Tableau Lets You Become Productive in Minutes

Tableau and especially Tableau server has helped our business share data much more efficiently and accurately than the old method of emailing spreadsheets and presentations around. The ability for anyone to manipulate the data and answer their own questions allows analysts to concentrate on the truly difficult and unique problems instead of cranking out a never-ending series of custom reports. Having the data connected to live source or warehoused data means everyone is up to date all the time.

Pros

Tableau is exceptionally easy to pick up and be productive, and has the ability to connect to almost any data source you can imagine, including REST APIs (though this is a pretty advanced process).

Cross database joins are an amazing feature that allow you to mix data from Excel, Oracle, MySQL and others on a single dashboard.

There are a ton of online resources available from Tableau, and the broader user community which help you in the event that you get stuck on a thorny issue.

Tableau also supports the Tableau Public desktop software which allows anyone to create and share visualizations for free on the web (though data sources are severely limited with Tableau Public).

Cons

Price is an issue, particularly if you're an individual or a small business. Woe be unto you if you're a small business and you'd like to set up a Tableau server.

There are some functions which we've all grown accustomed to in Excel which new users will expect to be in Tableau but just aren't--robust Conditional Formatting, for instance. However, in most cases there are workarounds and other ways of accomplishing the same task.

While it's easy to become quickly productive, most users will outgrow the easy stuff pretty quickly as they attempt join new data sources, or produce more complicated visualizations.

Tableau Rocks!

Overall, Tableau is a fantastic program for getting automated reports created, published, and off your plate! The visuals are amazing and the subscriptions and alert system are my absolute favorite. The software has its quirks but I've yet to have a problem I couldn't logically program my way around with a little time spent on web forums. Amazing software, very useful, exciting to use!

Pros

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!

Cons

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.

The future of Big Data visualisation and processing

It took me some time to understand the scope and approach of Tableau. During this time i was confused and sometimes frustrated as It was hard to get static reports out of tableau. Once however I understood the magic behind it (well actually it wasn't Tableaus fault, but just me being stubborn) a whole new world of analyzing data opened up. A Magnificent, splendid, dynamic and playful way of getting answers from data and a completely new way of thinking questions to ask from my data. If you do not have to create static reports which you want to mail daily to a bunch of people but want to explre the secrets your data holds This is THE tool. Definite recommendation.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Tableau: all-in-one data visualization and organization software

Pros

I have tried many ways to organize my files, especially my data for work. I had tons of trial and errors with different software. I tried Tableau and I have been using it ever since. Tableau lets me store my files and so much more. Tableau allows me to view my data in a way that I wanted it to be shown, organized and sorted. I can access different files using cloud and data warehouses. No other software allows me to merge two different data and viewing them as one except for Tableau. And because my data are to be shared with most of my co-workers, it allows me to do just that. It is amazing how easily everyone in my team can access the files through online and server. Another great thing about Tableau is its availability on iOS, Mac and windows, which increases the ease of my team’s accessibility.
My work requires me to review different trends on different topics and with a simple drag and click; I am allowed to review what I need with Tableau. It seems that Tableau is really created for my needs; it is just amazing that this software can be of so much help.

Cons

Tableau is great but it really was confusing at first, especially without any help or tutorial, the software had too many functions that it can take time to be able to learn a single task in it. A helpful solution is that Tableau has a help area where frequently faced difficulties can be answered and since many has already been using it, asking for help from others was not that hard. It was not that difficult to learn the functions of Tableau.

Tableau Desktop is my must-have software. I couldn't do my job without it (nor would I want to)!

Tableau has allowed our office to look at data in new ways. Whether we're using it for data exploration or dissemination, it makes the information easy to understand and use, even for newbies. In the past, we used spreadsheets and PDFs to share data with various constituents, but they were dense and only offered a static view of the data. Now, with interactive dashboards, end-users can not only search for the exact information they need, they can also see how it fits into the big picture. This capability has led people to ask more questions and actually get excited about data and assessment. Tableau allows us to answer those new questions quickly and accurately than before.

Pros

I have been using Tableau Desktop for over five years now and I still get excited about it. First, Tableau is so easy to learn and use--the intuitive interface allows even first-time users to create amazing visualizations. Second, Tableau is a time saver. What used to take me weeks now takes days and what used to take days now takes minutes. Third, Tableau is versatile. There are many different chart types available, and with the ability to tweak everything from size to font to color, your imagination is the only limit. Fourth, Tableau is always evolving and improving. With each update, Tableau adds new features and capabilities that continuously make my job easier to perform. The software is capable of connecting with data in many different formats from spreadsheets and SQL to PDF's and spatial files, making it useful for any field or company that works with data. I could go on and on about the benefits of using Tableau, but the best way to understand my enthusiasm is to try the product--it speaks for itself!

Cons

Sometimes large data files can take several minutes to load. Tableau allows for the creation of extracts to speed up the process, but the initial upload still takes time. Tableau also does not have an auto-save feature, which has caused me to lose work on several occasions.

A flexible and powerful tool

I am an analytics consultant and used to work mostly with SAP BW (Business Objects, Business Explorer, etc), Lumira, and Qlik Sense. My first contact with Tableau was very good, I've learned many things in a few days, it's very easy to use and also very powerful. I'm happy in working with this project because Tableau makes my experience much better, I'm liking it.

Pros

The easiness on creating simple reports don't obfuscate its power on creating complex dashboards. If you want to create a simple bar graph that shows your sales amount, you can do it easily and quickly, but it doesn't take out the tools and mechanisms that allows advanced users and consultants to do more, like creating complex non-existent (not ready-available in the tool, but possible) charts like exploded bar charts. It supports formulas and also have a very good engine for it, as you can define one and reference it by its name wherever you need.
As an analytics consultant, I've seen many other reporting tools, like Qlik View (and Sense), Power BI, SAP Lumira and so on, so I can tell that Tableau is a major competitor in segment.

Cons

A common problem that takes place inside large companies lies on the difference between how we think Tableau looks for data and how it actually does. At one of the cases we have SAP Hana as a database with its views as data source and Tableau as the reporting tool. Some of our dashboards have been stated as "slow", but we figured out that the problem was not on the columns that was available and being used by Tableau, but in the other columns. The Tableau doesn't ever create the same SQL as we are expecting for a situation, it has a complex way to determine the better SQL for the best user experience.
This slowness is known wherever you ask for "Tableau main problems".
So the problem was not entirely on Tableau, but in the way we created the views.
This is a very light con that has the main purpose to aware software buyers instead of saying "don't buy".
In short, the slowness may lie on data source instead of Tableau's engine. You should care about how data is delivered to it.

Great BI Tool - Lovely Friendly Pretty!

• Anyone will be able to make Pretty visualization without much prior experience and can decipher stories underneath data. • It was really easy for me to pick up the tool and get on the speed. Really like this BI Tool but it does have its limitations. • Great for visualizations but if you want a BI Tool for numeric/tabular reports especially for financial reports - you should probably consider some other tool. With that being said, its totally worth the money for all other BI needs and seriously the best BI Tool available!

Pros

• Awesome BI Tool
• Very User-friendly
• Pretty visualization
• Easy to ramp up. Even new users can get to the speed really fast
• Tableau Reader is free - so developers can make it and anyone can view it for free
• Creating Interactive Dashboards and Storyboards is an awesome way to tell a story with the data - Great for presentations!
• While you can have only limited developer licenses but pretty much anyone in your organization can view or even interact with Tableau reports on the server - which is very nice if your audience is huge. Easy to export data/reports in Excel and PDF.

Cons

• Not much flexible for numeric/tabular reports, if you need a BI Tool for Finance reports - you really need this part!
• If you are building a tabular report with numbers you will miss few very basic and must have things - assigning row numbers. There is no such feature to append row numbers.
• In tabular reports, your hierarchy will remain fixed for every section. You can't have 2 rows in section and 3 in other. All secitions will be rigid.

Tableau is my go-to tools for quick, nicely looking dashboards and data visualization

I get real-time data visualization from Tableau Software and a platform for posting cool and useful data visualizations without having to purchase a server.

Pros

Tableau is the software I use most (outside of Excel). The software's visualization tools are nice, at times amazing. Tableau connects with every data source I've ever needed (with the exception of one problem). The interactive capabilities and Tableau Public make for a perfect fit for a beginner to intermediate data visualizer. Advanced data visualizers probably find the functionality somewhat constraining, but that's one of the benefits of the software. Tableau is more than just a supped-up Excel graphics system. The analytical capabilities, although not best in class, offer all the basic calculations that most users will ever need.

Cons

Tableau is limited in its analytical capabilities. Tableau is working on making its use of R script more user friendly, although this requires the user to know R. Tableau's graphs are also somewhat limited at times, and Tableau for some reason takes pride in limiting its options (it apparently knows better than the user on what graphs are useful).

Educator who uses Tableau to analyze and display network-wide student achievement data

Pros

I'm a K-4 public educator who uses Tableau to analyze and display network-wide student achievement data. As the literacy director for six elementary schools, I analyze scholar data on a daily basis. I primarily use Tableau to display English quiz results for each of my schools to compare and contrast performance by question and by standard. I appreciate the ability to categorize data (by school, by section, by question, by standard) and to easily sync it with our data uploading system (we use Illuminate). Displays are easy to read and easy to implement -- overall a pleasant user experience. I really like how you can create workbooks on Tableau that will auto refresh whenever you open them. This is SUPER helpful to me considering I analyze data daily. Given that I work with multiple schools across multiple grades, the filtering options that Tableau offers are also very helpful to my work. I also appreciate that it's free, even though I'm not the one making all the high level budget decisions.

Cons

It took me about 2-3 hours of perusing the internet to feel comfortable using Tableau. Perhaps they offer user support resources but I did not have any access to them. It's definitely not the most self-explanatory software out there, and I wish there was an easier way to either train myself on how to use it or read articles/watch videos that could quickly help me learn how to use it efficiently.

Tableau is the Industry Standard for Data Visualization

Streamlined our reporting - provided informative dashboards to our executive team and staff.

Pros

I use tableau as an analyst every day and I like the ability to create rich visualizations from different kinds of datasets. If you are of a creative and problem solving mindset there is almost a limitless set of complex Vizzes that you can design using Tableau.

Cons

I think Tableau can be less than intuitive. While there is almost unlimited capabilty, often it's difficult to immediately understand what is required to solve your problem. It's good however that there is a huge customer base and forums that can help you. It's often better to solve your problems in the database rather than with Tableau. Use it as the Viz layer as much as you can and try to limit usage of it in doing calculations, especially with big datasets. Performance can degrade.

In the dashboard design there should be a little bit more finetuning of the interface. Can't copy/paste items which would be a nice feature.

Customer support staff are extremely professional and friendly - if you can get a hold of them. Tableau support has fallen away recently I have found.

Data visualisation - with a learning curve

We did not have a proper BI tool previous to Tableau. We were extracting data to spreadsheets and cross-referencing multiple spreadsheets to generate our data. While Tableau is initially harder to use than a simple spreadsheet, it is much easier to use in the long run.

Pros

Really, really powerful data visualisation tool. You can take data from virtually any source and join it together. Then you can make visualisations, dashboards, and stories from all of this data.

Sharing your data with non-technical people is a breeze. Package up the workbook, including the source data, and your users can open the file using free Tableau Reader. They can still filter the data, etc. They just can create new visualisations or refresh the data.

There is a huge amount of training available online to help you on your journey.

Another great feature is that you can pull from live data, or you can create a data extract to take a snapshot of the data at a point in time.

Cons

There is a steep learning curve to properly learn the software. If you have previous experience with BI software, it may not be as difficult. But it is definitely much more difficult that putting together a graph or pie chart in a spreadsheet.

That being said, once your data model is humming along and you've learned how to create some basic visualisations, the world really opens up to you and you can get lots of data insights very easily.

The most comprehensive tool to analyze multiple sources of information

A special mention should be made about their student policy. I started with the software because the company gave me a one year access while I was in school, and I brought the knowledge I acquired with it to my employers. It is a great way of promoting the software and giving students a great tool for their resume at the same time.

Pros

Tableau’s productivity suite allows you to connect it to all data sources we’re already using in a matter of minutes. This maximized our analysts' productivity, moving their tasks from the mostly mechanical to the analytical.
It is incredibly easy to use; it is intuitive even for non-savvy users, and doesn’t took time, programming knowledge, or expensive training for our team to get a grasp on it.
Its collaboration features facilitate group analytics, and at the same time ensure that all team members are on the same page. The best part about it is the devoted mobile app for different devices, which allowed our sales representatives to work from wherever they are.
Last, but not least, their tech support team is unmatched in service and follow-up.

Cons

Even with all the flexible options they provide, it's still a pricey solution. However, it is totally worth it

Incredible software but tough pricing model

Tableau has helped us put our in-house data that was originally in PDFs into an amazing filterable dashboards for public consumption.

Pros

This is the best in class visual display tool. I really had everything and was built from the ground up to handle data visualizations.

I love the simplicity combines with the power to do almost anything. Built in GIS tools are great. Dashboard building is straightforward with nearly unlimited features. Mobile displays are getting great attention these days too.

Cons

Can be a steep learning curve for some of the more advanced features. Calculations can be tricky and aren’t incredibly intuitive out of the box. Training is best for those.

The pricing model to share proprietary data is steep unless you go with tableau reader which isn’t always possible from a privacy perspective. Make sure you investigate this before purchasing with a representative.

Tableau online and tableau server are good products but with per user pricing which can be a hinderance.

A leader in BI Analytics

Pros

Tableau is an incredibly robust BI tool. Drag and drop functionality and built-in connectors to a wide variety of data sources make it a breeze to get up and running while creating beautiful visualizations that can help your business make intelligent, informed, data-driven decisions. Whether you are new to BI tools or have years of experience, you can easily use Tableau to help you get up and running with all of your data needs. If you aren't sure how to best visualize your data, Tableau will give you recommendations based on the type of data you're using.

Cons

While Tableau can be easy to start using, it can definitely feel overwhelming at times. With so many connectors and different charts and graphs it is easy to get lost when you are first starting out. Some of the calculated fields, while incredibly robust, feel like you need a PhD in order to figure them out. Once you get past some of these hurdles, you'll never look back though!

The Ultimate Custom Data Visualization!

Tableau has taken our organization into whole new seasons of innovation and effective leadership! It's helped all of our team members to see the value (no puns intended) of data, no matter their role or position. It's also inspired many team members to ask more questions, which leads to richer data and more helpful visualizations to help us grow!

Pros

As someone in my organization who frequently analyzes our data and initially built some of our team Workbooks, I love how incredibly detailed the customization and building can be!

Cons

It takes a lot of time to thoroughly learn how to build workbooks and to understand the "language" of Tableau on the backend. When I transitioned into the role where I needed to construct some unique views and workbooks for my team, the training time investment was more than I anticipated, and I still learned as I went. Be sure you have patient instructors and give your Tableau experts the full time they need to feel confident - this will allow them the freedom and comfort to "play" with more data!

Best Self Service Business Intelligence tool

Pros

For Data Scientists and advanced users, Tableau is the most efficient and powerful. Tableau offers different kinds of data visualizations and connectors to load once data.
Tableau has 3 offerings. A free version with limited functionality. Then Tableau desktop and Tableau Online are available on subscription pricing model, which is way cheaper when compared to the traditional pricing.
Tableau is a mature and stable product with a wide user base. Tableau is widely used in most companies i have worked for.
Tableau introduced a new data engine called Hyper recently, which promises faster performance.
Overall Tableau is a great product with bright future. In our company we leveraged it well.

Cons

Tableau is for sophisticated users. It requires training to get the best out of it. In our company we hired an experience consultant, who trained us and worked with us, so that we learnt all kinks of the tool.

Turned an average Excel user into a data analytics pro

We used Tableau to combine over 2 million lines of health claims data from Excel spreadsheets with approximately 85 data points per line. Tableau made it possible for our team to compare each line of data and locate the specific lines of data that indicated problems within the coding for health benefits. After locating the issues and fixing the coding, we used Tableau to compare the data again and validate that the potential issues were corrected. Without the use of a tool like Tableau, our comparison process would have taken weeks longer, and would have been less effective.

Pros

Able to gather large pieces of data from multiple spreadsheets and combine them to create a cohesive picture
Flexibility in creating different types of reports and graphs for sharing with a variety of audiences
Overall, most functions were easy to learn, and once the graphs were created, it was easy to copy them and alter them for additional purposes

Cons

Some of the functions were difficult to master quickly--had a higher learning curve than I would have liked for some tasks

Good data visualization tool

Pros

a) Easy to use and make data to tell stories about its insights
b) Visualization is very clear and with the help of dropdown its make your life easier to drill down the granularity of data and you can see the different metrics and KPI in the same chart.
c) The various chart especially the heat chart is very useful if you are dealing with the geographical data.
d) Apart from the data visualization, the transformation data with the help of SQL Queries is very useful in it.
e) Data shaping you can mold the data as per your need but to a certain extent.

Cons

a) Data bending is a major concern, sometimes the view get lost or the data you want to show isn't correct number
b) Location of Extracts, the extract get misplaced although the extract is at the location then also it is not showing the view.
c) When you try to make twbx file to twb file then views and data get misplaced or vanish from the report

Easy, intuitive and quick data visualizations.

This has become a go-to reporting solution for our team.

Pros

Tableau is a very intuitive data visualization tool. We use both the desktop version, for report development, and Tableau server for publishing reports for our staff. The tool is very flexible when it comes to data connections - you can connect to almost anything. The interface is very clean and once you get the hang of dimensions and measures you will be on your way to becoming a data viz master. Tableau has come along way with their ability to join data sources. This has been a major area of improvement in the last release. Tableau has a huge online support community and the few times I have had to use their customer support it was exceptional.

Cons

There are times I wish you could do more statistical analysis in Tableau. They have some built in components for this, but in my opinion this is one of the weaker areas of the tool.

Amazing tool for data visualization and analysis

I've worked with Social Media Analytics with Twitter data (and metadata) and it really was a breakthrough tool for that end. Things I was struggling with other tools were almost effortless on Tableau. I really recommend. There are resources online and courses so anyone with enough time and dedication may learn and get things done.

Pros

Excellent tool. Once you get by the first interface learning curve, it is easy to learn, very well documented and simple to do the basic stuff. If you want to get more serious, of course it is harder, but I was able to do things I deemed were very complex with not so much work, thanks to Tableau. Besides, since I am an academic researcher, they have a generous free license program that allows me to perform my research without spending all my (not-so-abundant) resources, such as with statistical analysis softwares (unfortunately...). The visualization possibilities are most helpful not only to analyze, but to synthesize sometimes, so it works as a means and an end at the same time. I am very impressed and thankful to Tableau software and the community that helped me get through with Social Media Analytics for my PhD.

Cons

It is resource intensive, so you better work on a good (hopefully desktop) computer. Specially if dealing with big data. Also, sometimes the interface goes a little crazy and you have to load and unload to get the visualization right. It crashes with some frequency, but I have never lost much of the work thanks to an auto-recovery tool. The data import may feel less intuitive (as compared to the worksheet interface) and I had problems importing *.csv files and converting date fields.