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Tableau 8.0 Review - Be a Data Rockstar
August 27, 2013

Tableau 8.0 Review - Be a Data Rockstar

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Tableau 8.0

Modules Used

  • Desktop

Overall Satisfaction

  • 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.

Product Usage

2 - Logistics, Demand Planning, Inventory Management.
  • Analysis in the areas of: Logistics, Forecasting, Demand, Sales. There's no data Tableau can't visualize in a meaningful fashion

Evaluation and Selection

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)

Implementation

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.
  • Implemented in-house

Training

  • 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.

Configuration

Does what you need out of the box.

Support

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.
No - Not needed.

Usability

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.

Reliability

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.

Integration

Vendor Relationship

Very easy and helpful in both respects.