LATUGDESIGNING FOR IMPACT & PERFORMANCE

Eric Shiarla (InterWorks)@ericshiarla

A LITTLE ABOUT MYSELFPrincipal B.I. Consultant @ InterWorks

Manage the west coast region

FROM 2009-2012Houston, TX

SINCE THANKSGIVING 2012Redondo Beach, CA

WHO IS INTERWORKS?Full-service I.T. firm

Specialize in data-driven business solutionsIn other words…

COMPREHENSIVE DATA SOLUTIONS+ Tableau Consulting + Tableau Training + Integration Strategy + Proofs of Concept + System Infrastructure + ETL Logic/Solutions + Database Design + Ad Hoc Analysis + Tableau Server Installation + Dashboard Design + Data Visualization Methodology + Custom Development

InterWorks’

BookComing October

2013!

WE WROTE THE BOOK ON

TABLEAU!

FIRST, A COMPARISON

&

DESIGNING FOR

Impact

Performance

IMPACTFUL DESIGNQualities of an impactful design

1. Targeted2. Insightful3. Influential4. Aesthetic

PERFORMANT DESIGNQualities of a performant design

1. Simple2. Fast data source3. Cache is king4. … other tips & tricks

BEFORE WE STARTanother example of designing for impact & performance

1. TELL A FOCUSED STORYHow to be Impactful

Felix: - How far did he fall? - How fast did he go? - How long did it take?

2. PROVIDE CONTEXTHow to be Impactful

2. PROVIDE CONTEXTHow to be Impactful

2. PROVIDE CONTEXTHow to be Impactful

3. VISUALIZATION BEST PRACTICESHow to be Impactful

Felix: - Effective use of color - Bar chart for quantitative comparisons

2 3 8 1 4 22 3 14 3 9 5 14

16 7 4 9 12 6 23 4 7 21 6 12

10 6 4 7 8 5 14 4 6 13 5 8

9 8 7 8 3 8 11 7 8 10 8 4

17 14 13 14 15 13 19 13 14 18 13 15

12 11 10 11 12 11 14 10 11 13 11 12

5 5 4 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 5

6 8 2 6 8 1 7 7 1 6 8 1

1 16 3 5 0 14 6 5 8 1 9 2

2 3 8 1 4 22 3 14 3 9 5 14

16 7 4 9 12 6 23 4 7 21 6 12

10 6 4 7 8 5 14 4 6 13 5 8

8 8 7 8 2 8 11 7 8 10 8 3

17 14 13 14 15 13 19 13 14 18 13 15

12 11 10 11 12 11 14 10 11 13 11 12

5 5 4 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 5

6 8 2 6 8 1 7 7 1 6 8 1

1 16 3 5 0 14 6 5 8 1 9 2

2 3 8 1 4 22 3 14 3 9 5 14

16 7 4 9 12 6 23 4 7 21 6 12

10 6 4 7 8 5 14 4 6 13 5 8

9 8 7 8 3 8 11 7 8 10 8 4

17 14 13 14 15 13 19 13 14 18 13 15

12 11 10 11 12 11 14 10 11 13 11 12

5 5 4 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 5

6 8 2 6 8 1 7 7 1 6 8 1

1 16 3 5 0 14 6 5 8 1 9 2

2 3 8 1 4 22 3 14 3 9 5 14

16 7 4 9 12 6 23 4 7 21 6 12

10 6 4 7 8 5 14 4 6 13 5 8

8 8 7 8 2 8 11 7 8 10 8 3

17 14 13 14 15 13 19 13 14 18 13 15

12 11 10 11 12 11 14 10 11 13 11 12

5 5 4 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 5

6 8 2 6 8 1 7 7 1 6 8 1

1 16 3 5 0 14 6 5 8 1 9 2

3. VISUALIZATION BEST PRACTICESHow to be Impactful

What happens when we use too much color?

3. VISUALIZATION BEST PRACTICESHow to be Impactful

When color is used sparingly it can be more effective.

Where is Felix?

4. DEVELOP A STYLEHow to be Impactful

- High data-ink ratio- Get away from Arial- Remember your tool tips- Be consistent (create style guides for team use)

NOW….How to make fast dashboards

1. KEEP THINGS SIMPLEHow to make fast dashboards

- Less dashboard elements means less queries of our data

- Limit number of worksheets- Limit number of filters

2. USE A FAST DATA SOURCEHow to make fast dashboards

- Dashboard load time always > data source returning results - Extracts (local in memory so very fast) - OLAP vs. OLTP live connections - Know queries & execution times Documents\My Tableau Repository\Logs

2. USE A FAST DATA SOURCE What’s behind the scenes?Use performance recordings

2. USE A FAST DATA SOURCECount the queries

2. USE A FAST DATA SOURCECount the queries

3. CACHE IS KING (FIXED SIZE HELPS)How to make fast dashboards

- Automatic sizing can look terrible- Ensures consistent user experience across devices- Have high resolution users? Design a dashboard for them.- Fixed sizing improves caching (query & model caches)

4. OTHER TIPS & TRICKSHow to make fast dashboards

More causes of latency: - Large multi-value quick filter lists - Showing Relevant Values - Large text tables - Too many data connections - Custom SQL Connections - Large images or shapes (>50KB)

SELECT DISTINCT(FlightDate)

FROM LargeTable

(never fast…)

HANDS ONEnough talk, let’s play