July 2018: Learning Tree course 1256 Tableau; Herndon, VA, USA

How can I define dates so that they appear aggregated and sorted by Fiscal Year rather than Calendar Year?

Let’s say we have the data set shown below and have created a simple visualisation with Order Date (Month) on the Columns shelf. So far, Order Date is based on Calendar Year, so when we are using Discrete Dates and show Month but not Year or Quarter, the chart starts in January.

Visualisation using Calendar Year – click to enlarge

To change Order Date so that it shows dates based on a particular Fiscal Year, click the dropdown menu on the OrderDate pill under Dimensions and then Default Properties, Fiscal Year Start. Finally choose the month in which the company’s Fiscal Year starts. In this example I have selected May.

Changing Order Date to Fiscal Year – click to enlarge

Now the chart will be redrawn to show the year beginning with May. (I manually changed the name of the worksheet before taking the screenshot below.)

Order Date drawn using Fiscal Year – click to enlarge

Note that in Tableau the Fiscal Year must start on the first day of one of the months, so this does not allow you complete freedom to set Fiscal Year, but it should be an improvement over only being able to use Calendar Year.