Tableau News

Tableau 2021.2:

All innovations at a glance

Tableau has released the Ask-Data feature for users with a Viewer license, making Ask-Data now available to all users with a Tableau license. These features are intended to enable all users, regardless of technical ability, to reliably answer data questions using natural language processing ("NPL"). In addition to expanding availability to all Tableau users, the NPL user experience has been completely redesigned. Ask-Data can now be integrated onto dashboards using a new button. In addition, the search function has been reworked to make it easier to explore data when data sources are unfamiliar.

In addition to Ask-Data, Explain-Data is now available to all users with a Viewer license. The feature has been thoroughly redesigned and now allows users to explore deeper by, for example, selecting individual data points, whereupon Tableau suggests possible explanations for the underlying data based on statistical models.

With the 2021.2 release, spatial calculations for areas have been implemented. For selected map areas, users can now calculate area for any unit of measurement. Together with the linking of spatial files, location-based questions can be answered even more easily. In addition, with the new options for map layers, the visibility and interactivity of marker layers can be adjusted without editing the workbook.

  • Introduction of collections for organizing related items
  • Tableau Desktop connection for web authoring
  • Salesforce data connection in Tableau Online
  • Bulk scoring in Tableau Prep Builder
  • Tableau Server in a container
  • Tableau ID and Multi-Factor Authentication
  • Use multiple analytics extension per page
  • Native Datorama Connector

Tableau 2021.1:

Overview of the Tableau release

Tableau and Salesforce continue to drive integrations between their product portfolios. With Tableau 2021.1, Tableau announces the first native integration of Salesforce's 'Einstein Discovery' product. This enables users to leverage Einstein's powerful machine learning ('ML') predictive models directly in the Tableau workflow without the need for complex algorithm programming.

The following functionality has been implemented in Tableau 2021.1:

  • Einstein dashboard extension: simply clicking in one or more rows of data within a Tableau visualization will display dynamic ML predictions from Einstein Discovery
  • Einstein in Tableau calculations: Einstein predictions can now be easily incorporated into Tableau calculations
  • Mass evaluation in Prep Builder: Einstein Discovery can be used to make initial ML predictions as data is prepared

Lovel-of-Detail calculations ("LODs") have been available in Tableau since version 9.0, allowing users to perform calculations at different levels of granularity regardless of the level of detail displayed.
With this release, LOD expressions can be created even more easily without having to write the calculation itself for it. Simply drag and drop a measure into a dimension and the LOD expression is automatically created using the default aggregation. Alternatively, the context menu can be used by right-clicking on the dimension. This innovation makes the creation of LOD calculations more accessible to the user without having to deal with the sometimes unfamiliar syntax.

With version 2021.1, the output functionality in Tableau Prep has been extended. In addition to the previously available options to write data to CSV and Hyper files, it is now also possible to create Excel files and add data to or replace data in existing Excel files. The user-friendly interface makes it easy to determine which tables are present in the Excel file and how the schema fields are assigned to the fields in the Excel tables.

Tableau now provides the ability to connect to data in an Azure SQL database with Azure Active Directory and in Azure Data Lake Gen 2. In addition, Azure Active Directory is now supported in both existing connectors for Azure Synapse and Azure Databricks.

  • Unification of notifications
  • Enhancement to Ask Data
  • New dashboard enhancement in Tableau Public
  • Web document creation in Tableau Public
  • Header and axis display enhancements
  • Support for spatial Snowflake data
  • Support for spatial KMZ files
  • Web document creation enhancements
  • Device designer for web document creation
  • JDBC for SAP HANA connections on Windows
  • Automatic data quality notices
  • Tableau Catalog search enhancements
  • Metrics improvements
  • Licensing enhancements
  • Enhancements to Tableau Server Management (TSM)

Tableau 2020.3:

Overview of the Tableau release

With Tableau Prep you can create intuitive and user-friendly workflows to prepare your data for analysis. Until now, the export of processed data was only possible as CSV, Hyper or TDE. With this release Tableau offers the possibility to write the data directly into an external database. The selection of connectors is already very extensive: SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Teradata, Snowflake and Amazon Redshift.

With this new feature, administrators can assign licenses and site roles (Viewer, Explorer or Creator) to individuals, teams, departments and even the entire organization, which are automatically activated the first time they log into Tableau Server or Tableau Online. With this functionality, users no longer need to request licenses before using Tableau for the first time and administrators can bypass the time-consuming management and manual issue of individual licenses.

With Release 2020.3, Tableau introduces the new IN operator for calculations. This new feature makes it easy to check whether a given value matches values in a list (for example, records, comma-separated values, or combined fields).

The SAP HANA Connector has also been updated. Users can now connect to table functions (stored procedures that return a table). Tableau has also received official SAP certification (HANA-BI-SQL 2.0) for the integration of SAP HANA in Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep, Tableau Server and Tableau Online.

  • Tableau Desktop - Improving relationships
  • Tableau Desktop - Updating the settings for records
  • Tableau Desktop - Improvements for background maps
  • Tableau Desktop - New functions for prediction modeling
  • Tableau Desktop - Improvements for „Explain the data“
  • Tableau Desktop - Improvements for the search in the data area
  • Tableau Desktop - Data quality warnings in Tableau Desktop
  • Tableau Prep - Grouping steps in Prep Builder
  • Tableau Mobile - Blackberry Dynamics and Workspace One (iOS)
  • Tableau Server - New tab „Shared for me“
  • Tableau Server - Improvements for „Ask Data“
  • Tableau Server - Merge duplicate external resources

Tableau 2020.2:

All innovations at a glance

The new data modeling feature in Tableau makes it easier for users to analyze data across multiple tables at different levels of detail. The ease of use and intuitive display of relationships means that no prior knowledge of advanced database concepts or writing custom SQL code is required. Creating relationships between tables makes it easy to analyze data stored in common data warehouse schemas such as Star or Snowflake. Tableau can process multiple levels of detail in a data source and automatically merges data according to the details required for analysis.

The new Metrics function makes it easier to monitor the most important key figures. They can be individually designed and personalized so that the most important KPIs are always at hand. Metrics are fully integrated into the data and analysis platform via Tableau Server and Tableau Online and are optimized for Tableau Mobile.

In Tableau 2020.2, users can quickly and dynamically change the elements of a set using an intuitive, filter-like interface. A drop-down menu allows users to select or deselect different elements of the set by single or multiple selection. The relevant area is then automatically updated so that the data is always up-to-date.

In addition, the Set Action Controls have been improved. Different actions can be used to add or remove values from the set.

  • Tableau Desktop - Oracle connector for tables with spatial data
  • Tableau Desktop - Esri Web Data Connector
  • Tableau Desktop - Improvements for Explain Data Function
  • Tableau Prep - Salesforce Connector
  • Tableau Prep - Incremental Data Refresh
  • Tableau Server - New Server Admin View for monitoring background processes
  • Tableau Server - publishing workbooks directly in Tableau Server
  • Data Management Add-On - Dashboard in linear function
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