BMIS 235 · Gonzaga University
Sold Out
at the Gorge
You are the new data analyst at the Gorge Amphitheatre. The season is over. The general manager walks in with one question.
“What should we book more of in 2027?”
- 36
- Shows
- 756K
- Tickets sold
- $94.9M
- Ticket revenue
- 108
- Rows in the file
May 22, 2026 – September 12, 2026
76% of capacity
36 shows × 3 ticket types
The venue in George, Washington is real. The 2026 season in this file is fictional, written for class.
The big picture
How data becomes a dashboard
Seven stages, from the database your CSV came out of to the critique you run before you submit. Every page on this site belongs to exactly one of them. Click any stage to go there.
- 1ExtractFour connected tables, joined by a query into one flat result.ArtifactThe Gorge database
- 2LoadGet Tableau Public running and the CSV connected, field types checked.Artifactgorge_2026_season.csv
- 3ShapeDimensions describe, measures count, and the aggregation you pick changes the answer.ArtifactFields and calculations
- 4VisualizeShelves, the Marks card, and a chart that matches the question.ArtifactFour sheets
- 5CombineSheets feed one dashboard, filter actions connect them, a story walks through them.ArtifactThe GM dashboard
- 6PublishStatic snapshot or live connection, then share and embed it.ArtifactA shareable link
- 7CritiqueSix questions and twelve traps, pointed at anyone’s chart including your own.ArtifactA defended recommendation
The second lens
Your path to the assignment
The pipeline is how data moves. The path is how you move.
Ten milestones, from “no account” to “link and story submitted”. The dashed arcs are loop-backs — where a step failing usually sends you.
You are on step 1 — continue
10 milestones · about 5h 50m of work in total, spread across the term. The requirement is the assignment brief; the path is a recommended route.
Why this is not just button-clicking
The same data answers the GM two different ways
“Which genre brought in the most money?”
Rock
$32,340,156 across 12 shows. A total.
“What should we book more of in 2027?”
Country
$2,964,046 per show across 7 shows. A rate.
Both charts are accurate. Both have honest axes. Choosing between them is a thinking skill, not a Tableau skill — and it is the one an AI tool will get wrong for you, because it cannot see which decision you are about to make.That is the Shape stage →
Outside the pipeline
Everything else on this site
- Where AI fitsWhat AI can draft at each stage, how to prompt it, and what you still own.
- Think like a concert analystConcert data, concert methods, concert questions. Some need data we do not have.
- CareersEvery business job ends up asking someone to show me.
- The assignmentBuild a dashboard, then explain it in at least two paragraphs.
- DownloadsBoth decks and the practice CSV.
- Chart library25 chart types across eight families, each with the Gorge example and whether Tableau Public can make it.
- The 12 chart trapsScale, shape, and number traps, one page each, with what to ask when you spot it.