Tableau Erfahrungen

There are many features which lot of users would have liked:-
1. Connection to almost all database
2. Many types of Charts can be created including Sankey, Doughnut, Maps etc.
3. Its has the feature of data blending and data extraction
4. Dashboards can be viewed on multiple devices like tablet, mobile and laptops.
5. Its really fast while drilling down or filtering out from any dashboard.

Its a bit expensive tool as compared to other data visualization tools however its a value for money.

Tableau integrated with a lot of other providers which was great for connecting data across the tech stack, and it easily allowed you to import data form excel or other files

The set up and learning curve was very difficult, the tool isn’t intuitive to use and setting up dashboards and real time reporting just felt very time consuming and difficult, never particularly got anywhere with it where I felt I was using it to its full potential.

It supports Python, so customized visualization is possible (for Python programmers, it's easy) to create their own custom dashboard and visualization.

It's a bit costly, where PowerBI is free.

Easy to set up reports with multiple ways to filter by any data element or timeframe.
Can connect to many different types of data from different data sources.
Color coding and filtering while reviewing charts and data is very easy to use.

Searching for the report I want can be challenging when you have many reports created.

The customization of your dashboards is unparalleled.
The tools to get started help anyone, even those with basic or no sql skills to be able to put together basic reports.
No better solution in my opinion for being a hub for KPI tracking across a company.

The learning curve is steep.
Imported data needs to be clean or you are going to struggle with larger datasets but that is true of all data visualization tool.

One of the most useful features of Tableau is the flexibility with which its dashboards may be filtered. Information that is simple to understand, demonstrate, and infer. Any group may quickly and simply extract useful data thanks to a drag-and-drop interface.

Data syncing problems can cause the dashboards to malfunction. Notifications about impending outages would be greatly appreciated. however, that shouldn't be a deal breaker.

User-friendly interface that is easy to use and modify visualizationsPowerful data analysis capabilities for exploring and analyzing large datasetsSupports connectivity with a wide range of data sourcesInteractive dashboards that allow viewers to interact with the dataCustomization options to tailor visualizations to specific needsLarge and active user community that provides support and resourcesEasy integration with other software and tools, such as Microsoft Office and Salesforce.

Cost: Tableau can be relatively expensive, especially for small businesses or individual users.Steep learning curve: While the interface is user-friendly, the tool's advanced features may require some technical expertise, leading to a learning curve.Limited collaboration features: Tableau is not as collaborative as some other data visualization tools, which can be a drawback for teams.Limited customization: While Tableau offers some customization options, it may not be as customizable as some other data visualization tools.Limited functionality without additional tools: To perform certain functions or use specific data sources, additional tools or software may be required.

We use it mostly to create a daily report. Once it is setup, modifying the dated is simple enough to produce the same report daily.

It is very slow when trying to modify an existing report to add something new. Takes many minutes to load after each additional join. Takes a very long time to create new reports. Also, I would like to see the SQL that is being run in an easier way (currently can edit the log files and find it, but very annoying and difficult to find the queries in a text editor)

Tableau Desktop absolutely produces the cleanest and most intuitive reports of any software like it. The learning curve for basic functionality is short and the online resources for deeper dives are plentiful.

Reports distribution in Tableau Desktop is clunky and connecting to SharePoint or similar distribution tools are too difficult to setup without professional IT assistance.
Tableau Prep is still in early stages of development. Some Flows take much too long for what shouldn't be so challenging an operation.

I really like how easy it is to try visualizing data in different ways. Going into an analysis I don't always know the best way to present my data, so being able to try different things so easily makes my analysis a lot easier.

Formatting visualizations is not easy to understand. Clunky UI for formatting. Somewhat difficult to figure out what exactly is being changed by different options.

Expansive functionality that allows the user to both manipulate and export data in a wide variety of formats. Export as an image, excel workbook, PDF file, Powerpoint or more. Multiple custom filter options that allow you to sort to the data that is most important to your needs. Easy to navigate through reports and convenient features such as adding favorites that will show up on your dashboard. Clean and professional interface that helps with organization of projects. Sharing reports within your organization is simple and there are restriction features which will allow you to determine who has access to the data sets as you see fit. Software gives information on when data was last refreshed, if the report is in real-time, or when the data is scheduled to refresh again.

Inactivity will cause you to have to refresh the page and remove any applied filters which will require you to wait again for the filtered data to load. This can be a little frustrating especially when pulling very large data sets that take a long time to load before you can pull them and then forgetting to export the data before the page refreshes. However, this is a rare occurrence as the refresh time is pretty generous, at least a couple of hours in my experience. Nevertheless, something to note for improvement in future versions.

Tableau is centered around you as a user asking questions to your data. It is as simple as that and it works in ways not imagined before. Via graphical user antierface and drag and drop you combine aspects of your data and visualize relations. The coolest thing is that Tableau supports you without pushing or distracting. The process is emergent and makes it possible to walk the line from coherence to causality and have fun along the way. The End results look great and can be reformated by a couple of clicks in order to shift perspective or look from a different angle or with a different point of interest towards your findings. Tableu picks you up where you are and you can run it as SAAS or on premise, depending on your preferences. Also the API is simple and powerful, making the integration as a dedicated reporting and statistcs module, or more precise data visualisation playground to your existing product easy and convenient. By doing so you can add tableaus product-versatility, ease of use and beauty to a product and participate from its user friendly and open aproach to data analysis.

The licensing was a bit of a hassle as we started in the early days of tableau. Also Sales were very eager and pretty actively tried to support us. This never was a bad thing, just a bit too much. Also Tableau introduced support for document based databases rather later than earlier so we had a slight wait there. Then again, every time the did include a feature it was just bug free and worked like a charm so this was allright as well.
Two things are especially important when evaluating Tableau, from my point of view: The data you whish to process with it must adhere to a minimal standard (or you will have to do a lot of conversion before you can enjoy it within tableau). So older datasources might become somewhat bothersome or at least require a preprocessing step. Most important is that you understand what tableau is for: You will have a great time when dynamically and actively exploring data, even rapidly changing data or real time streams. If you use a tool for creating static reports you waste the potential of this great piece of human engineering and might run into issues.

I love Tableau because, to me, there is almost nothing else out there that does data visualization so quickly and so effectively. I love that you can import almost any kind of data source (I only use SQL or Excel as sources, but there are hundreds of other options). I love that you can then add your own calculated fields, group data into custom buckets, and create parameters which the user can input on the published workbook. I love that you can visualize the data so quickly and in so many ways (with color and shape/size as further attributes). It's like a pivot chart in Excel but so much more agile to use! Finally, I love that you can then build dashboards with these individual reports/worksheets that you create, publish them onto the web, and essentially "set it and forget it," thereby providing your end users with future reporting that is automatic and requires no further work on your end! The real beauty is the creation of alerts and subscriptions, which can email users on a schedule or depending on certain conditions. That's when life really gets exciting--it's like having a full-time robot managing your processes!

I definitely wish Tableau could write back to a database. That would be amazing. I've heard it's in the works, but for now, it's still just on my wish list. I dislike various aspects about Tableau that can make it quite tricky to use. When you publish a data source, you should really publish it first before creating any calculated fields, groups, or parameters. Otherwise, it becomes much more difficult to edit these fields later as you have to re-download the published data source to make your edits to those fields, and then republish your data source, which results in my having to ask IT to re-input the server refresh password to get the data to refresh on a schedule again. This is a tremendous headache. So it's best to create and save new fields at the workbook level, not the data source level. There are also a great many bugs I still run into with Tableau from time to time. Strange behaviors that show me it was created by a human being, as all software is. There is usually a way to figure out a workaround but you have to get creative. Tableau is quirky, for sure. Some actions in the local program work great but don't necessarily translate to the web form. For example, if you create a calculated field that depends on data from two different sources, that works great locally, but it doesn't work well once you publish those data sources to the Tableau Server, because, for some reason, it does not allow the calculation to draw from the separately published data.

My company heavily relies on Microsoft Excel to initially record and store data so I like the fact that Tableau easily allows you to import spreadsheets from Excel as raw data which can be transformed into great visualisations using Tableau's powerful features. I also like the fact that Tableau allows you to combine data from different sources and work on them together. One feature I find most helpful is report scheduling which updates reports automatically each day. This allows me to automate a repetitive task which I would have had to devote time to doing each day and allows me to easily monitor key metrics.

Tableau can be quite slow when working with larger datasets. Also, although Tableau has great visualisations for data, I feel there needs to be more statistical functionalities to be able to derive better and more in depth insights from data.