2024 Tableau CoP Meetings

Want to see a prior session?  OneDrive > Tableau CoP

Time Tracking= ACOP-388

2024-11-20

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

What should I use to show the date time the user ran the report?

Now() is showing 1/1/1900 12:00:00.000 = Sarah will open a ticket with

Today() is showing just the date

Tableau Date Functions: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/functions_functions_date.htm?_gl=1*g2dpmk*_ga*MTA0NTAwMzY0OS4xNzI4NDIzNDQ1*_ga_8YLN0SNXVS*MTczMjEyNTgyOS4xNi4xLjE3MzIxMjU5MDQuMC4wLjA.#now

Why is Tableau displaying the word ‘Null’?

when you use an if/then/end equation without telling Tableau what to display when the criteria doesn’t match Tableau will display Null

You can use if/then/else/end to tell Tableau what to display

Demo of Blending Data in Tableau

See recording for details

First data source added to a Sheet is the driver for that sheet.

Create 2 sheets and start with a different data source per sheet to see how Tableau works.

Data sources with 1 row per person blended with multiple rows per person with either need more filters and/or the sheet needs to start with the data source that has more rows.

How can I hide ‘Null’ from the filter my customer’s pick from?

Options

  1. Create a copy of the field and exclude null in the filters, then update the original filter to only show relevant values

  2. Create a copy of the field and exclude null on the data source tab, use with caution

  3. Create a copy of the field and use calculation ifnull(Field, ‘No Value’) which will move the null to a new position alphabetically

https://tarsolutions.co.uk/blog/null-functions-in-tableau/

2024-10-16 - Cancelled

2024-09-18

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

How to find specific rows in EAH-Workforce-View?

EAH-Workforce-View Quick Start Guide

Name vs Name Current

For Name fields, Current and non-Current will always show the same.

AH Name fields show Lived Name as of Today (midnight) when the Lived Name is provided. If there is no Lived Name provided then the Legal Name will be displayed. This is true for all AHs and all Person Name Fields (First, Middle, Last, Display, Full).

There are restricted views that show Legal and Lived name at the same time but the data steward must approve and grant you access. Email busintel@ucsd.edu for further information.

P4 Data = Classification of Information and IT Resources

EAH Current vs As Of

Current = Today or Most Recent Value

As Of = the value seen on a specific date, use with the associated date field (history)

Job Action Effective Date

SAH Current, First, Term Based

Current = Today’s Term or Most Recent Value

First = First Term Enrolled/Admit/Accepted at UCSD

Term Based = the vales seen during a specific term (history)

EAH Questions?

Best place to get support is bah.ucsd.edu > https://bah.ucsd.edu/hr-payroll/index.html > Ask Question/Report Issue link

How to share Tableau twb files

Best Practice:

  • Shared drive location to save the .twb files

  • Team DEV folder on Tableau Prod so you can download anything in progress

AH Field List Report

https://tableau.ucsd.edu/#/views/ActivityHubFieldList/CoreViews?:iid=2

Check out the Core Views tab vs the Restricted Views tab

Search for a keyword rather than a full field name

Download the crosstab of data to see all the fields in a view

Restricted Views and P4 fields required additional approval for access, so while they are on the list you may not be able to see them

2024-08-21

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Tableau bookmarks

If you have bookmarks pointing at Tableau webpages they may be broken as Salesforce is converting the Tableau webpages to the Salesforce URL.

Just discovered today so BIA will be updating our impacted links.

Repointing Workbooks

AH User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Tableau data connections

Data Guidelines: https://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/bi/data-guidelines.html#Data-Connection-Policies

3rd Party Vendors (often for cloud connections) - often don’t work or cannot be supported by BIA

Explore these alternatives:

  1. Data loads into an Activity Hub

  2. Cognos

  3. Not available to all teams - use your local server

List of supported data connectors for Tableau & Cognos can be found here: Interim Solution - Adding Data to Cognos or Tableau

Irvin - year ticket

Will do further testing, Irvin will provide exact date fields for Fiscal Year start.

Does UCSD support Tableau Prep?

Nope. UCSD supports data correction in data source or new fields / grouping

Tableau Prod Security

Developer = Same as Consumer + Can publish, rename, move, download workbook, edit, delete

Consumer (default)= Can view, interact, comment, download summary data (HTML, PDF, Excel)

Consumer Restricted = Can view, interact, comment, NO downloading data

Tableau Prod > All UCSD Consumers

Developer = Same as Consumer + Can publish, rename, move, download workbook, edit, delete

Consumer (default)= Can view, interact, comment, download summary data (HTML, PDF, Excel)

Consumer Restricted = Can view, interact, comment, NO downloading data

Tableau download issue

Has anyone downloaded a workbook that became blank on download?

Row level security? Issue with Tableau connection?

Open a ticket with busintel@ucsd.edu next time for further troubleshooting.

2024-07-17

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

License maintenance errors

  1. Make sure your Tableau desktop matches the version of our Tableau Server (2023.1.x)

  2. Contact software@ucsd.edu to request confirmation from Saleforce that your license has been renewed.

    1. Be sure to include your Tableau license key

    2. You can look up your license key online in the Tableau customer portal: https://customer-portal.tableau.com/s/

How to Share with All Users

If ‘All Users’ is only UCSD folks:

  1. BIA can make your folder available to all at UCSD*

  2. BIA can create you a folder within the ‘Public’ project in Tableau Prod so everyone at UCSD can see it*

*The UCSD person must existing in Tableau

If ‘All Users’ is the entire world

  1. You can request to have a folder created on Tableau Public (https://tableaupublic.ucsd.edu/#/signin)

Rules

a. Can only publish extracts, no live connections.

b. In the workbook, only include summary data that is displayed.

https://public.tableau.com

Tableau Public: https://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/bi/tools/tableau/Public.html

Owned and operated by Salesforce/Tableau

Anything you publish becomes the property of Salesforce/Tableau

Do NOT publish UCSD data here.

What to do when troubleshooting

  1. Open Cognos or a brand new workbooks to see if the data is there

    1. https://tableau.ucsd.edu/#/views/AH-DataLoadStatusReport/Status?:iid=1

  2. Check your filters:

    1. In a new workbook, add the fields that you are using w/out your filters

    2. Remove your filters 1 by 1 to see if the results change

    3. Confirm the values in your filter

    4. Confirm the filter field is the one you want

  3. Are there issues with your calculations?

    1. Functions: Trim, Upper, Lower

    2. Check for Null, empty string and just a space.

    3. Other data quality issues?

    4. Is there an expected character limit?

  4. What are you expecting to see?

    1. What data source are you validating with?

    2. What was the original request? Does the request need to be updated?

    3. Has the business need changed?

    4. AH are designed to match the original data source and not data warehouses.

  5. Is there an issue with the tool?

    1. BI tools do exactly what they are told so we have to learn to speak their preferred language

Troubleshooting Tips

  1. If you have frequent issue with certain data, have a validation workbook saved on the side to check common issues

  2. If you have frequently used prompts or fields have a personal template saved on the side

2024-05-15

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Tableau Upgrade

Google Docs connection - working but BIA is still looking for a long-term solution

Tableau will stop supporting Google Sheets as a data source, Excel saved to Google Drive is working today.

Upgrade Tableau desktop to 2023.1.x (best practice - do not go to 2024 or 2023.2 or anything higher than 2023.1)

Tableau is moving away from creating their own connectors.

Do you happen to know why tableau will stop supporting Google sheet as a Data source ?

Salesforce / Tableau is moving away from building their own connectors and are instead letting other people build the connectors.

So is there a chance that Google as a 3rd party could create a connector to Tableau?  Or is that unlikely?

I don’t know. I’m guessing Google would rather you use their tool rather than send you to Tableau.

Adding New Data for Blending in Cognos or Tableau

Long Term Solution: Add your data source to the Activity Hubs

Interim Solution: Connect your data source server directly to Tableau using a supported data connector

Short Term Solution: Upload your data via Excel or CSV

Should we submit our Google sheet data sources for addition to AH?

Yes. Email busintel@ucsd.edu requesting that your data be added to an Activity Hub. Include the link to your Google Sheet and how frequently it gets updated.

How easy is it for us to update them when changes occur in the data?

BIA will work with you to determine the best solution.

New project to build a tool called Campus Information Collector that could be used as an interface to update your data once it is in Hana.

Need: Would like the interface to allow multiple people to update the table at the same time and see the changes as they happen.

2024-04-17

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Tableau Upgrade

Tableau Upgrade to 2023.1.9 - Complete

Demo of connecting to https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Q: Are there new features in Tableau 2023.1.9?

A: Nothing major that we are aware of. The top of the user interface within a workbook is a tiny bit different.

Data Guide = Explore Dashboards with Data Guide

Metrics = will be retired in Tableau 2024

Acceleration = View Acceleration

Tableau Upgrade Questions

Q: Is VPN required for Tableau QA.

A: No. Tableau QA uses DUO. If you have an issue signing in please email busintel@ucsd.edu b/c that is an issue we need to know about.

Q: We got a Tableau QA server back and should use it as before?

A: No, the Tableau QA environment is only available for upgrade testing. We are required to shut it off for the rest of the year due to pricing.

Q: Updates made after the QA/Dev snapshot... will the changes be there in Prod when Prod is upgraded?

A: Yes. We will be performing an in-place upgrade of Tableau Prod & Tableau Public. Which means all of the content in Tableau Prod & Tableau Public will remain in place while the server is upgraded. No changes in Tableau QA will be moved to Tableau Prod. Tableau QA will be deleted after the upgrade.

Q: Will the upgrade impact subscriptions? Or URLs?

A: Nope. All subscriptions, extractions, URLs, views, ect… will remain the same.

Q: When/how will we know if you end up having to do a parallel upgrade or in-place upgrade?

A: We know now that we are doing an in-place upgrade. We only do parallel upgrades when we are unable to do an in-person upgrade. Parallel upgrades are performed by setting up a new server, copying over all of the content, upgrading the server then repointing the Tableau URLs at the new server. It requires a lot more testing so we would notify the Tableau report developers if we were required to do a parallel upgrade. The April 27 upgrade will be an in-place upgrade.

Q: I have a data source that connects to a Google doc but it’s not working in Tableau QA. Is this an issue?

A: By default we don’t lower firewalls between Tableau QA and non-Hana servers, so no, this is expected behavior. You can email busintel@ucsd.edu to request that the firewalls be lowered so that you can test the connection if you would like to test that connection. We do not anticipate any issue when Tableau Prod is upgraded.

Q: What kind of tests should we do?

A: We have a short list of suggestions here: Tableau Upgrades | TableauUpgrades UpgradeTesting

2024-03-20

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Tableau Upgrade

Tableau Upgrade to 2023.1.9 - Complete

Row Level Security using Username

Tableau Row Level Security Per Person

Row Level Security using AD Group

 

Column Level Security

 

2024-02-21

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Tableau Upgrade

Coming soon - do not upgrade early - stay on 2021.4.x so you can publish to the server

Moving to 2023.1.9

Friday 2/23/24 - announcement confirming dates

Tentative dates - Friday March 1 Tableau QA will open for testing by report developers with a snapshot of Tableau Prod taken end of day Thursday February 29.

Report developers have 2 weeks to test reports. From March 1 to March 15.

Friday March 15 at noon will be the Go / No Go decision.

Tableau FAQ Survey

Blink: https://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/bi/tools/tableau/index.html#FAQS

Collab: https://ucsdcollab.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ACP/pages/532644010

Where do you go to look for Tableau FAQ’s? Blink

What Tableau related questions do you get?

  • What is Tableau Public and when would it be used? Allows Tableau workbook to be shared with all people including outside of UCSD. There is no customer security. There is report developer security so only your team can publish to your folder in Tableau Public. Only data extracts can be published - no live connections. Example: https://ir.ucsd.edu/third-week/index.html

  • What if I want to share will all of UCSD? You can use Tableau Public Folder in Tableau Prod or use the same security as the Tableau Public Folder. Example: UCPath Dept Hierarchy

2024-01-17

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All sessions are recorded and saved to the OneDrive link above.

Lesser Know Functions

https://community.tableau.com/s/news/a0A4T000002OOOCUA4/total-vs-windowsum

https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/functions_functions_tablecalculation.htm

Tableau

  1. Assumes that your data is coming in from spreadsheets

  2. Assumes that your data is flat and all in 1 table

This works well if all your reporting is coming from 1 team for your entire company.

Tableau at UCSD

  1. There are at least 3 separate Tableau environments run by 3 different teams with 3 different sets of rules

  2. For example: HIPPA compliance; internal vs external audience; business use; license structure; data connections

Activity Hubs Tableau

-Not HIPPA compliant; for internal UCSD use only; not for research projects or classroom work; each developer needs a license but customer do not; BIA can help you set up a connection to between our Tableau and your data source but only the AH team has direct access to the AH (and they create the AH data sources).

Short - Interim - Long Term

Short: Available Now

Interim: Can be done in a few weeks or less.  Requires a ticket to busintel@ucsd.edu requesting firewalls be lowered.

Long: Fields from an existing data source (Kuali, Oracle, UCPath) then it is part of our monthly release.  If it's new tables then we do have to wait for integration.  If it's a new set of data then we'll need to wait for integration and also go through field naming, view modeling and identification of what data you want to join with it.

Tableau upgrade

Coming soon - do not upgrade early - stay on 2021.4.x so you can publish to the server