Tableau Data Preparation Checklist Before Building Dashboards
Prepare data so dashboards are right the first time.
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[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it.
Create a data preparation checklist for Tableau. Data sources and their owners: [SOURCES]. Known issues (duplicates, missing values, inconsistent names, time zones): [ISSUES]. The questions the dashboard must answer: [QUESTIONS]. Test before design. Table with Check, How to test, Pass condition, Result and Owner, with at least twelve rows: grain of each table, key uniqueness, join row counts, null counts by column, date range completeness (no missing days), duplicate records, outliers, category spelling, currency and unit consistency, time zone, and totals against a trusted report within a stated tolerance. Worked join test: orders 1,000 rows joined to customers 1,000 rows should remain 1,000; 1,240 means duplicates. Worked failed check: the customer table has 18,402 rows but 18,150 distinct customer IDs, so 252 duplicates will inflate counts in any join; find them, decide which record to keep, and agree with the data owner. A clean extract can still be wrong if the source logic is wrong, so involve the business owner in confirming definitions. Repeat the checks whenever the source changes. Provide a data dictionary table (Field, Meaning, Allowed values, Owner), a sign-off template for the data owner, and a record of the data version used. Mark steps that depend on plan, version or configuration [VERIFY].
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