Name: Tableau Enterprise
Brand: Salesforce
Rating: 4.2 (309 reviews)

Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jan 15, 2013

Straightforward installation and modern interface, but not cheap for personal use

I spend most of my time with clients trying to get more out of their existing tools, more often than not some combination of an ERP tool (JDEdwards, SAP etc.) a selection of more “pure” databases such as Oracle, Access, SQL and a lot of spreadsheets.

All of these tools have well understood strengths and weaknesses. One common issue is the effort required for data visualisation. Just to be clear, when I say data visualisation, I mean the presentation of data in a graphic format so that trends, insights and results can be easily and quickly extracted by the reader.

Excel is fine, especially as most of us are very familiar with it, but it has definite limitations. Try putting 10,000 data points on a scatter plot or add interactivity to your chart and you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve taken a look at three tools that really caught my eye when looking for a client solution. There are 20 players in the 2011 Gartner review of BI tools. Many of these are 400lb gorilla solutions, like Cognos, some are more sector specific and others tend to be strongest in certain geographic areas.

Being a Brit, who wanted something strong on visualisation, quick implementation and didn’t want to build a data warehouse, the shortlist came down to:

Tableau
Qlickview
LogiXML

In this blog I’m going to look at Tableau. Over the next few days I’m going to add short reviews of Qlickview and LogiXML.

I’m not Gartner, so there may be some other contenders out there, but life is short so it’s these three that I’ll be testing over the next few blog entries.

Just to set expectation, I’m a data professional, but I’m not a coder or database specialist. I come to this as an “IT competent” management information specialist. I know the sort of output I want to see but I don’t like reading manuals or spending ages building things – much like my clients.

Installation

Installation of Tableau is pretty straightforward. You need to register on their site to get a two week trial period. You download a 51MB .exe file, double click it and in a few minutes you have a working installation of Tableau. It’s a Windows only affair. For this review I ran it as a virtual installation on a Mac which didn’t seem to cause any issues

First off the program asks you to connect to a data source. For ease I used one of the ready-made databases, but the connectors on offer look pretty comprehensive.

Tableau asks you to connect to a data source, including Excel of course

Interface

The interface is fairly busy, with a number of different areas on the interface. It’s all quite clean, logical and modern. There’s a tabbed workspace concept which anyone from an Excel background with instantly be comfortable with.

The chart creation interface will be very straight forward to anyone who has used Excel pivot tables

Applying the “man test”

Like many slightly vain middle aged men, I’m not too keen on tutorials and manuals. I dived into Tableau without reading any of the documentation. Within 15 minutes I’d figured out how to produce and tweak some pretty good looking graphs. I used the sample data provided by Tableau, which may have helped things along a bit.

Flashy geographic mashups are a doddle

This dull looking bar chart has hidden depths - you can click to drill down. It didn't require any configuration

Charts like this heatmap are quick and simple to create

To create a chart you just drag and drop the data items from the panel on the left into a simple table. It’s a lot like creating a pivot table in Excel, only a bit less impenetrable.

Another 10 minutes and I’d figured out how to produce a quite credible looking dashboard. So in terms of “ease of use” I’d give it 10 out of 10. I think it goes as far as you can with usability before you need to start throwing features overboard to simplify it further.

Not a great design by me, but it is a very quick and simple job to create this live dashboard

Features that really stood out

Creating charts: It’s so clearly the “sweet-spot” of this package that it’s easy to overlook the ease with which charts are created.

Drill down: It’s trivially easy to rollup or drilldown through data in the appropriate graph type

Unusual charts: Tableau can create charts that are either difficult or impossible to create in Excel. Heat-maps, graphical mashups (see this dental decay graphic one for a good example) and interactive charts are all possible. You can then post these on the inter/intra net for others to view.

Tableau was dismissed by one of its rivals salesmen as having “pretty graphs”. After a few hours with Tableau I think it’s fair to say that it has some of the best conceived “template” graphs I’ve seen in any package. Their blurb on their web site talks about “visual best practices are baked-in“ and they aren’t kidding. There’s minimal design clutter, clear layout and very spare use of colour. No 3d bars, shading or gridline clutter here. The type of design approach championed by Stephen Few has rarely been executed so well and consistently.

Sharing

The samples on the Tableau web site shows a good selection of ways you can share:

As a web page – you can drop a javascript code snippet into a page to create a web page or share a link

As an image, data download, crosstab or print to PDF

A download to the free Reader application

Samples

To get a good impression of what Tableau can do it’s worth having a look at their excellent selection of demo graphs. Although it’s not always obvious what purpose these graphs serve, there are some outstanding examples of rich, intelligent chart design. I particularly like this dental decay graphic and this flight delay graphic.

The key thing for me is that I actually enjoyed using this software and started working out whether I could justify the cost of a personal copy. Pricing is $999 for a desktop copy that can’t access databases, $1999 for the pro version that can plug into just about any data source – so for personal use it’s not cheap. As with most vendors, there’s no mention of the client-server version software costs, but it’s likely to be industrial grade pricing, like their competitors.

Where I see Tableau (and data exploration tools in general) really delivering value is in encouraging managers and analysts to take the terabytes of data that already exists in most organisations and spin it in new and insightful ways. So rather than just looking at the classic complaint volumes and complaint ages (for example) bar charts, why not start looking at complaint severity and customer segment, or complaint source by geographic source within the production area – as a visual heatmap' Many organisations have allowed their tools to define their ambitions for their analysis, with a tool like Tableau it’s an opportunity to be a bit more ambitious.

I’d recommend downloading a trial and giving it a spin.

Note: I have no commercial relationship with Tableau, so my view is as independent as they come.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user1245

Project Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Jul 23, 2012

Download

Tableau is excellent for visualizing pre-built data or data that are already organized

Valuable Features:

• Graphical representation – great for showing trends over time or comparisons • Data source integration – can integrate with almost every type of databases/data sources like text files (csv, txt), SQL, SSAS, Oracle, etc • Flexible – very simple for a user to create reports with parameters and filters • Drill down – this functionality is built in so it is very simple to export into Excel and link from report to report, dashboard to dashboard. • Links - Using the URL you can link to any webpage or any report accessible via URL

Room for Improvement:

• Unlike Tableau, QlikView is a powerful, agile platform. • Lack of shortcuts – no controls such as dials or gauges which are generally find with dashboard • Poor Performance in hierarchical data– this is an usability problems when filtering as it doesn’t recognise the hierarchy. You can’t clear all filters enabling the user to start again when using complex filters • Unable to link parameters

Other Advice:

• Graphical representation of data - refers to the aggregation of data in a relevant and easy to read • Customizable Maps: Table 7 allows correlation with geographical indicators displayed by different colors. Each geographical area will receive a predefined color. For example, if economic growth in Spain it will receive colors depending on the level of growth • Related Charts: It is possible that in one chart to be visible all the variations. • In addition to the possibilities of visual correlation with indicators of geographical areas, the new version of BI offers a number of other new features: • multiple maps • Multiple names points / geographical areas (depending on language, types of abbreviations) • ability to add new points according to geographical longitude and latitude points • Automatic identification and centering it on the map for viewing relevance.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Report as inappropriate

Mar 23, 2013

From my point of view, Tableau has three advantages: First is that the user can create visuals quickly and then switch between types easily in order to find the model that best represents the message. Second is that the user's interface is well organized and he can customize the view with a few clicks. And third is that defaults are based on best practices and the initial result contains nice color combinations and layout.

Free Report: Tableau Enterprise Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Tableau Enterprise. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

reviewer1311126

Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 15, 2024

Download

Scalable product with a valuable user-interface

Pros and Cons

"The product offers an intuitive user interface, detailed screens and widgets, and the absence of data limitations"

"Tableau's data modeling, mining, and AI library features need improvement."

What is our primary use case?

Our customer uses Tableau for visual dashboard features.

What is most valuable?

The product offers an intuitive user interface, detailed screens and widgets, and the absence of data limitations. Its primary strength lies in visual analytics, allowing users to analyze data with visual compliance.

What needs improvement?

Tableau's data modeling, mining, and AI library features need improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Tableau for five or six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The platform's cloud version is stable and has no CPU or RAM limitations. The dashboards work fast. In the case of an on-premise site, the stability is based on the hardware capacity.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. We have 50 users for it in our environment.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It can be deployed in the cloud and on-premises as well. For successful implementation, one must ensure well-designed data regarding KPIs, data strategy, etc., if one has an in-depth understanding of easy deployment. One needs to log in and select the model for cloud implementation. Preparing a Tableau server environment for the project site takes around two days. It is a self-oriented structure and doesn't require any manual adjustment. It is easy to maintain and involves giving a few commands. However, one must update the product to avoid compatibility issues with Windows and Linux.

What was our ROI?

The product generates a value for investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Tableau has reasonable pricing similar to Power BI. It doesn't have any hidden costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Tableau has a good interface, is easy to deploy, and can be integrated with different AI systems. Compared to other vendors like SAP, the product's data layers need enhancement. Additionally, it could directly connect to cloud services similar to Power BI.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Tableau a nine out of ten. I advise others to help from experienced consultant teams and trusted vendors for implementation. Another piece of advice is to begin small by downloading Tableau Desktop, testing it with your data, and familiarizing yourself with its logic. They can increase their knowledge with online training sources published on the product's website. It is free to access.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner

reviewer1555545

Founder at a tech services company with self employed

Apr 17, 2021

Download

Good pricing with an excellent set of features and good AI capabilities

Pros and Cons

"The ease of presenting findings is very helpful."

"When I've done presentations in the past, I've had issues with uploading the cartography."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for analytics purposes.

What is most valuable?

The preparation of data is very easy.

The ease of presenting findings is very helpful.

Overall, the solution is very user-friendly.

It's very easy for end-users to navigate the solution.

There are a lot of very useful features within the product.

They've recently adjusted their pricing model and we find it to be much more reasonable.

There are new AI functionalities on offer. However, I still need to fully test them and therefore haven't used them to their full potential just yet.

What needs improvement?

When I've done presentations in the past, I've had issues with uploading the cartography.

For how long have I used the solution?

The company that I am currently working with has been using the solution for about a decade - around ten years or so. They've had a lot of time to get to know it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is pretty good. Previously, we found the pricing to be higher than the competition, however, they've adjusted it recently and it's much more competitive. We now find it to be quite reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a consultant and I work with a direct reseller.

I don't work on the tool myself, however, we propose the tool to be implemented in other departments.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been pretty satisfied with its overall capabilities.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. reseller

Amir Amin

Solution Architect - Data Engineering at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Dec 30, 2024

Download

Custom visualizations enhance reporting but AI integration needs improvement

Pros and Cons

"The solution provides the leverage of having custom visualization and the capability of self-service."

"The visualizations should be user-friendly and allow for more custom visualizations."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of the solution is for it to be used as a visualization tool. It is a counterpart of Microsoft Power BI and is used for visualization and reporting purposes.

What is most valuable?

The solution provides the leverage of having custom visualization and the capability of self-service. I can drag and drop and create reports based on requirements. Data blending comes within self-service, allowing me to generate information.

What needs improvement?

There should be a generated AI feature that can be added to enable me to generate information. The visualizations should be user-friendly and allow for more custom visualizations.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have over six years of experience using the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability as three when comparing it to Tableau and ten being the least stable. So, I consider it to be a seven out of ten in terms of stability issues.