How to construct Pareto Chart using Tableau

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Geek Culture

4 min readJul 5, 2021

Many times we need to create a certain type of chart in Tableau based on the business need, however that chart may not be available as part of the in-built charts. This does not mean that it can not be created. There are several types of charts that are not in-built in Tableau but can be easily custom-built, and Pareto is one of them.

Before we proceed further, let us first try to understand what is a Pareto chart. It is a chart that is used to identify what are the set of causes that are responsible for 80% of the effects. It is based on 80–20 principal which states that 80% of the effects are due to 20% of the causes.

I will use the Orders table of the ‘Sample Superstore’ data set that comes with Tableau. Before I begin let me explain the scenario.

What are the Sub Categories which are responsible for 80% of the total sales?

A Pareto chart has the following properties:

It should have the data sorted in descending order as a bar
It should show %Cumulative as a line

Let us now start with the construction of the chart:

Step1: Drag Sub-Category into column and Sales into Row

Step2: Sort the bars in descending order

Step3: Again drag Sales into the Rows

Step4: Convert the Chart Type of the 2nd Sales field to Line from the Marks card

Step5: Make the Line chart as Dual Axis

After making dual-axis, it may happen that the bars change to circle. This is not a problem, just change the chart type back to bar from the Marks card

Step6: In the 2nd SUM(Sales) field, use the options menu to do “Quick Table Calculation → Running Total”

Step7: Use Edit Table Calculation from the Options Menu of 2nd SUM(Sales) field

In the Edit Table Calculation window ,click on Add Secondary Calculation and Change the Secondary Calculation Type to Percent of Total.

Enable the display option to show the values and adjust the font AND Pareto is ready !!!!