Sets, Groups and Parameters

by Juhie Radia

In this blog I will looking at each of these features, predominantly sets and groups, in Tableau and when to use them as they are pretty similar but also different. I will give a summary of what they are before I compare and contrast them and discuss some pros and cons of each.

Groups

Are a method of combining related members in a field together and they are denoted by a paperclip icon. Groups are typically made with dimensions but can be done with measures as well and there is also no member limit. A good use case for groups is for correcting spelling/data input errors without having to necessarily go back into Alteryx.

e.g. CA | Cali. | California

All of these values should just come under one name - California. By using a group I can collect these different values and edit the alias so that they all just come under California. This means that rather than having 3 separate bars showing the sales in California, I can now just have one.  

Sets

Sets are custom fields that can be used to analyse a subset of data and are denoted by a venn diagram icon. With sets there are only 2 outcomes - you are either in or out of the set.

There are 3 types of sets: fixed | dynamic | combined

Fixed

These are very similar to groups whereby if your data updates, so if any new values are added, the members in either your fixed sets or groups will not update. (the members are fixed, you would have to manually add any new ones)

Dynamic

The members in dynamic sets will update when the data updates as the set is created based on a condition. e.g. give me those sub categories that are profitable. (profit > 0). If a new sub category was added in to my data and it was profitable then this new sub category would be automatically added to my dynamic set. A good use case for dynamic sets is for highlighting any outliers/points in a scatter plots for example that are beyond a particular threshold.

Combined

Pretty much as it says on the tin - multiple sets joined together to find the common members e.g. the values in set y AND x. There are a few different options when you create combined sets e.g. you can see the common members, or just those in either set x or y excluding the common values. If you are interested in combining multiple sets then you have to create a combined set first and then another combined set from that.

Parameters

These are user generated values that allow users to interact directly with the view.

Compare and Contrast

  • A difference between sets and groups is that with groups you can see the group that you have made alongside the other values in that field. With sets you just see the values in or out - for those members that are in the set and those that aren't.
  • Fixed sets and groups are relatively similar to an extent in the sense that their members do change and are fixed. However, the members in dynamic sets do update with the data.
  • Can create a combined set but cannot create a combined group. Combined sets look for common members, set x AND y, groups are either/or, set x OR y, you cannot find common members using groups.
  • Can create set and parameter actions to make your dashboards more engaging and interactive but you cannot do this with groups.
  • A difference between sets and parameters  is that sets use pre-set values whereas with parameters users have the flexibility of being able to change the parameter values in the view. e.g. you can create a set showing the top 3 highest selling sub categories but if you wanted to see the top 5 instead you would have to reconfigure your set. If you did the same thing using a parameter instead, you can change the top N on the view which is a lot more user friendly.  

Overall I would say that I typically use parameters the most as they offer slightly more flexibility than sets but it does depend on the use case. If you want to correct data errors, then groups would be the feature to use, for investigating common values/members then a sets would work best.

Avatar

Juhie Radia

Fri 08 Sep 2023

3 mins read

Fri 08 Sep 2023

Thu 30 Mar 2023

Thu 26 Jan 2023