1. Graphics Visualization using Tableau in Arts and Science
Carol Kavanaugh
EITAC
May 2015

2. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms
SAS, SAP IBM leaders in completeness of vision
Tableau stands out re ability to execute
BI, Analytics tools keep on getting better & better
Alteryx reports says all other vendors want to do what Tableau is doing …
Kept hearing about Tableau, free trial (90 days? Can’t remember, full support during trial
Source:

3. ASC Data in Tableau
Because ASC teaches students from all faculties, ASC needs to understand all enrolments from across Queen’s
3 public visualizations at - Course Enrolments, Degree Plan Enrolments, and Degrees Granted– also standard reports and links from
Tableau public files may be used:
Interactively in any browser, any device
Downloaded to free Tableau Reader (much like Acrobat Reader)
Printed to pdf; data (in crosstabs) downloaded/exported to Excel
Downloaded and opened in Tableau Professional, giving full analytical tools to entire dataset
Also available: Tableau Server (queensu.ca url, no data access, secure logon if desired)
Cautions re Tableau Public:
Desktop app may be more responsive than web version
If users have Tableau Professional, they can access underlying data
For now, all ASC Tableau vizzes are on public site
Eventually, files can be on secure site requiring AD logon, or shared directly with individuals
- New budget model - transparent, driven by undergrad teaching and concentrators, grad students, and space
- Model, plus phase-in, developed in consultation with ASC departments, staff, Faculty Office management group over many months and committees
- Units need to know student degree program registration, plan BIU, eligibility status of students in their classes and degree program plans
- Consistent reliable data in PS (since 2011)

4. Example on web : Explore Demographics of Students Earning Queen’s Degrees, 2000 - 2014
What ASC degree had highest % of degrees granted in 2000? _____In 2014? _____
What ASC degree(s) have increased in past 10 yrs? _____ Which one(s) have decreased? _____
What was predominant age of ASC graduates in 2000? _____ In 2014? _____ Any ideas why? ___________
Selecting 23 yr old graduates from all Queen’s degrees, what was the most popular degree granted in 2014? _____
Select ASC undergrad degrees, barchart % of total – in 2014, 50% of ASC degrees granted were BAH
Change graph to linegraph – increases in BAH, BSCH; decreases in BA, BSC, BPHE
In 2000, 49% of ASC graduates were 23; in 2014, 65% were 22; Ontario’s double cohort graduated from HS in grades 12 and 13 in 2003, affecting ASC graduates in 2007 onwards
For last bullet, select all degree levels and faculties, colour by degree granted – group by age, select 23 yrs, barchart %: 29% of graduates were in BED, 22% in BAH.

5. Example in Tableau Professional Queen’s Degrees, 2000 - 2014
Dashboard has multiple filters and worksheets
Dashboard layout: letter landscape
Parameters: display value, View, Bar Colours, Grouping
Select barchart, go to sheet
Variables are dimensions (categorical, blue) and measure (#’s, green)
Parameters are bottom left, have corresponding expressions that define relationships (example: bar colours)
Filters (gray) are applied to all sheets in this workbook
Actions (blue) define dashboard interactivity
Define for graphs: colours, labels, tooltips
Menu items: labels on/off, swap rows/cols, presentation mode
Show me to explore visualizations with data in rows and cols
Look at Tableau Professional
Also launch in Tableau Reader (free) – then Worksheet, Copy Data (then paste into Excel); copy crosstab; Export data goes to .mdb (but no data?)

6. User Experiences and Comments
Josh Mozersky, Philosophy –
“First, it is a very useful service, with even more potential. I really like to be able to break the data down in various ways, so kudos on what has been accomplished so far!
Secondly, […] I would like to be able to get a detailed picture of how a given student weaves into and out of our courses over four years so I can get a sense of what draws the most students, what drives the most students away.”
Sara Montgomery, IRP – “That degrees awarded viz is amazing! Great job! I’m glad that Carol has pulled these together – very helpful to visualize all this information!”
David Youssef, CDS – “Great work, Carol! You have managed to pull the complex PS data and put it in a safe friendly usable environment for users to get information they need. This is great when we are exploring targeting a specific group of students.”
Bev King, CDS – “This looks good. I like the three years—to see if a certain drop rate for a certain course is an anomaly or normal.  How do I get the data for all 6.0 unit first year courses and then put the data into a spreadsheet and calculate percentage drops?
Steve Tanner, ASC Faculty Office
– likes Tableau’s “colour blind” palette –
(7-10% of men are colour blind!)
Tableau is extremely powerful, easy to use, implement
Some training/practice is needed to understand the power (eg filtering, layout)
Excellent customer support!
Great way to see data anomalies!
Would be great to have others at Queen’s to learn/share best practices, how to leverage Queen’s data
Users need guidance accessing the specifics of their interests – eg department, courses, concentrators
Other users - Shelley King, John Pierce, English; Jill Atkinson, Darryl Wilson, Psychology; Sara Montgomery hasn’t had time to do much with Tableau, but she has purchase Tableau Desktop Professional.
Josh request – cohort tracking … Eg. take a course, say PHIL 115 in a given year, and find out what percentage of those students took another philosophy course?  Or, inversely, take a second year course, such as PHIL 204, and find out how many of them came from PHIL 111, 115, 157, etc?

7. Examples of Tableau in Higher Education
DePaul University, John Boeckenstedt, Associate VP Enrollment Management and Marketing
Institutional Research & Market Analytics
- scroll down for Public Resources
Restricted access workbooks:
In 2013, John had used Tableau for about 7 years
Many Tableau users and developers at DePaul U
Cornell University, Marin Clarkberg, Director of Institutional Research and Planning
University Factbook
Secure access workbooks (no link TO these, login required): and
In 2014, Cornell’s IRP group had 3 heavy Tableau developers, plus 2 more “dabblers” (including Marin), also others on campus; IRP were not the “starters”
Data source: frozen file in data mart, from PS Student
Most mature sites use Tableau Public Server with University URL, website “look and feel”
- John and Marin have been very helpful to me

8. Tableau Higher Education Resources
Tableau Higher Education User Group -
Higher Ed links at Cornell (no link TO this):
2014 Tableau user conference presentations -
Transforming the University Factbook at Cornell
Program Assessment at Purdue University
Piloting Tableau at the University of Washington
Projecting Operating Costs for New Buildings at University of Texas, Austin
How Universities are Making an Impact With Data
USING TABLEAU TO SEE DATA IN NEW WAYS
It often seems that we are awash in data—but how is this data turned into insight to allow analysts and nondata minds alike to “see” what story the data is telling? Through a collaboration between Information Services and Enrollment Management and Marketing (EM&M), Tableau has become one of DePaul’s more promising solutions.
Tableau is the leading provider of fast analytics and data visualization software. Built on a solid foundation of the science of data visualization, this software provides analysts an opportunity to use complex data sets and create visuals that go beyond just presenting information to help us think about something. It is a tool that can also put the power of analytics into the end-users hands and allow them to slice the data as they need it.
I would welcome more Queen’s users/developers!
Our investment has been very modest – 1 Pro license, plus training & conferences to keep on learning; we tried Tableau Server for a month or so (great support), but we’re not ready to go there yet, but we could see using 1 or a few licenses on a Server license.