Overall Satisfaction with Tableau Desktop
We currently use Tableau within our finance and marketing departments. Tableau helps organize and simplify the analysis of a great deal of restaurant data. We're also able to visualize data that can be difficult to compile within Excel. It also allows us to setup automation of data pulling, so it's as simple as going in and refreshing the data which will refresh an entire dashboard.
- Tableau creates visuals based on the data provided. It automatically chooses which visual works best and its often right.
- Tableau allows for an easy pivot-like approach to analyzing data.
- Tableau provides unique analysis, such as geo-mapping based on address data, which allows for a different perspective when looking at restaurant data.
- Tableau can be difficult in the way it automatically designates certain fields. It may not recognize a certain field as a date field even though it is.
- Tableau is still missing some of the Excel functions that are helpful or it just may not be intuitive in how to incorporate them if you're familiar with Excel.
- While the Tableau map is a great visual option, it can be buggy and still needs some work.
While I haven't done a lot of work in Microsoft BI, I do think they are on the right road to being a great product but they definitely lag behind Tableau in the number of features available. Obviously, it does integrate well with Microsoft products, but it remains to be seen how well they will integrate with other data sources.