Data blending allows you to combine data from different sources in a single Tableau worksheet by linking them on common dimensions.
Practical Response 1:
“Data blending lets me bring together data from different databases or files—like connecting Salesforce data with Excel spreadsheets—without having to create complex joins in the original sources.”
Practical Response 2:
“I use data blending when I need to combine data from separate systems, such as linking web analytics from Google Analytics with sales data from our SQL database to analyze marketing ROI.”
Detailed Explanation:
Data blending enables cross-database analysis by creating relationships between primary and secondary data sources based on common dimensions. Unlike traditional joins that combine data at the row level, blending performs aggregation within each data source first, then brings the results together.
Key characteristics include:
- Uses a left-join approach where the primary data source determines which rows appear
- Requires at least one common dimension between data sources to establish the relationship
- Displays linked fields with an orange chain link icon in the data pane
- Automatically aggregates measures from secondary data sources to match the granularity of the primary source
Common use cases include:
- Combining sales transaction data (from a database) with budget targets (from Excel)
- Merging customer demographic data with purchase history from different systems
- Integrating real-time operational data with historical trend data
- Bringing together data from cloud applications and on-premise databases
Keywords:
- data blending Tableau
- multiple data sources Tableau
- cross-database analysis
- Tableau data integration
- blended data sources
What is data blending in Tableau?