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Tableau Desktop

Tableau Desktop

Overview

What is Tableau Desktop?

Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual…

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Recent Reviews

Analytics with Tableau

7 out of 10
February 27, 2024
We use Tableau to generate daily and weekly reports for our business module to generate our key performance indicators. These insights we …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 30 features
  • Report sharing and collaboration (156)
    9.3
    93%
  • Drill-down analysis (158)
    9.2
    92%
  • Customizable dashboards (165)
    9.0
    90%
  • Formatting capabilities (161)
    8.9
    89%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Tableau Creator

$70.00

On Premise
Per User / Per Month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttp://www.tableau.com/products/desktop

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $70 per month
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Product Demos

Tableau Desktop Tutorial | Tableau Desktop Training | Online Tableau Desktop Training - Youtube

YouTube

- Tableau Demo: Quick Tutorial to Getting Started with Tableau Desktop

YouTube

Tableau Desktop Naming Conventions Part 1

YouTube

Tableau Desktop Introduction Part 1

YouTube
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

8.5
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

8.9
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

8.8
Avg 8.4

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

8.6
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

8.7
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8.4
Avg 7.9

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

8.6
Avg 7.9
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Product Details

What is Tableau Desktop?

Tableau Desktop supports data-driven decisions by helping users to answer questions more quickly, solve harder problems more easily, and uncover new insights.

Tableau Desktop connects directly to hundreds of data sources, both on-premises or in the cloud, with the goal of making it easier to start analyses. Interactive dashboards, drag and drop functionality, and natural language queries help users of all skill levels quickly discover actionable insights, all from its visual interface. Users can ask deeper questions by quickly building calculations, adding trend lines and seeing statistical summaries, or clustering data to see relationships.


Tableau Desktop Video

In this video, the TrustRadius team will be discussing the top business intelligence tools available: Qlik Sense, Tableau, ThoughtSpot, and IBM Cognos Analytics.

Tableau Desktop Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.

Tableau Desktop starts at $70.

IBM Cognos Analytics, SAP Lumira Discovery, and Qlik Sense are common alternatives for Tableau Desktop.

Reviewers rate Report sharing and collaboration highest, with a score of 9.3.

The most common users of Tableau Desktop are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(2271)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-4 of 4)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Paul Morgan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Clean visualizations that are not cumbersome or dated.
  • Exceptional presence on (windows) desktop, web and mobile (capability).
  • Connects to a variety of disparate data sources.
  • Faster enablement of reporting and analytics than other BI contenders.
  • No OSX support (due 2014).
  • Browser Authoring needs more maturity.
  • Missing some visualizations (coming in 2014).
  • Some of the sorting capabilities on calculated fields are limited.
  • Not great if you're looking for Crystal Reports style static reporting production.
  • Integration with portal systems.
If you are looking for a BI Visualization and Analytics tool and have looked at Tibco and MicroStrategy (to name but two), then this is worth putting on the top of your list.

This application is great for displaying BI content on screens but not really best used for the dumb reporting that tools like Crystal do better - however it can do it but it's a hammer to crack a nut.

This application may also redefine how you think of your BI solution. Get the public version and try it out.
Meets 80% of needs and continues to develop the platform in a way which is conducive to both the business and the industry
  • Rapid Prototyping.
  • Great story-telling tool.
  • Industry Leading visualizations > Customer satisfaction.
30
IT, QA, Product Management, Data Analysts, Modelers
4
  • Visualizing data from a variety of sources.
  • Creating Reporting.
  • Analyzing and Auditing.
Prior was Microstrategy.
  • Implemented in-house
Make sure you focus on the data organization. The BI tool will run at the speed of the data....therefore if you have to have joins across multiple data sources of a fair size, these should be connected outside of Tableau in production environments. Alteryx is a great tool for merging data sources and having workflows to support it.
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
Extensive and beneficial - users have shown great benefit of training and put it to practical use.
Very easy to just paste or insert data and go - intuitive way of creating analytics.
Yes
Enterprise software = premium support.
Tableau treat us very well and are always ready to listen and engage.
Simple, quick and easy to create simple outputs for the novice; very capable to scale up and get really complex for the expert (Desktop version).
Some quirks around how calculations work need research/training.
Have seen issues with the vertica DB driver which manifest as errors for the end user.
It performs as well as could be expected; the challenge is making sure the data is organized correctly to optimize performance.
  • Google products.
  • Updated Census data.
Supported to a degree; there is an API and a means to manually override census data to be more current (requires purchase of data).
Not disclosed.
April 08, 2015

Tableau Desktop 8.0.4

Justin Lahullier, MBA, PMP | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Easy to access and transform all data store types.
  • Tool is easy to navigate.
  • Data visualizations are appealing to end users.
  • Large statistical analysis (this is changing in the next version with integration of R).
I use this tool every day to support current projects as well as ad-hoc requests.
BI Platform
N/A
N/A
Supported Data Sources
N/A
N/A
BI Standard Reporting (1)
80%
8.0
Pixel Perfect reports
80%
8.0
Ad-hoc Reporting
N/A
N/A
Report Output and Scheduling (1)
80%
8.0
Publish to Web
80%
8.0
Data Discovery and Visualization
N/A
N/A
Access Control and Security
N/A
N/A
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
N/A
N/A
  • Used to visualize and mine data in order to support key business decisions.
Did not switch.
  • Implemented in-house
Easy to install and manage.
  • In-person training
No
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Tableau is a very well rounded tool for creating action based analysis and visualizations of data against multiple datasets / data types. It is a much more user friendly interface for people with varying levels of software and analysis experience. Much more so than many other tools on the market. Tableau is click and drag whereas others require knowledge of SQL, ETL and Database administration. Not to say that you can't take Tableau to the next level by employing SQL scripts and ETL tools but it's not necessary. Tableau can analyze data in Excel or Access as well as be pointed to enterprise database solutions like Oracle or SQL Server. It can even be pointed to the cloud and analyze things like Google Data. It can crunch through giant data sets with no issues whatsoever. The visualization graphics and maps are excellent. We've had "bake off" sessions with other tools like QlikView and you can churn out things in Tableau in a third of the time as someone else using QlikView.
  • Nothing that I have seen. I've used it in many capacities for both reporting internal to an organization as well as publishing interactive reports and analysis out to customers for their own analysis.
  • Much of this is confidential to our business, but there is a definitive savings in man hours in regards to the amount of time it takes to create advanced action based visualizations of logistics, inventory and forecast data. It is easy to use the tool to pick out visual patterns where there may be issues with shipping lanes, carriers, item inventory or sales spikes etc.... Those all have monetary impacts to them.
Bottom line. It's just great software.
2
Logistics, Demand Planning, Inventory Management.
2
  • Analysis in the areas of: Logistics, Forecasting, Demand, Sales. There's no data Tableau can't visualize in a meaningful fashion
Used to use MS Excel for charts and graphs. MS Access for joining datasets and conducting analysis. Had the option of using QlikView but based on my past experience with Tableau and QlikView, Tableau was a more well rounded tool for analysis and visualization against multiple datasets / data types and it is a much more user friendly interface for people with varying levels of software and analysis experience. Tableau is click and drag whereas QlikView requires more knowledge of SQL.
QlikView, Cognos, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
  • Implemented in-house
It's a simple download and desktop install. Tableau server requires more work and IT resources to support the product unless you use Tableau's hosted offering.
  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
Instructor was very knowledgeable and did an excellent job.
Both their recorded and live training sessions are great.
It's not difficult to learn if you have some experience with reporting and analysis tools however it helps to sit through a few basic on-line tutorials or go to a live class. The learning curve is not very steep.
Does what you need out of the box.
No
Not needed.
Tableau has been excellent with any questions I've ever had. They have excellent on-line tools, classes and forums to interact with other users.
I could teach a monkey to use Tableau, that's how easy it is to use. Point to your data set. Select the fields you want to analyze or visualize. Pick a visualization or map type that is already automatically refined and suggested to you based on the data you selected. Click Show Me. Done. Didn't like it? Hit undo. Do it again. Want it back? Hit re-do. You can manually build analysis and maps as well.
I've never had an issue with it being down or having a bug.
The only issue I've ever had wasn't related to Tableau. It was our network.
  • Oracle and SQL Server.
  • No.
Very easy and helpful in both respects.
Jon Boeckenstedt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Tableau allows us to connect to almost any data set we can muster without translating or restructuing
  • It allows end users who are business experts but not technical experts to explore and visualize data in ways that are visually rich, compelling, and highly communicative
  • Can't think of any
  • NA
We are widely implemented and use continues to grow as more people discover it. It has widespread adoption and very high end user satisfaction.
100
All aspects of the university: Admissions, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, Business Operations, IT, Student Affairs.
1
A server admin who does this as a part of his duty; in FTE the actual number is less than one.
  • Easily publishable and shareable dashboards
  • Critical, time-sensitive ad-hoc reports
  • Engenders a sense of curiosity about data among young staff
Excel
Although I evaluated Omniscope, several versions of Xcelsisus, and have since looked at Qlikview, I find that Tableau offers extraordinary power to the end user; that is, the people who know the business best. This is true and especially important for non-technical business experts.
  • Implemented in-house
Our IT Staff implemented server and does upgrades, and we've had only minor glitches, all of which are quickly resolved.
  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
Videos online are exceptionally thorough.
I would recommend a few videos, then exploration, then videos and then the community.
No
Not available, but not needed.
The email and call support is exceptional; although I have had few problems, they are usually solved within an hour. In addition, Tableau has developed a large and knowledgeable community of users who help each other, and I find them to be among the best spokespeople for the software.
The training videos on the website make the software seem exceptionally easy. In fact, in real life it's even easier.
Other than upgrades, we've never had downtime that I'm aware of.
Recent versions have improved speed dramatically, and the data engine that is built in can sort through millions of rows of data in very short time.
Exceptional. We had the phone numbers of the VP for sales, and found negotiation very easy.
NA
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