Tableau Enterprise Reviews

• Valuable to use smaller data sets
• Automatic Extract Creation
• Replace on publish data sources
• Online sync client
• Progressive-loading dashboards.
• Parameter to pass an initial SQL dynamically
• Combine multiple sets with union
• Subscribe and schedule the reports to receive email on data snapshot
• Ad-hoc reports and ease of use for the end user
• Reduces development effort
• Easy maintenance
• Security with role-based access and in line with Active Directory and SSO
• Alerts and scheduling
• Heat maps, geographical charts, 3D charts, drill down/drill up, drill through, cascading effects, and multi-dimensional and canned reports all in one tool
• Embedding into Microsoft SharePoint

• The end users need not depend on the regular BI developers for certain quick and ad-hoc reports.
• Generic avoidance of sharing the emails with an embedded Excel etc
• Can be accessed from multiple smart devices
• Snapshot facility to the end user for analysis
• Effective visuals

• Facility to add custom code to the dashboard will be helpful.
• Custom SQL feature is not working as expected from the performance perspective. Irrelevant of the SQL, the engine executes for everything available.
• Archive historical data using extracts
• MeasureName filter can’t be shared across multiple sheets in a dashboard.
• Cascading with relative has restrictions over the worksheets in a dashboard.
• Multiple selection in parameters
• Formatting option for individual filter is not available.
• Using HiveServer2 connector is a big challenge to pull, even with smaller data sets. Not sure if that has been improved with Spark Thrift server connector.
• Not much support for Hadoop / Hive as the backend in the market, connectivity issues not limited to the drivers.
• Few complex report requirements (for dashboards) could not be achieved with better performance (e.g. Dynamic Parameters).
• Reverse engineering from the front end report is not that impressive.
• For massive volumes of data, the performance acutely degrades.
• Permitting external users with no SSO is still a concern.
• Server support on Linux is lacking.
• Caps on report scheduling

I have been using this solution for more than three years.

TDS deployment will not encourage editing after the deployment.
With the TDS deployment, a few of the formats are lost. So far, this is not a serious issue.

Approached from the client side, waiting time is reasonable high.

I previously used MicroStrategy, QlikView, SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, Panorama, SAP BusinessObjects, and in-house Java-based reports.

The reasons I chose this product were: ease of doing things, faster performance, and it is an all-in-one tool.

Comparatively, basic setup is not a hard task.

Our use case is met, but the pricing is still a matter of concern.

It is a nice visual and high performance all-in-one BI tool which is becoming more popular with its ease of use and user-friendly features, effective visuals and apt major functionalities of BI.

However, it depends on one’s requirements and budget to balance the need.

We would recommend using it for mid-size datasets to visualize near real-time data, as there is no control over the execution model.

The feature we've found most valuable is Data Extract, which extracts a local copy of all required data in a columnar format store. It does in-memory processing which is lightening fast.

It placed the power of dashboards and scorecard development in the hands of business people, so there's less dependency on developers.

They need to make it more flexible for enterprise administration, e.g, more job scheduling flexibility, more robust permission control, and more comprehensive mapping service that is native and not dependent on a third party like Mapbox. They also need to develop more comprehensive DR and HA solutions.

I've been using it for over three years.

It's excellent for deployments and upgrades.

We have had no issues with its stability.

We have had no problems scaling it for our needs.

They have good customer service support, although they do not always solve the issues. Also, sometimes support takes too long to find the root cause or a solution to an issue.

We previously used Cognos, and Microsoft BI. We chose this due to user-friendly structure. There aren't too many components to manage and understand like in Cognos or Microsoft BI, etc.

The initial setup was straightforward -- very easy installation and upgrades cycle.

In-house - very easy to implement in-house, just follow the installation and upgrade guide check-lists and first try on test environment before doing a production installation or upgrade.

ROI for Tableau when compared to other BI tools we have is excellent.

Tableau has both core-based licencing (for higher number of consumers scenario) and subscription based licences (for limited users scenario) - chose appropriate licencing based on your estimate of number of users.

It's very user friendly and its self-service approach helps business users to develop dashboards in no time. The learning curve is very short - lot of learning resources available.

Still need to do some catch-up on enterprise administration and Mobile friendly reporting e.g Android App is not yet available - expected to be released 10.0.

Tableau releases frequent major releases three to four versions per year, and monthly patch fix releases, so plan a strategy that you want to follow. We are generally one to two releases behind so we can keep up with them, and at the same time leveraging all new exciting features the release.

Geo Spatial maps and Time Series animation with Storyboarding. The easy to use interface has really accelerated adoption. 

It lets power users like engineers create visuals on their data without waiting on a longer IT project timeline. The downside is you really need some SQL skills to take full advantage of it.

For Tableau, R is just a script interface. It is missing the R-style Plot area the data scientists want to use. They really want to overlay pieces on the plot and derive new graphs.

They need to provide a Folder hierarchy for organizing content and setting security. Creating 900 sites takes way too much work and limiting. As a result, we have hundreds of Worksheets in one long list—not good.

We had no issues with the deployment.

Performance has issues when you get too many users. The latest upgrade made it worse and had to be backed off.

The above issues brings into question how scalable it really is.

I am most familiar with SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, but have been to classes on Tableau, Power BI, and Qlikview as part of our internal efforts to help the business choose which is right for their needs.

R and SAS are under our heading of Advanced Analytic tools in the BI space and will be evaluated in phase 2.

Plan how you need to organize and secure content up front. It’s too much work later when it becomes popular. Be sure to plan and budget for more client license bundle purchases as user growth approaches critical mass. Otherwise, you’ll be putting them on a wait list and waiting for management to approve more spending. Managing a lack of licenses is not fun.

Once you are comfortable with the product, building visualizations and dashboards is extremely quick.  I also have not seen a better geospatial drag and drop visualization tool out there yet.

It’s an excellent tool to quickly build visualizations supporting QA and data validation activities.

• Governed data discovery
• Collaboration
• Other enterprise features

We've used it for over two years.

We had no issues deploying it.

There have been no issues with the stability.

Older versions had trouble with performance when looking at larger datasets but it does not seem to be as much an issue now.

Sales support when we were first engaged with them was minimal.

There was no other solution in place.

It’s excellent for desktop analysis but make sure to include other tools in your evaluation if you are looking for enterprise support features.

The ability to make interactive graphs, tables, and maps that can be shared on social media, linked to, or embedded on a website are the most valuable features. The ability to allow readers to view and download the underlying data is another valuable feature.

I just did an analysis of real estate sales in my county (Bay County, FL) and it allowed me to share the results with the public in a way they can make their own discoveries beyond what I have presented. 

Tableau Public is free, which is incredible. However, the paid version is too expensive per user. They need to reduce the cost of the user that is not making the analysis, but only reading / drilling down on the results. It is hard to get a client to pay that kind of money to view reports.

From my conversations with Tableau, their product Tableau Online is what allows others to view and interact with data online privately. The cost per online user is $500 per year. There is a free Tableau Reader, but it is limited. So, if I wanted to make data visualizations for a client or within my own company, I would have to pay for the desktop software to make the visuals plus pay an additional fee for everyone who wants to use the full functions online. Tableau Public is free and an awesome tool, but it is all publicly available.

I've had no issues with deployment.

I've had no issues with stability.

I've had no issues with scalability.

• Visualization
• Data capacity

Where I'm working, we have many reports developed in Microsoft Excel to present results about the business. However, when we need to work a large volume of data, they are developed in Tableau because access to data from Oracle and managing large data volumes is easier than Excel. All the reports that we develop using Tableau are complimented by our directors, as the information is visualized well.

When we need to work with a large volume of data, we can create an extraction, validate data easily, and then present it to our users using Tableau Server or Tableau Reader.

I have difficulty working with many filters on the dashboards, and I'd like to see more options in the "Histories" section. QlikView makes better use of the dashboard filters.

We've used it for two years.

In some departments we chose to install Tableau Reader, but it's necessary to create a ticket to update the software for each new version. This process is not good as it disrupts our day-to-day functions.

I work with 4GB RAM and rarely I have a problem with it. My OS is 32 bits.

We've had no issues with scalability.

I always take support from Tableau's forums and communities.

We also looked at QlikView.

It's a great solution to present data, and our directors love to work with it.

It's easy to start using to deliver off-the-shelf visualizations. It makes it easy to share dashboards with a team. It's a comprehensive solution that can scale from desktop (analyst, developer) to server (large end-user audience) with small or no changes.

In my experience, its greatest achievement has been opening stakeholders' minds. It pioneered the self-serve trend (which may have social roots) where people "own" their data and IT is a service provider to ensure visualization content is based on robust data. Connecting to a massive number of sources (that can be blended in Tableau) has also contributed to this achievement.

It came at a cost. Developers end-up, many times, scratching their left ear with the right hand, in order to make visualizations more powerful, effective or appealing than off-the-shelf ones. The next challenge for Tableau will be combining ease of use for basic-to-mid level complexity design (self-serve, "power users") with flexibility and repeatable development in a corporate environment (professional designers), avoiding "hat tricks" or "cookbook" style.

Also, when building corporate dashboards, it may be challenging to gain the type of control needed without having to resort into some forum tricks or Zen-Master's advice. Workbook, connection versioning, and governance would be great for mid-to-large size organizations. Server-wise, having options to trigger alarms to an Administrator under certain conditions would also be an asset.

I've been using both Tableau Desktop and Server for four years.

No problems at all. Very robust and well documented (both Desktop and Server versions)

No problems, at least with the data sources I have used Tableau so far - MSSQL 2008 & 2012, Teradata RDBMS 14.x, and MSAS Cubes.

Tableau can scale to massive datasets without problems (I used a few, approximately one billion-row tables), provided a DBA is part of the team to fine-tune tables and views. The proprietary columnar database engine is very fast and robust.

It's great.

It's great, although forums are usually the first resource to get answers from.

I have helped customers migrate from MS Pro-Clarity and Oracle Hyperion.

Tableau is not a demanding platform in pre-set environments before rolling-out as long as tech specs are met. However, certain design decisions need to be made in advance to ensure good performance and smooth scalability on a Server deployment (e.g. permissions, standards, etc.).

I act as an implementation consultant.

Go through the exercise of planning short and mid-term to understand what the best licensing model is e.g. per Core vs. Named Seats, number of Designers, etc.

Understand your organization's profile. Do you have or want/need to develop power-users or will you use traditional IT developed dashboards in an intranet/internet? Although Tableau can fit both scenarios, the first option would be the most benefited one when compared to other solutions. Look into redefining the relationship between business stakeholders and IT, since the former will demand more consumable information for analysis instead of packaged reports.

The use is only academic, for the moment.

I've used it for six months.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

I've not needed to contact them.

I've not needed to contact them.

It was easy to setup.

We did it in-house.

• BIME
• QlikView
• SiSense