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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 (157)
    9.3
    93%
  • Drill-down analysis (159)
    9.0
    90%
  • Formatting capabilities (162)
    9.0
    90%
  • Customizable dashboards (166)
    8.8
    88%

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.

8.8
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

8.6
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.

8.8
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8.4
Avg 8.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

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

8.7
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 Competitors

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

View all alternatives
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Reviews and Ratings

(2261)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-3 of 3)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
May 26, 2016

Tableau - the better BI tool

Paul Morgan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Paul Morgan
Senior Product Manager
Experian (5001-10,000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Pros and Cons
  • 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.
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Likelihood to Renew
10
Meets 80% of needs and continues to develop the platform in a way which is conducive to both the business and the industry
Return on Investment
  • Rapid Prototyping.
  • Great story-telling tool.
  • Industry Leading visualizations > Customer satisfaction.
Users and Roles
30
IT, QA, Product Management, Data Analysts, Modelers
Support Headcount Required
4
Business Processes Supported
  • Visualizing data from a variety of sources.
  • Creating Reporting.
  • Analyzing and Auditing.
Products Replaced
Prior was Microstrategy.
Implementation Details / Implementation Partner
  • Implemented in-house
Implementation Rating
9
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.
Training Types Used
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
In-Person Training
9
Extensive and beneficial - users have shown great benefit of training and put it to practical use.
Ease of Tableau Desktop Training
Very easy to just paste or insert data and go - intuitive way of creating analytics.
Premium Support
Yes
Enterprise software = premium support.
Support Rating
9
Tableau treat us very well and are always ready to listen and engage.
Usability
8
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.
Reliability and Availability
9
Have seen issues with the vertica DB driver which manifest as errors for the end user.
Performance
8
It performs as well as could be expected; the challenge is making sure the data is organized correctly to optimize performance.
Future Integration Plans
  • 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).
Key Negotiation Points
Not disclosed.
September 26, 2013

100 Reasons why Tableau can help you!

Brad Llewellyn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Brad Llewellyn
Associate Data Analytics Consultant
Mariner (Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Pros and Cons
  • Tableau is extremely good at turning large amounts of data into useful analyses. Once you are comfortable with the tool, you are rarely more than a few clicks away from a useful visualization/analysis.
  • Tableau's simple, clean, drag-and-drop interface allows for a business to go from 0-60 in record time. There are many types of useful analyses that can be done with no IT knowledge at all. For example, a business analysis can slice his/her Sales or Profits in almost any fashion simply with a few clicks.
  • Tableau is exceptional at answering the five basic questions "Who?", "What?", "When?", "Where?", and "How?". If you can phrase your problem as one of these five questions, then Tableau will likely be of great value to you.
  • Tableau is somewhat restrictive in the type of data it will work with. It likes relatively clean data in a tabular format. This means records on the Rows and values on the Columns. If your data is very messy/inaccurate, then Tableau has limited ability to deal with this easily. There are other tools on the market that are designed to help you clean/reformat your data. Tableau is a visualization/analytics tool, and a great one at that! Use it for its strengths.
Likelihood to Recommend
Alternatives Considered
We have evaluated QlikView as well. QlikView is another tool in the "Self-Service BI" world. However, it's focus is mainly on creating ad-hoc data models and using these models to make visualizations. Tableau, on the other hand, will take an existing data model and make much more impressive, and useful, charts than QlikView would.
Likelihood to Renew
10
Tableau is an exceptionally useful tool when you want to know what's happening inside of your data. It is extremely powerful and intuitive. We will definitely renew this tool.
Return on Investment
  • It is very difficult to quantify the effect that using Tableau has had on our clients. The one major benefit I can think of is the reduction of operational expenses. Tableau allows them to keep one person who maintains ten dashboards instead of the twenty people it took when they were using Excel.
  • Having a series of relevant, automatically refreshing dashboards allows for "quick response" to business problems, which could save tremendous amounts of money. If a problem is occurring, you would see it on your dashboard the next day, instead of an analyst finding it a month later.
Users and Roles
5
We are all consultants. Therefore, we take the product to the Business Analysts, IT professionals, and Senior Executives at our clients, which span many industries.
Support Headcount Required
1
Given the size of our organization, I am Mariner's primary Tableau resource. In the rare case that a client is having issues with their Tableau Server/Desktop, I will be the one to answer it. As for the type of person needed, either an IT professional or a business analyst could support this product.
Business Processes Supported
  • We use this product to help a Shipping client examine an automatically refreshing set of about 60 KPI's. This client has users all way from Business Analysts to Senior Executives.
  • We use this product to help multiple Retail clients slice-and-dice their sales data. They can now answer questions such as "What are people buying?", "Who are we selling to?", and "How much are they buying?"
  • We use this product to help an Equipment Repair client track how all of their equipment nationwide is operating from one central, automatically refreshing, location. They also use this product to handle most of their ad-hoc reporting needs.
Products Replaced
Excel
Implementation Details / Implementation Partner
  • Implemented in-house
Tableau Desktop is a local machine application. This means that implementation is very simple. The real implementation comes when you combine it with Tableau Server. We offer Tableau Server implementation to our clients.
Implementation Rating
10
There is a Server installation training video on Tableau's website. I highly recommend that everyone watch it. It only takes a few minutes and could save you quite a bit of time.
Training Types Used
  • Self-taught
Ease of Tableau Desktop Training
It was my job to learn this product on my own, with only a little help from the others who knew the tool. I found this task quite easy due to Tableau's simple interface. I also appreciate that Tableau is complex enough to keep my interest after having mastered the basics. I truly believe that anybody can learn the basics without training. However, if you want to master the tool, there is no substitute for learning from an expert.
Premium Support
No
We personally do not pay for support. However, our larger clients do pay for support and have made good use of it. The HelpDesk always seem to be very responsive.
Support Rating
8
I personally have no had any experience with the HelpDesk. However, our clients speak highly of it.
Usability
10
Tableau's main selling points are the fact that you can connect to almost any data source within a couple of clicks and the fact that you can slice-and-dice your data with just a few drags. Tableau also has the ability to grow with the user's comfort level. The most advanced you get, the more you can utilize Tableau's advance features, such as table calculations, to create truly amazing analyses.
Reliability and Availability
10
When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
Performance
8
Tableau's connections to third-party sources can be somewhat slow due to the time required to speak to a source over a network. However, if you properly utilize Tableau's Data Source Extracts, then the speed is incredible. On the other hand, Tableau makes it very easy for the user to put too much data into one dashboard, which can impact performance. All in all, if you use the tool properly, speed should not be a concern.
Systems Integrated With
  • We have integrated Tableau with virtually every tool in the Microsoft Eco-system. This includes SQL Server, SQL Server Analysis Services, Power Pivot and Excel.
  • Tableau offers this same connectivity to many other data sources. Odds are very good it can connect to your data as well.
Tableau has built-in compatibility with these tools and integration is only a few clicks away. Integration was not difficult in the slightest.
Future Integration Plans
  • I can't think of a single system that Tableau cannot already connect to.
Tableau is constantly upgrading to allow for connectivity to new sources. If it does not connect to your source, simply let them know and they will do their best to achieve it.
Key Negotiation Points
Unfortunately, I am not aware of this type of information. Tableau was already implemented here before I began employment.
June 21, 2013

Powerful but Easy Insight for All Skill Levels

Jon Boeckenstedt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jon Boeckenstedt
Associate Vice President
DePaul University, Division of Enrollment Management and Marketing (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Pros and Cons
  • 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
Return on Investment
  • NA
Likelihood to Renew
10
We are widely implemented and use continues to grow as more people discover it. It has widespread adoption and very high end user satisfaction.
Likelihood to Recommend
Users and Roles
100
All aspects of the university: Admissions, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, Business Operations, IT, Student Affairs.
Support Headcount Required
1
A server admin who does this as a part of his duty; in FTE the actual number is less than one.
Business Processes Supported
  • Easily publishable and shareable dashboards
  • Critical, time-sensitive ad-hoc reports
  • Engenders a sense of curiosity about data among young staff
Products Replaced
Excel
Alternatives Considered
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.
Implementation Details / Implementation Partner
  • Implemented in-house
Implementation Rating
9
Our IT Staff implemented server and does upgrades, and we've had only minor glitches, all of which are quickly resolved.
Training Types Used
  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
In-Person Training
7
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.
Online Training
9
Videos online are exceptionally thorough.
Ease of Tableau Desktop Training
I would recommend a few videos, then exploration, then videos and then the community.
Premium Support
No
Not available, but not needed.
Support Rating
10
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.
Usability
10
The training videos on the website make the software seem exceptionally easy. In fact, in real life it's even easier.
Reliability and Availability
10
Other than upgrades, we've never had downtime that I'm aware of.
Performance
9
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.
Pre-Sale Experience
Exceptional. We had the phone numbers of the VP for sales, and found negotiation very easy.
Key Negotiation Points
NA
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