Tableau: If you don't use it... I don't want to work for you ...
June 30, 2016
Tableau: If you don't use it... I don't want to work for you ...
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Tableau Desktop
Tableau is used as a teaching tool for visualization across several departments. It is also used by these departments and others to create visualizations for budgeting and other external communications for the public, government staff and elected officials. Ultimately, these visualizations have a wide circulation and are key to demonstrating our commitment to a wide variety of social initiatives.
Pros
- Geographic visualizations with demographic substrates.
- Combining multiple visualizations into a single dashboard presentation.
- Creating exploratory dashboards.
- Storytelling.
- Their ability to send presentations using a snapshot of the data is outstanding.
Cons
- Could use a bit more flexibility in their approach to stories.
- Relatively expensive on a per seat basis.
- The viewer requires substantial hardware for good responsiveness.
- D3.js and SAP BusinessObjects Lumira
Excel is the ultimate jack-of-all-trades Swiss army knife approach. You can do almost anything but it is missing much of the polish of dedicated applications of Tableau. Great for the initial approach to a new dataset. I have created some custom Excel macros that go in and run calculations on combinations of fields -- mostly to see if there are data relationships. This is hard to do almost anywhere else.
D3.js is an incredibly flexible tool if you are willing to deal with the tremendous overhead of the associated programming. It has a huge learning curve and I would never recommend it for the exploratory or initial examination phase. But for incredibly detailed and robust displays, it is terrific. Expect to take a week to get anything done right.
Lumira is a nice get started and get something out the door product. It still feels like a beta-level product. This could be useful for departments that don't have specialized people or want something more than what Excel offers but aren't willing to pay for the full Tableau license. Good for SAP houses of course but I wouldn't count out the other two.
D3.js is an incredibly flexible tool if you are willing to deal with the tremendous overhead of the associated programming. It has a huge learning curve and I would never recommend it for the exploratory or initial examination phase. But for incredibly detailed and robust displays, it is terrific. Expect to take a week to get anything done right.
Lumira is a nice get started and get something out the door product. It still feels like a beta-level product. This could be useful for departments that don't have specialized people or want something more than what Excel offers but aren't willing to pay for the full Tableau license. Good for SAP houses of course but I wouldn't count out the other two.
Tableau Desktop Feature Ratings
Using Tableau Desktop
I have no idea how widespread its usage is. I do know that it is used as a teaching tool inside several departments in the College of Business. In addition, a number of users in administration and other colleges use it for both teaching, research and administrative functions. There is some discussion of an internal user group but nothing has gelled so far.
There is no formal support structure. In general, we rely on a key people who are willing to assist and the forums hosted by the company itself. Decision Science (DS) professionals will not need a lot of support for the product, at least not the way we use it here. I do understand that other implementations do use server implementations that require some technical support roles.
- More of the same, it might be nice to have a standard repository for certain mandated reports. Right now, we distribute Excel Pivot table spreadsheets which aren't very flexible.
- Mapping demographic data
- Comparison visualizations
- Storytelling
- Create interactive data exploration dashboards
Evaluating Tableau Desktop and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
It was easy to start mucking around with the product using their full blown demo license. Tableau has an incredibly strong user reputation and the reasons for its wide adoption are very clear after using it for a very short time. Its become indispensible to my work.
I wouldn't hesitate so long to start using it for real work instead of having it on my machine waiting to go through tutorials. Of course, you should plan more time. My first deliverable was a bit rough and it showed but I managed to get through the presentation. Many of the questions actually focused on the product rather than my report itself.
Tableau Desktop Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Not sure - We use this as a standalone product that is then used to address our data needs. The shift was nearly overnight but it required some training which was mostly done on an ad-hoc, individually driven basis. Users were not required to switch and were responsible for their own training and learning curve.
- Needed to learn a new set of tools.
- Had to wrestle with IT management to get them to open up some of the databases for use.
Tableau Desktop Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - Haven't gotten there. As the rest of the review reflects, I'm a fan of their online support systems including members of their user forums. As a new user, I was never given the RTFM treatment even to some basic questions. Other customers jumped in to help me with my specific issues quickly.
I found a particularly great visualization on the public forum. Turns out it was created by a staff member. I wasn't sure how it was put together so I sent a quick note and was blessed with the complete files with an overview of how it was constructed and an offer to tease out the details where needed. Clearly above and beyond.
Using Tableau Desktop
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Easy to use Technical support not required Consistent Convenient Feel confident using | Slow to learn Lots to learn |
- Initial data exploration.
- Duplicating visualizations for variation.
- Creating a narrative storyline.
- Getting the "look" right on the stories is a bit difficult, I tend to want something really specific and so you end up having to adjust every single element.
Yes - Haven't used it much but from what I can see, it is just a solid implementation like the rest of their software. One of the things I've noticed is that their software just has a solid "feel" of quality engineering which is not always the case these days.
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