Tableau is a reporting and data visualization solution available for use by any staff or faculty member.

• Report consumers (viewers) - Report consumers can log into the server and access any report to which they have been granted permissions.
• Report creators (publishers) - DePaul’s license agreement with Tableau does not include licenses for report creators, so in order to become a report creator, you will need to work with your budget manager to purchase a license to do so.  Please see below for more details regarding report creator access.

How do I Get Started with Tableau?

Whichever type of user you will be, to get access to the Tableau server, you will need to submit a request for the Tableau administrator using Tableau Requests.  Select the Other box only if the previous choices don't apply. In the request under other information or details, please provide any other specific information.  There are data owners in each college and functional area, so the Tableau administrator will work with you and those data owners to determine which report security group you will be granted access to.

Creating Reports in Tableau

After completing your purchase of a Tableau Desktop Creator license, follow these steps to install the client software on your desktop system.

• The most current version that should be installed can be found here. To ensure feature compatibility, use the desktop version matching our server. The Server Version can be found at https://tableau.is.depaul.edu by clicking on the information (i) icon in the upper right hand corner and selecting About DPU Tableau Server.
• Tableau Desktop database drivers can be found at Driver Download (tableau.com).  If you have questions regarding a specific database driver or need help connecting to the Data Warehouse, please mention that in your request. A Data Warehouse Access Request should be be submitted here.

Publication Guide/Instructions – Information Services has worked with different departments in the university to define standards for publishing reports to the server.  These standards outline how to get database access and approval, how to publish reports, what security access to grant when publishing a report, etc.  The report publication standard is available in the PDF found here.  Publishing Reports in Tableau.pdf

Support

Support and Requests - If you experience any issues with the Tableau server, please create an incident at https://depaul.service-now.com/gethelp Submit requests at Tableau request using the defined selections or Other.
Training - Tableau software has created training materials that you can access on their website at http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn.  If you need training or details on how to read or interact with a specific report that someone has published, please contact the report creator for additional details.

Tableau User Group - DePaul has an active Tableau User Group, and you can find additional details on their Wiki space here. 

A Note About Upgrades

As with all software vendors, Tableau makes updates to their systems to address bugs and add new features and options.  Although Tableau software is frequently releasing updates to their software, Information Services will only update the server twice each year, and will notify users by email when upgrades are occurring.