Major Exam Domains

The exam covers six major domains. Each domain represents a set of skills you need to demonstrate proficiency in. The domain grid below gives you a quick reference, with detailed breakdowns following.

Domain 1: Connecting to and Preparing Data

This domain covers establishing and managing data connections effectively. You must understand the various data source types Tableau supports and the practical considerations for choosing connection methods.

When connecting to databases, you navigate through the Connect pane, selecting the appropriate connector. Authentication methods vary, including username/password, single sign-on, or OAuth. Once connected, you select databases, schemas, and tables for analysis.

The data source page provides a workspace for preparing data before visualizing. The physical layer shows tables and how they relate through joins or unions. The logical layer represents tables as logical entities that combine through relationships, a newer feature providing more flexible data modeling.

Joins and Unions

Joins combine tables horizontally by matching rows based on common fields. Inner joins return only matching rows from both tables. Left joins return all rows from the left table and matching rows from the right. Right joins do the opposite. Full outer joins return all rows from both tables, matching where possible. Understanding when each join type is appropriate and how joins affect the resulting dataset is essential.

Unions combine tables vertically by stacking rows from tables with similar structures. This is useful when data is partitioned across multiple tables, such as monthly sales files combined for annual analysis. Tableau supports manual unions and wildcard unions that automatically include tables matching a naming pattern.

Data Preparation and Cleaning

The Data Interpreter feature automatically detects and removes formatting irregularities in Excel files, such as header rows and summary information. Field splitting separates single fields into multiple components, like splitting a full name into first and last names. Pivoting transforms column headers into row values, converting wide data into tall data suitable for analysis.

Data types must be correctly assigned. Tableau automatically detects types but sometimes requires manual correction. String fields contain text. Numbers support mathematical operations. Date and datetime fields enable time-based analysis. Boolean fields contain true/false values. Geographic fields enable mapping when Tableau recognizes location information.

Field roles distinguish between dimensions and measures. Tableau automatically assigns roles based on data type, treating text and dates as dimensions and numbers as measures. You can override these assignments when the default doesn't match analytical intent, such as converting a numeric postal code to a dimension since it represents a category rather than a quantity to aggregate.

Extracts and Refresh

Extracts are optimized snapshots stored in Tableau's hyper format. Creating an extract improves performance by loading data into memory and preprocessing aggregations. Extract filters reduce extract size by excluding unnecessary data. Aggregate extracts to visible dimensions pre-aggregate data to the level needed, further improving performance.

Refresh schedules keep extract data current. Full refreshes replace all data. Incremental refreshes add new rows based on a date or datetime field, reducing refresh time for large datasets.

Domain 2: Understanding the Tableau Interface and Terminology

Mastery requires fluency with interface components and specific terminology. The start page provides quick access to recent workbooks, sample workbooks, and connection options. The data pane organizes fields, with dimensions shown in blue above the line and measures in green below.

Shelves are drop zones where you place fields. The Columns shelf controls horizontal layout, Rows shelf controls vertical layout. Together they define the basic structure. The Marks card is context-sensitive, containing mark type dropdown, Color, Size, Label, Detail, and Tooltip controls.

The Filters shelf contains fields that restrict data. Filters configure differently based on field type. Dimension filters might show value lists, wildcards, or conditions. Measure filters use range conditions. The Pages shelf creates sequences based on a dimension, commonly date, enabling animation.

The Analytics pane provides reference lines, trend lines, forecasting, and distribution bands. Cards are movable panels: Filters card, Marks card, Pages card. The Show Me panel displays compatible visualization thumbnails. Worksheets, dashboards, and stories are the three object types, appearing as tabs at the bottom.

Domain 3: Creating and Modifying Visualizations

Creating effective visualizations is the core competency. Bar charts compare quantities across categories. Horizontal bars work well with long category names. Stacked bars show part-to-whole relationships. Side-by-side bars compare categories across multiple measures.

Line charts display trends over time. Multiple lines enable comparison. Dual-axis charts combine measures with different scales — use carefully to avoid misleading viewers. Scatter plots reveal relationships between two measures. Maps visualize geographic data with built-in geocoding for standard entities. Symbol maps place marks at locations. Filled maps color entire areas. Density maps show concentrations.

Heat maps use color intensity across two dimensions. Tree maps display hierarchical data with nested rectangles. Text tables display tabular data. Highlight tables add color encoding. Histograms show distribution of a continuous measure. Box plots summarize distribution with quartiles and outliers. Gantt charts display duration across time.

Modifying Visualizations

Changing mark types, adjusting colors, sizing marks, adding labels, configuring tooltips. The mark type dropdown provides options appropriate for the current visualization. Automatic mode lets Tableau select the best mark type, but you can override.

Color encoding can be discrete or continuous. Color palettes are customizable — consider color blindness accessibility. Size encoding scales marks based on measure values. Label encoding displays values or custom text. Tooltip encoding controls hover information and can include embedded visualizations (viz in tooltip).

Sorting changes dimension member order. Manual sorting lets you drag items. Computed sorting arranges by measure value. Grouping combines dimension members into higher-level categories. Hierarchies organize related dimensions into drill-down structures like country → state → city or year → quarter → month.

Domain 4: Working with Calculations

Calculations extend analytical capabilities by creating new fields. Calculated fields use Tableau's formula language, resembling Excel formulas but with Tableau-specific functions.

Function Categories

Basic arithmetic: Combine measures using operators. Example: profit margin by dividing profit by sales.

String functions: Manipulate text. UPPER, LOWER, LEFT, RIGHT, MID, CONTAINS, SPLIT.

Date functions: Extract components or perform date arithmetic. YEAR, MONTH, DAY, DATEADD, DATEDIFF, TODAY.

Logical functions: Conditional logic. IF statements, CASE statements, IIF shorthand.

Aggregation functions: SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX, COUNT, COUNTD, MEDIAN.

Table Calculations

Table calculations perform computations on values already in the visualization rather than querying the data source. Running total accumulates values. Percent of total shows contribution to whole. Difference and percent difference compare to previous/next values. Moving average smooths data over a sliding window. These depend on visualization structure and update dynamically with interaction.

Quick table calculations provide pre-built options from the field menu. You select calculation type and computation direction — along rows, down columns, or across specific dimensions.

Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions

LOD expressions compute aggregations at different granularities than the visualization. FIXED computes at specified dimensions regardless of view granularity. INCLUDE adds dimensions to view granularity for calculation. EXCLUDE removes dimensions from view granularity. LOD expressions solve complex problems like calculating averages of averages or comparing individual values to category averages.

Domain 5: Applying Filters

Filtering focuses analysis on relevant data. Dimension filters restrict which dimension members appear. Options include value lists, wildcard matching, condition filters, and top/bottom N filters. Measure filters apply numerical ranges. Date filters offer specialized options: relative dates, date ranges, discrete date parts, continuous dates.

Filter Order of Operations

This is critical. Filters apply in a specific sequence:

1. Extract filters (when creating extract)
2. Data source filters (apply to all worksheets)
3. Context filters (applied before others, establish context)
4. Dimension filters
5. Measure filters
6. Table calculation filters (applied last, on values in view)

Context affects filter dependencies. When one filter depends on another, setting the independent filter as context ensures it applies first. Context filters also improve performance by reducing dataset size before other filters evaluate.

Filter controls on dashboards enable user interaction. Types include single value lists, dropdowns, sliders, wildcard searches. Filter actions create interactivity where selecting marks in one visualization filters others. Only relevant values mode restricts filter lists to members that exist given other filters.

Domain 6: Building Dashboards and Sharing

Dashboards combine visualizations into unified views. Creation starts with the new dashboard command. The layout pane shows available worksheets and objects. Users drag worksheets onto the canvas. Multiple layouts enable responsive design.

Dashboard objects include worksheets, text boxes, images, web content, navigation buttons, blank spacers. Layout containers organize objects: horizontal (left-right), vertical (top-bottom), nested for complex grids. Containers can be floating (free positioning) or tiled (auto-fit).

Sizing options: fixed, automatic, range, entire view (may distort), fit width/height (maintain aspect ratio). Dashboard actions: filter actions (mark selection filters other sheets), highlight actions (selected marks stand out), URL actions (open web pages with parameters), navigation actions (jump to other dashboards/stories).

Device layouts create optimized versions for desktop, tablet, phone. The device designer previews and allows layout adjustments per device. Dashboard extensions add functionality beyond native capabilities.

Sharing and Publishing

Exporting: images (PNG/JPEG), PDF, PowerPoint, crosstab to Excel, data to CSV. Packaged workbooks (.twbx) bundle workbook and local data sources. Publishing to Tableau Server/Cloud makes visualizations accessible via browser. Data source publishing shares prepared sources separately, promoting consistency. Permissions control view, interact, edit access. Row-level security restricts data rows by user identity.

Refresh schedules keep published extracts current. Subscriptions deliver visualizations via email on schedule. Alerts notify when data meets conditions.