We have updated our Power Tools branding. Any references to software/feature naming conventions may no longer be accurate in this article.

We’re running a blog series dedicated to helping you improve the performance of Tableau in your environment. It all starts with the Best Practice Analyzer from Workbook Tools for Tableau. This feature lets you know exactly how you can improve your Tableau workbooks to run faster and smoother.

Each post in the series is related to specific performance issues that are flagged by the Best Practice Analyzer. If you don’t have it yet, get it. You can also check out more guidelines found on our Tableau Performance Checklist.

The Flag

Upon running the Best Practice Analyzer, you receive the following notification:

mixed-1

One common issue we often run into as consultants is when comparing metrics across disparate data sources, members of what should be the same dimension in either source are not recognized as equals. More than likely, this has something to do with the way those members are aliased in the data source. Often times, it has to do with case sensitivity.
Tableau recognizes dimensions or members of a dimension whenever Workbook Tools sees dimensions that look the same, but have different letter cases ( i.e. bicameral vs. unicase). It will notify the user, potentially flagging what might have otherwise been overlooked.

The Solution

Data blending is an invaluable tool within the Tableau toolbox; however, ensuring you have clean data prior to connecting to a source within Tableau is essential.

Curious about other Tableau workbook performance best practices? We have a growing list of posts to help you out. Here are the topics we’ve covered so far: