Dig Deeper into Your Data with Tableau’s Level of Detail
In Tableau, the Level of Detail (LOD) refers to the level of granularity at which a calculation is performed. LOD calculations allow you to perform calculations at a different level of detail than the level of detail of the visualization. This can be useful for creating more advanced calculations or for aggregating data in different ways.
There are three types of LOD calculations in Tableau:
- Fixed LOD calculations: Fixed LOD calculations allow you to specify a fixed level of detail for the calculation, regardless of the level of detail in the visualization.
- Include LOD calculations: Include LOD calculations allow you to include additional dimensions in the calculation, even if those dimensions are not included in the visualization.
- Exclude LOD calculations: Exclude LOD calculations allow you to exclude dimensions from the calculation, even if those dimensions are included in the visualization.
To create a LOD calculation in Tableau, you can use the “FIXED,” “INCLUDE,” or “EXCLUDE” keywords in the calculation. For example, to create a fixed LOD calculation that calculates the average sales by state, you could use the following calculation:
{FIXED [State]: AVG([Sales])}
LOD calculations can be useful for creating more advanced calculations or for aggregating data in different ways. They can be especially useful when working with large datasets, as they can allow you to perform calculations more efficiently by aggregating data at a higher level of detail.
Fixed-level expressions of detail:
Discover the sales volume for each state and each region.
INCLUDE Expressions with Levels of Detail
In addition to the dimensions that are present in the view, INCLUDE level of detail expressions compute values using the supplied dimensions. Determine the total sales by state for each product subcategory.
Drag the Sub-Category field to the Rows shelf to accomplish this.
Level of Detail Expressions is excluded.
Expressions for the EXCLUDE level of detail define which dimensions should not be included in the view level of detail. Remove the region from the monthly sales calculation.