Top Tableau Scenario-Based Interview Questions Set -34 (1- 5) - Important

 

1. How would you calculate Month-to-Date (MTD), Quarter-to-Date (QTD), and Year-to-Date (YTD) Sales?

These are very common business reporting requirements.

MTD Sales

IF DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date])
=
DATETRUNC('month',TODAY())
THEN [Sales]
END

QTD Sales

IF DATETRUNC('quarter',[Order Date])
=
DATETRUNC('quarter',TODAY())
THEN [Sales]
END

YTD Sales

IF YEAR([Order Date])
=
YEAR(TODAY())
THEN [Sales]
END

Interview Follow-up: Difference between YTD and Running Total?

• YTD resets every year.
• Running Total continues across all periods.

---

2. How would you calculate Year-over-Year (YoY) Growth %?

A very frequently asked Tableau interview question.

(
SUM([Sales])
-
LOOKUP(SUM([Sales]),-1)
)
/
ABS(
LOOKUP(SUM([Sales]),-1)
)

Example:

Year	Sales
2024	100K
2025	120K

Growth = (120K-100K)/100K = 20%

---

3. How would you find customers who purchased in every month of the year?

Useful in customer loyalty analysis.

{ FIXED [Customer ID] :
COUNTD(
DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date])
)
}
= 12

Returns customers who purchased in all 12 months.

---

4. How would you identify the Top 20% Customers contributing 80% Revenue (Pareto Analysis)?

Sort customers by Sales descending.

RUNNING_SUM(SUM([Sales]))
/
TOTAL(SUM([Sales]))

Filter:

RUNNING_SUM(SUM([Sales]))
/
TOTAL(SUM([Sales]))
<= 0.8

This identifies the customers contributing to the first 80% of revenue.

---

5. How would you implement Row-Level Security (RLS) in Tableau?

One of the most important enterprise interview questions.

Security Table

User	Region
Anita	East
Ravi	West

Join security table with fact table.

Create filter:

USERNAME() = [User]

Or

[Region] = ATTR([User Region])

Result:

• Anita sees East data only.
• Ravi sees West data only.

Interview Tip: If asked "How have you implemented RLS in Tableau?" mention:

• Security Mapping Table
• USERNAME() Function
• Entitlement Table
• Published Data Source Security

These are the approaches used in enterprise Tableau environments.

Top Tableau Scenario-Based Interview Questions Set -33 (1- 5) - Important

 

1. How would you calculate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)?

Calculate total revenue generated by a customer throughout their relationship with the company.

{ FIXED [Customer ID] :
SUM([Sales])
}

For Average CLV:

AVG(
{ FIXED [Customer ID] :
SUM([Sales])
}
)

Interview Follow-up: Why use FIXED LOD instead of SUM(Sales)? Because CLV should be calculated at Customer level regardless of view granularity.

---

2. How would you identify customers likely to churn?

Find customers who haven't purchased in the last 180 days.

DATEDIFF(
'day',
{ FIXED [Customer ID] :
MAX([Order Date])
},
TODAY()
) > 180

These customers can be targeted with retention campaigns.

---

3. How would you calculate Year-to-Date (YTD) Sales?

Calculate sales from January 1st until today.

IF YEAR([Order Date]) = YEAR(TODAY())
AND [Order Date] <= TODAY()
THEN [Sales]
END

Then aggregate:

SUM(
IF YEAR([Order Date]) = YEAR(TODAY())
AND [Order Date] <= TODAY()
THEN [Sales]
END
)

---

4. How would you calculate Same Period Last Year (SPLY) Sales?

Compare current YTD against previous year's YTD.

IF YEAR([Order Date]) = YEAR(TODAY()) - 1
AND DATEPART('dayofyear',[Order Date])
<= DATEPART('dayofyear',TODAY())
THEN [Sales]
END

This is frequently asked in Tableau and Power BI interviews.

---

5. How would you identify the Top Customer in each Region and Category simultaneously?

Rank customers within Region and Category.

RANK(SUM([Sales])) = 1

Compute Using: Customer Name
Partition By: Region, Category

This returns the highest revenue-generating customer for every Region-Category combination.

---

Bonus Architect-Level Question

How would you calculate Repeat Purchase Rate?

Percentage of customers who placed more than one order.

COUNTD(
IF
{ FIXED [Customer ID] :
COUNTD([Order ID])
} > 1
THEN [Customer ID]
END
)
/
COUNTD([Customer ID])

This is one of the most commonly used KPIs in Retail, E-commerce, and Customer Analytics projects.