Additional Info
An Overview of Different Tableau Products :
- Tableau Desktop :
Tableau Desktop is a business intelligence and data visualization instrument that can be functioned by anyone. It focuses on transforming dull tabulated data into eye-candy graphs and illustrations. With tableau desktop, you can experience real-time data analytics by directly relating to data from your data warehouse. You can effortlessly import your data into Tableau’s data engine from varied sources and integrate them by connecting multiple views in an interactive dashboard.
- Tableau Server :
Tableau server comes with all the characteristics of Tableau Desktop along with networking abilities. With Tableau Server you can distribute dashboards produced in Tableau Desktop. This makes it an excellent choice for enterprise-level projects and reporting. When leveraged with real-time data processing this can become a potent tool for securing instant communication of data and insights.
- Tableau Online :
This is a hosted version of the Tableau server. It is normally powered with the help of cloud computing to make the software possible for everyone. This facilitates faster and easier access to business intelligence on the go. You can distribute dashboards created in Tableau Desktop and assign them to colleagues.
- Tableau Reader :
This is the free desktop variant of Tableau. Its features are restricted to only viewing the visualizations created in Tableau. This implies that you can filter and penetrate down the data but cannot edit or perform any kind of interactions or edits.
- Tableau Public :
This is a free version of Tableau software that can be used to make visualizations. The con is that you need to store your workbook and visualizations in the Tableau Server which can be accessed by anyone on the server.
- Tableau vs. Excel :
People are regularly confused between Tableau and Microsoft Excel. For a person who has never exercised these tools in-depth, they seem to be related to each other. Both this two software can be used to develop interactive visualizations and have the instruments to interpret data. But the path each of these tools uses to reach the insights is very different.Tableau is a data visualization tool, indicating that it formats data in the initial stage into graphic representations. As and when users drill down the data, the designs change accordingly. Excel, on the other hand, requires the user to first analyze data in tabular format and then opt for visualizations for greater understanding and insights. Here are two key differences between Excel and Tableau:
In Excel, you necessitate knowing the insights you are watching for and accordingly place the formulas and arrange tabulation. While Tableau can take you to insights you never imagined would exist. Using interactive visualizations and data drilling means you can freely examine data without any specifics in mind. While both Excel and Tableau maintain real-time data visualizations, Excel needs programming to allow such processing while Tableau uses an easy and interactive approach to the same. Overall Tableau is intended for business executives enabling them to find correlations in data without any need for specialized knowledge of data science
Three Benefits of Using Tableau :
1. Awe-inspiring Visualizations :
Tableau offers great data visualizations at scale. It takes unorganized data and provides a variety of visualizations for a deeper understanding of trends. It makes it simple for users to analyze data by using differentiating factors like colors, labels, and shapes. By providing for easy switching within different visualizations it brings in greater context as we drill down the data and explore on a granular level.
2. Greater Insights :
Tableau enables the user to investigate data without any specific goals in mind. You can freely explore the visualizations and look for complex insights. By using “what if” queries you can improve data hypothetically and visualize data elements dynamically for comparisons. When coupled with real-time data these capabilities enhance dramatically.
3. Ease of Use :
Tableau is a highly interactive solution for business intelligence. It is intended for people who don’t have the coding skills required. With Tableau, anyone can visualize and understand data without the need for any advanced skills in data science. As compared to other tools Tableau showcases visuals in a presentable way hence, they can be used in presentations and reports. All of this makes Tableau an excellent tool not only for data scientists but also for business executives.
Implementation of Tableau:
Tableau comes with a diversity of implementation and consulting options. It comes with quick-start possibilities for small-scale deployments which can complete the setup in just a few hours. While for complex enterprise-level deployment it comes with the following four-step process:
- The first deployment stage involves IT planning, architecture consulting, pre-install check-up, server set-up and authentication, and security configuration.
- The next step involves operating on data and its migration – this includes data modeling, data mining, data extraction, data sources, and business workflow.
- With this step, the company ensures that employees can use the tool. A two-day classroom training is implemented for Tableau fundamentals, hands-on advanced coaching, and building and formatting visualizations.
- The final step encourages companies to expand Tableau usage across their business. Implementation workshops are directed where topics like the evaluation of action plans and the process of defining measurable results are discussed.
Tableau Architecture :
Tableau Server is intended to connect many data tiers. It can join clients from Mobile, Web, and Desktop. Tableau Desktop is a compelling data visualization tool. It is very secure and highly available.
It can run on both physical machines and virtual machines. It is a multi-process, multi-user, and multi-threaded operation. Providing such influential features requires novel architecture.
Components of the Tableau :
1. Data server :- The principal component of Tableau Architecture is the Data sources that can relate to it.Tableau can connect with various data sources. It can blend the data from various data sources. It can relate to an excel file, database, and web application at the same time. It can also make the connection between different types of data sources.
2. Data connector :- The Data Connectors presents an interface to combine external data sources with the Tableau Data Server.
Tableau has an in-built SQL/ODBC connector. This ODBC Connector can be connected to any database without using its native connector. Tableau Desktop has the advantage to pick both extract and live data. Based on the use, one can be easily switched between live and extracted data.
- Real-time data or live connection : Tableau can be joined with real data by connecting to the external database directly. It uses the infrastructure pre-existing database by sending dynamic multidimensional expressions (MDX) and SQL commands. This feature can be used as a link between the live data and Tableau rather than importing the data. It makes an optimized and fast database system. Mostly indifferent enterprises, the size of the database is extensive, and it is updated periodically. In these cases, Tableau serves as a front-end visualization tool by connecting with the live data.
- Extracted or in-memory data : Tableau is an opportunity to extract the data from external data sources. We make a local copy in the form of a Tableau extract file. It can eliminate millions of records in the Tableau data engine with a single click. Tableau's data engine practices storage such as ROM, RAM, and cache memory to process and store data. Applying filters, Tableau can extract a few records from a large dataset. This increases performance, particularly when we are working on massive datasets. Extracted data allows the users to visualize the data offline, without correlating to the data source.
3. Components of Tableau server: Different types of components of the Tableau server are :
- Application server
- VizQL server
- Data server
Application server : The application server is utilized to provide the authorizations and authentications. It manages the permission and administration for mobile and web interfaces. It gives a guarantee of protection by recording each session-id on Tableau Server. The administrator is configuring the default timeout of the session in the server.
VizQL server : VizQL server is utilized to transform the queries from the data source into visualizations. Once the client request is forwarded to the VizQL process, it transfers the query directly to the data source and retrieves information in the form of images. This visualization or image is displayed for the users. Tableau server generates a cache of visualization to reduce the load time. The cache can be distributed between many users who have permission to view the visualization.
Data server : Data server is employed to store and manage the data from other data sources. It is a central data management system. It presents data security, metadata management, data connection, driver requirements, and data warehouse. It stores the related features of the data set like calculated fields, metadata, groups, sets, and parameters. The data source can extricate the data as well as make live connections with external data sources.
Gateway : The gateway addressed the requests from users to Tableau elements. When the client transmits a request, it is forwarded to the external load balancer for processing. The gateway works as a publisher of processes to different components. In case of the absence of an external load balancer, the gateway also works as a weight balancer. For a single-server configuration, one gateway or primary server handles all the processes. For multiplied server configurations, one physical system serves as the main server, and others are employed as worker servers. Only one machine is adopted as a primary server in the Tableau Server environment.
Clients : The visualizations and dashboards in the Tableau server can be modified and observed using different clients. This could be a web browser, mobile applications, and Tableau Desktop.
Tableau Project Team Roles and Responsibilities :
The cross-functional project team incorporates IT/BI Professionals, Tableau administrators, and elected Content Creators (Data Stewards and Content Creators). The cross-functional project team is centered on the following :
- Establish and manage the analytics practice, which involves defining Tableau Governance processes, policies, and guidelines.
- Define roles and responsibilities for overseeing the organization’s data in agreement with the business and/or regulatory requirements.
- Design and complete the Tableau deployment and implement the organization’s idea for modern analytics.
- Revision of policies and procedures regularly to adapt to and evolve with evolving business needs.
Depending on the extent of the organization and the level of specialization for a critical role, you may find that each of the roles listed below compares to one person in a large organization, while more than one person may serve various roles in smaller organizations. What is most significant is that each role is filled at the time it’s required—rather than the number of people on the project team.
Note : Tableau Server and Tableau Online both carry multi-tenancy. Tableau Server Administrators can design sites for segregating users and content and delegating duties for administrative tasks and designate Site Administrators for scoped administration to the site level. Tableau Online Site Administrators control site settings, create projects for organizing content, and member responsibilities for administrative tasks.
IT/BI Professional Roles :
The IT/BI professional positions are collectively accountable for integrating Tableau with your enterprise architecture and producing data available in a secure, governed manner to Tableau users. Whether IT and Analytics departments are connected or separate may differ from company to company. Their involvement is crucial to planning, installation, configuration, and ongoing management, and overseeing of the deployment.
Originally, meetings should be carried weekly or every other week to plan and track the development of the deployment with the full project team. After an operational cycle is achieved, meetings can transition to a lesser number unless you are planning for upgrades, scaling server infrastructure, or combining with other systems.
Tableau Administrator Roles :
Tableau Server Administrators are in charge of the operation of the server application, while Tableau Site Administrators are liable for their respective site(s), permissions, content, and users when sites are used. Initially, weekly or biweekly meetings must be maintained to track the progress of the deployment, content utilization, and user commitment with the full project team. After an operational routine is accomplished, administrator meetings can transition to monthly unless you are planning for upgrades, changing or scaling the infrastructure, or enabling new functionality, such as mobile, advanced analytics, or extensible characteristics.
Tableau Developer Roles and Responsibilities :
Here are the important roles and duties of a Tableau Developer :
- Building visualizations for the data extracted with the help of Tableau
- Recognizing patterns and meaningful insights from data by analyzing it
- Creating dashboards
- Training Tableau Server
- Manipulating big data
- Creating SQL queries for enhancing performances
- Inspecting glitches in business processes and resolving them
- Obtaining the key areas of automation to make the business processes smooth
- Generating reference documents or reports for the finalized project
These are the primary roles and responsibilities of a Tableau Developer. There are some more skills that make a complete Tableau Developer.
Tableau Content Creator Roles :
Content creators involve Data Stewards and Content Authors. It is essential that the individuals who are selected for the project team have a good knowledge of their business domain and data, as well as provide meaningful offerings to the development of organizational policies and procedures. The content creators identified on the project team are identified as Tableau Champions. During the original deployment, data stewards and content authors should design certified data sources and relevant workbooks for content consumers to use at launch. Any bottlenecks or issues proposed by this group should be distributed to the full project team and/or executive governing body for consideration and resolution, depending on the stage of the deployment.
Initially, weekly, or biweekly meetings should be organized to track the progress of the deployment, content utilization, and user engagement with the full project team. Weekly meetings for content creators must be held for distribution best practices, planning, and tracking the creation of content, workflow design, and content utilization metrics. After an operational routine is gained, meetings can transition to a monthly cadence except if you are testing upgrades or enabling new functionality, such as mobile, advanced analytics, or extensible features.
Skills Required for Becoming a Tableau Developer :
