In our previous blog post, we introduced Tableau’s product ecosystem and the different license types catering to the different roles in an organisation. In this post, we explain which licenses have access to which Tableau products they facilitate rapid analysis and insights sharing within an organisation.
Tableau Products and Licenses
Creator licenses only
Creator licenses only
Creator, Explorer & Viewer licenses
Below we discuss how different users can utilise Tableau to easily connect to their data from different sources, perform analysis rapidly and share the insights throughout an organisation. We then explore how the end users of the dashboards and visualisations can empower the entire organisation to make data-driven decisions.
Before we begin, we first need to understand the Analytics Workflow. Tableau’s Modern Analytics Workflow consists of five key actions:
- Access & View
- Interact
- Analyse & Discover
- Share
- Promote & Govern
Tableau Desktop Interface
Tableau Desktop is the main platform that Creators of the organisation will use to develop insightful and interactive visualisations for the end users. Thanks to recent updates, Explorers are now able to create and publish dashboards using the web interface on the browser – albeit with some limitations.
Creators using Tableau Desktop can utilise its ever-growing variety of native connectors in its Connect Pane. Currently, Tableau has approximately 100 different data connectors available. If a connector for a certain type of data is not available, new connectors can be built and shared by users to the wider Tableau community. You’ll find the complete list of connectors built and published by other users of Tableau products here.
After connecting to the right data sources, Creators and Explorers can start developing their dashboards. In Tableau, each visualisation is created on a single worksheet. The worksheets are then put together on a single dashboard as the final product. Tableau Desktop is a user-friendly platform that simplifies and speeds up the process of creating a visualisation. The fields in the data are shown on the Data Pane on the left. They just need to be dragged onto the canvas in the middle to create their visualisations.
Alternatively, Tableau offers a ‘Show Me’ feature where Creators and Explorers can select their desired fields and there will be a list of visualisations available to choose for based on the fields selected.
After creating the individual visualisations, individual worksheets can be placed on the dashboard the same way fields are dragged onto a canvas. Creators also have the option to add interactivity where required to provide Viewers or end users to have flexibility and drill-downs in their analysis. These can come in the form of dropdown selections, user text input or date range selections.
Publishing Content on Tableau Server
When the visualisations are complete, they can publish their work onto Tableau Server (or Tableau Online). Tableau Server works as a repository for all the Tableau workbooks and data sources that are shared across the organisation. These files are organised in project folders and they can be configured to only allow access to relevant parties or departments, increasing data governance efforts across the organisation.
The analytics workflow does not end here. Authorised viewers can now access the dashboards on Tableau Server and interact with them to find insights within the data on their own. With the data and visualisation shared across the organisation, everyone can see and understand the data and make better informed decisions.
On Tableau Server’s web interface, there are various many features that can enhance the analytics experience but we will focus on some key features in this post.
While viewing a dashboard, there is an option to leave comments. This functions as a discussion forum, where viewers can tag others to highlight specific issues or provide feedback. While inputting a comment, they can also attach an already filtered view so other users can directly go to the specified view without going through the process of filtering or changing the parameters themselves. Encouraging discussions and constructive feedback can help organisations to dig deeper into their data and uncover more insights.
For Explorers that want to explore further on their own, they have two options – Web Edit and Download. Users can alter the current dashboards or create their own versions for analysis while on Tableau server’s web interface. Although it looks similar to Tableau Desktop, the web editing functionality is not as flexible. It does however, allow users to complete ad hoc analysis on top of the content that has been published and save it for other users to access as well. In each of the recent updates, more functionalities for web editing are released.
Tableau Server allows downloading of the views or dashboards in multiple formats – Image, Data, Crosstab, PDF, PowerPoint, Tableau Workbook. This allows for the published dashboard to be used for presentations and sharing, or extracting the data for further transformation and analysis.
Access Tableau From Any Device
Tableau Server is accessible via both browsers and mobile. Available on both the Apple and Android, you can now access their Tableau Server content on the go. Dashboards can be developed with mobile or tablet dimensions for viewing on those devices as well. The Device Preview feature allows developers to have a look and feel of how the dashboard will look like on different screen sizes.
Tableau’s products can empower organisation’s data users and better their analytics workflow by offering features that focus on the speed to insight and how content can be shared and governed easily. The product continues to innovate, allowing more possibilities in how people can see and understand data. Apart from Tableau Desktop and Server, Tableau also offers another product – Tableau Prep. It is a powerful data preparation tool that we will cover in a future blog post.
Choosing the right Tableau license?
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