like a nail. No it’s not right for everything, but it can do a lot of things really well once you know how to use it. And because of this loving relationship, I also know […]

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• Data Visualization is Not Even 25% of the Work
  I’m a Data Visualization specialist at this point in my career, and I’ll tell you an unpopular opinion… The visualization part of data projects really isn’t the hardest part of the project, it’s not the most important, and it’s the least time consuming.
• Fixing Empty Spaces in Tableau’s Layout Containers
  UPDATE: I’ve made an additional post highlighting some common ways to fix empty spaces in Tableau’s layout containers: Fixing Empty Spaces in Tableau’s Layout Containers: Part Two If you’ve been using Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public to design workbooks, there’s an issue you most likely… Read more: Fixing Empty Spaces in Tableau’s Layout Containers

Pages on Data

Analyzing Stocks – Will be back soon, making updates to automate this

This page holds my stock buys and sells based on an algorithm I’m putting to the test.