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I use tableau at work to work with various data types, including sensitive personal data that should only be shared in an aggregated format. I am trying to find a way to protect private information by hiding the cell value when it is less than 5. This way when users drill down they don't actually drill down to an individual person or small group that could be identified.

I know some people have used window_max to restrict the total number of records, but this is not suitable for my purposes as I need to restrict values on the cell level. Because the categories are unevenly distributed, there could be a large number of records and still a combination in the table small enough to disclose privileged data.

For what it is worth, I am using multiple measures and can't just filter on number of records.

Mithical
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schradera
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3 Answers3

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The credit for this actually goes to Simon Runc over at the Tableau Forums. Since my table uses multiple measures you can't filter on "number of records" like you could if it were only one measure. The trick he suggested was to create new calculated fields for each one using IIF statements, then use those as my multiple measures. You can see what he did, with workbook, at https://community.tableau.com/message/535021#535021.

The actual code for the calculated field is

IIF(SUM([Rating 15 - 19])>=5, SUM([Rating 15 - 19]), NULL)

Where [Rating 15-19] is one of my original measures. You would have to repeat this for each one then use them all together.

Thank you to @woodhead92 who was headed in the right direction but didn't have the benefit of a sample workbook to see I was using multiple measures at once.

schradera
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There is a measure called 'Number of Records' which can be used for this purpose. To filter your dashboard down, use the following filter

SUM(Number of Records) < 5

woodhead92
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  • @schradera Was this solution helpful? – woodhead92 Sep 27 '16 at 17:48
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    I am using multiple measures so I would have to filter on measure values not number of records, which it will not allow me to do in that way. I was able to get assistance from Simon Runc at the Tableau forums. I actually feel silly for missing it, it was so simple. Create new calc fields based on the measures I was using with an IIF and use those as measures. I will post below in case anyone else needs it. Thank you for your help anyway @woodhead92, you were going in the right direction. – schradera Sep 27 '16 at 18:36
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Bethany Lyons gave a useful presentation about using Sets with Tableau, and covered a similar use case about halfway through.

Her solution is a bit different than the other answers, showing anonymous detail when there are a large number of individuals in a group, and just an aggregate value when there are a small number of individuals (to protect anonymity)

The link to the archived video can be found within this thread https://community.tableau.com/thread/151806

Alex Blakemore
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