Tableau Desktop Integration¶

Steps¶

The following steps outline the process for integrating Tableau Desktop with DataOS:

Step 1: Navigate to the Data Product Hub¶

Access the Home Page of DataOS. From the home page, navigate to the Data Product Hub to explore the various Data Products available within the platform.

Step 2: Browse and Select a Data Product¶

In the Data Product Hub, users can browse through a comprehensive list of available Data Products. To integrate with Tableau, click on a specific Data Product of interest. For instance Sales360

Step 3: Access Integration Options¶

After selecting Sales360 Data Product, navigate to the Access Options tab. Within this tab, various methods to access and interact with the Data Product can be found, including the BI Sync tab, where Tableau Desktop is located.

Step 4: Download and Extract the `.tds` File¶

Download the .tds file and extract the zip file into Tableau's default repository, typically located at My Tableau Repository\Datasources\.

Step 5: Proceed with Data Product¶

Click on the Data Product (DP) to continue.

Step 6: Enter Credentials¶

Users will be prompted to enter their username and API key.

Step 7: Visualize Data in Tableau Desktop¶

Once the connection is established, users can begin visualizing the Data Product in Tableau Desktop.

Important Considerations for Tableau Integration¶

1. Handling Entities without Relationships: An error will occur during synchronization if any entity in the data model lacks a defined relationship. To resolve this issue, the entity can be hidden to avoid synchronization errors.

2. Live connection: The connection between the Lens semantic layer and Tableau Cloud is live. This means that any changes to the underlying data or measure logic will automatically be reflected in Tableau.

3. Schema changes: If there are schema updates, such as adding new dimensions or measures, the integration steps will need to be repeated to incorporate these changes into Tableau.

4. Avoiding cyclic dependencies: Tableau does not support cyclic dependencies within data models. To prevent integration issues, it is essential to ensure that the data model is free of cyclic dependencies prior to syncing with Tableau.

Handling specific data types in Tableau¶

Time data type as measure in Tableau

When syncing the Lens semantic layer with Tableau, note that Tableau does not support the time data type as a measure. While Lens allows time-based measures, Tableau defaults to treating date and time fields as dimensions.As a result, Tableau will not correctly interpret any measure with a time data type.

Recommended actions:

To avoid synchronization issues:
- Use time or date fields in Tableau only for dimension-based filtering or grouping.
- For time-based calculations, limit aggregations to MIN() or MAX() functions.
String data type to geographical

When connecting a dataset to Tableau, it automatically detects fields such as City and Country and converts them from string data types to Geography types. This enables Tableau to treat these fields as geographical locations, allowing features like map visualizations and geospatial analysis without the need for manual adjustments.

Data policies and security¶

Any data masking, restrictions, or permissions defined by the publisher will automatically be enforced for all viewers of the report, ensuring consistent data security and compliance. However, the behavior of data policies (e.g., masking) depends on who is the user of the Tableau desktop.

Error handling¶

Scenario 1: Handling syntactical errors in measures or dimensions

If a measure or dimension contains a syntactical error (and is also not functioning in Lens Studio), the following error will appear when attempting to select such a measure or dimension:

After correcting the syntactical error in the measure or dimension within Lens, the error will no longer appear. To reflect the changes in Tableau, refreshing the data source and re-selecting the measure or dimension will be necessary to display it in the chart.

Scenario 2: Reflecting logical changes in measures or dimensions

If logical changes are made to a measure or dimension, for example adjusting how the sum is calculated, the changes will not be reflected in Tableau immediately.

Before the change, the sum calculation may appear as shown below:

Scenario 3: Handling inactive Lens in the environment

If the Lens is not active in the environment while working on an existing workbook in Tableau or when attempting to establish a new connection, an error will be encountered. This may prevent access to or querying data from the Lens. Verification that the Lens exists and is active is required before syncing

Scenario 4: Handling data source errors due to access restrictions

If the Account table is set to public = false, a data source error will occur in Tableau. The error message will indicate that the "Account table not found," which will prevent querying or using data from that table.

To resolve this issue, ensure the Account table is accessible (set to public = true or assign appropriate permissions) and then resync the Lens in Tableau to regain access.

Governance of Model on Tableau Desktop¶

When the Lens Model is activated via BI Sync on Tableau, all user-level access controls and data policies from Lens are automatically applied to Tableau.

The management process utilizes authentication and authorization through the DataOS user ID and API key when accessing synced data models. This ensures that columns redacted by Lens data policies are restricted based on the user's group permissions.

For instance, if a user named iamgroot in the "Analyst" group is restricted from viewing the "Annual Salary" column, this column will not be visible in either the Data Product exploration page or in Tableau after syncing. Tableau Desktop requires the DataOS user ID and API key for authentication, ensuring users can access the full model, except for any columns restricted by their data policies. This approach maintains security and guarantees that users only see the data they are authorized to view.