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📊 PHASE 1 · CAPSTONE 🏗️ Project PROJECT P1

Phase 1 Project: Sales Analysis Dashboard

⏱️ 2–3 hours hands-on
📊 4 Chart Sheets
🖼️ 1 Final Dashboard
✅ 18 Deliverables
This is your Phase 1 capstone project. You'll apply everything from Lessons 1–5 to build a professional Sales Analysis Dashboard for a fictional retail company. The dataset is Tableau's built-in Superstore Sales data — it's already on your machine. Follow each step, build each sheet, assemble the dashboard, and check off deliverables as you go.
Module P1 of 25+ · Phase 1 Progress 24%
📋 Project Brief

The Scenario

You've just been hired as a Data Analyst at Northgate Retail Co., a US-based retail company selling Office Supplies, Furniture, and Technology products across four regions. The Sales Director wants a dashboard to answer these business questions:

❓
Which product categories generate the most revenue?
The executive team needs a clear comparison of Sales and Profit across the three main product categories.
❓
How has revenue trended month-over-month?
The CFO wants to spot seasonality, growth dips, and monthly performance against targets.
❓
Which regions are performing well — and which are lagging?
The Regional VP wants a geographic view of sales distribution across US states.
❓
What are our Top 10 best-selling products?
The merchandising team wants a ranked product list to focus inventory investment.
🎯
Your Deliverable
A single Tableau dashboard containing 4 connected visualizations — bar chart, line chart, map, and Top N chart — with a working Category filter that updates all four sheets simultaneously. The dashboard should be professional enough to present to an executive audience.
⚙️ Step 0

Connect the Dataset

The Superstore Sales dataset comes pre-installed with every Tableau Desktop installation. It contains ~10,000 retail orders with fields including Order Date, Ship Date, Customer, Region, Category, Sub-Category, Product, Sales, Quantity, Discount, and Profit.

1
Open Tableau Desktop
From the Start Page, look under "Saved Data Sources" on the left panel. Click Sample - Superstore. If you don't see it, go to Connect → Microsoft Excel → navigate to Documents/My Tableau Repository/Datasources/en_US-US/Sample - Superstore.xls
2
Explore the Data Source Page
Examine the three sheets: Orders, People, Returns. The Orders table is your primary data — it contains all sales transactions. Note the field types: dates, strings, and measures are all present.
3
Name Your Workbook
Go to File → Save As. Name it NorthgateRetail_SalesDashboard.twbx. Save it in a project folder you can find easily.
📊 Sheet 1 of 4

Sales by Category — Bar Chart

SHEET 1 · BAR CHART
Sales & Profit by Category
1
Right-click the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom → Rename → type Sales by Category
2
Drag Category to the Columns shelf
3
Drag Sales to the Rows shelf — Tableau shows SUM(Sales) as bars
4
Drag Profit to the Rows shelf (alongside Sales). Right-click Profit's axis → Dual Axis. Right-click again → Synchronize Axis
5
On the Marks card for SUM(Sales), change mark type to Bar. On Marks for SUM(Profit), change to Line — this creates a combo chart
6
Sort bars by Sales descending: right-click the Sales axis → Sort → Descending
7
Add labels: drag SUM(Sales) to the Label mark for Sales bars. Format as currency ($) by right-clicking → Format → Numbers → Currency
8
Title the sheet: double-click the title area → type Sales & Profit by Category
📈 Sheet 2 of 4

Monthly Sales Trend — Line Chart

SHEET 2 · LINE CHART
Monthly Revenue Trend
1
Click the + icon to create a new sheet. Rename it Monthly Trend
2
Right-click Order Date in the Data pane → drag to Columns. In the pop-up, choose MONTH(Order Date) — select the continuous green option (bottom half of popup)
3
Drag Sales to Rows. Tableau renders a line chart
4
Right-click anywhere on the chart → Trend Lines → Show Trend Lines. A linear trend line appears
5
Add a reference line: right-click the Sales axis → Add Reference Line → Line → Average of Table. This shows the average monthly sales as a dashed line
6
Drag Category to the Color mark. The line splits into three colored lines — one per category
7
Title: Monthly Sales Trend by Category
🗺️ Sheet 3 of 4

Regional Map — Symbol Map

SHEET 3 · SYMBOL MAP
Sales by US State
1
Create a new sheet, rename to Sales Map
2
Double-click State in the Data pane. Tableau auto-generates Latitude and Longitude and renders a US map with dots
3
Drag SUM(Sales) to the Size mark. Bubble sizes now represent sales volume
4
Drag SUM(Profit) to the Color mark. Click Color → Edit Colors → choose a diverging palette (Red-Green or Orange-Blue). Set the center to 0 so negative profit = red, positive = green
5
Drag State and SUM(Sales) to the Tooltip mark. Edit tooltip text to read: <State> — Sales: <SUM(Sales)> | Profit: <SUM(Profit)>
6
Map style: Map → Background Layers → uncheck borders you don't need. Map → Map Layers → select a clean style (Light)
7
Title: Sales & Profit by State
🏆 Sheet 4 of 4

Top 10 Products — Horizontal Bar Chart

SHEET 4 · TOP N BAR CHART
Top 10 Products by Revenue
1
Create a new sheet, rename to Top 10 Products
2
Drag Product Name to Rows. Drag SUM(Sales) to Columns
3
Sort by Sales descending: right-click the Sales axis → Sort → Descending by Field → SUM Sales
4
Filter to Top 10: drag Product Name to the Filters shelf → Top tab → By Field → Top 10 by SUM(Sales). Click OK
5
Drag SUM(Sales) to the Color mark. Apply a single-color gradient (orange to dark orange)
6
Drag SUM(Sales) to the Label mark. Format as currency
7
Title: Top 10 Products by Sales Revenue
🖼️ Dashboard Assembly

Build the Final Dashboard

With four sheets ready, it's time to assemble the dashboard. The goal: a single, clean view that answers all four business questions at once, with an interactive filter that connects all charts.

1
Create a New Dashboard
Click the dashboard icon (grid icon) at the bottom tab row, or go to Dashboard → New Dashboard. A blank canvas appears. Set size to 1200 × 800 px (Exactly) in the left panel for a desktop-optimized layout.
2
Drag Sheets to the Canvas
From the Sheets panel on the left, drag Sales by Category to the top-left quadrant. Drag Monthly Trend to the top-right. Drag Sales Map to the bottom-left. Drag Top 10 Products to the bottom-right. Each chart should occupy roughly one quadrant.
3
Add a Category Filter
Click on the Sales by Category chart. Click the dropdown arrow (▼) on the Category filter pill in the Filters shelf → Show Filter. A filter control appears on the dashboard. Right-click it → Apply to Worksheets → All Using This Data Source. Now the filter applies to all four charts simultaneously.
4
Add a Dashboard Title
From the Objects panel at the bottom-left, drag a Text object to the top of the dashboard. Type: Northgate Retail — Sales Performance Dashboard. Format with a large font (18–22pt) and bold.
5
Add Dashboard Actions (Optional Enhancement)
Go to Dashboard → Actions → Add Action → Filter. Set: Run on Select, Source = Sales Map, Target = All Sheets. Now clicking a state on the map filters all other charts to show only that state's data — a real executive dashboard feature.
6
Final Formatting
Remove chart titles that repeat the dashboard title. Adjust padding between charts (right-click a chart container → Edit Layout → check Inner Padding). Use Format → Dashboard to set a consistent background color. Hide the legend if it adds clutter.
🎉
Publish to Tableau Public
Once your dashboard is complete, publish it to your portfolio! File → Save to Tableau Public As... (requires a free Tableau Public account). Share the link on LinkedIn with a description of the insights you found. Tableau Public dashboards on your LinkedIn profile are one of the most powerful signals you can send to data analyst recruiters.
✅ Project Deliverables Checklist
Data Connection
Connected to Superstore Sales dataset
Workbook saved as .twbx with descriptive name
Explored the data — verified field types and row counts
Sheet 1 — Bar Chart
Dual-axis combo chart: bars (Sales) + line (Profit)
Bars sorted descending by Sales
Labels formatted as currency ($)
Sheet 2 — Line Chart
Continuous date axis showing monthly granularity
Trend line added and visible
Three lines colored by Category
Sheet 3 — Map
Symbol map with bubble size encoding Sales
Color encoding Profit with diverging palette (red = loss)
Tooltip shows State, Sales, and Profit on hover
Sheet 4 — Top 10
Top 10 filter applied (by SUM Sales)
Sorted descending — highest sales at top
Sales labels visible on bars
Final Dashboard
All 4 sheets assembled in a 2×2 grid layout
Category filter connected to all 4 sheets
Dashboard title added and formatted
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← Lesson 5: Basic Charts
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Phase 1 Complete — Outstanding Work!
You've built a real, professional Tableau dashboard from scratch. You've connected data, built 4 distinct visualizations, and assembled them into an interactive, filterable dashboard. Phase 2 starts now — calculated fields, LOD expressions, and intermediate analysis techniques.