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Graphics Visualization using Tableau in Arts and Science

Carol Kavanaugh

EITACMay 2015

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Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms

SAS, SAP IBM leaders in completeness of vision

Tableau stands out re ability to execute

Source: http://pages.alteryx.com/Gartner-Magic-Quadrant-BI-Analytics-Report-E.html

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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 https://public.tableau.com/profile/carol.kavanaugh#! - Course Enrolments, Degree Plan

Enrolments, and Degrees Granted– also standard reports and links from http://www.queensu.ca/artsci/staff-and-faculty/reports/student-counts

• 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

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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? _____

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Example in Tableau ProfessionalQueen’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 defined @ 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

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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!)- http://www.colour-blindness.com/general/prevalence/

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Examples of Tableau in Higher Education

DePaul University, John Boeckenstedt, Associate VP Enrollment Management and Marketing

• Institutional Research & Market Analyticshttps://irma.depaul.edu/ - scroll down for Public Resources

• Restricted access workbooks: http://offices.depaul.edu/student-affairs/about/technology/Pages/tableau-reports.aspx

• 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 Factbookhttp://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/university-factbook

• Secure access workbooks (no link TO these, login required): http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/deans and

http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/orphanage

• 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”

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Tableau Higher Education Resources

• Tableau Higher Education User Group - http://community.tableau.com/groups/higher-education

• Higher Ed links at Cornell (no link TO this): http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/viz-in-the-wild-public

• 2014 Tableau user conference presentations - http://www.tableau.com/TC14-education-analytics– 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 WAYSIt 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. http://offices.depaul.edu/emm/emm-library/Documents/EnrollmentMatters_201011-Issue3_RELEASED-11-4-2010.pdf