Tableau Upgrade to 2021.4.3 - Completed March 19, 2022

Good morning,

As many of you are aware, there have been a few Tableau upgrades since our last server upgrade.  We have been monitoring these updates and working behind the scenes to confirm that the versions work properly in our environment. 

We are pleased to announce a plan to move to Tableau 2021.4.3!  You can find information on what’s new in this and previously released upgrades here:

https://www.tableau.com/support/releases/desktop/2021.4.3

We will follow our upgrade procedure listed below. 

All upgrades for Tableau Server occur in place. At a high level, the strategy for all upgrades is:

  1. ITS-BIA will review the upgrade in our sandbox prior to planning an upgrade of UCSD Tableau Prod.
  2. Those with Tableau desktop can now upgrade to Tableau 2021.4.x
    1. You will need your product key and this installation guide:  http://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/desktopdeploy/en-us/desktop_deploy_download_and_install.htm
    2. You will need the most recent stable version of Tableau:  https://www.tableau.com/support/releases
  3. Allow two weeks for review of the upgrade in the Tableau Sandbox environment
    1. At the end of the week a GO/NO GO determination will be made.
    2. GO – the upgrade is applied to the PROD environment over the weekend.
    3. NO GO – the upgrade is postponed until the issues are resolved.

Given that strategy, the plan for the upgrade from 2021.1.6 (current) to Tableau 2021.4.3 is as follows:


  1. Monday, January 31
    1. Tableau sandbox will be upgraded to 2021.4.3.  ITS-BIA will test objects and functionality.
  2. Wednesday, February 16
    1. A copy of the Tableau Prod content was saved to Tableau QA.  This will be ensure report developers can test against current workbooks.
    2. ITS-BIA will review the upgrade in Tableau QA where the 2021.4.3 upgrade has already been installed.
  3. Wednesday, February 23
    1. All workbook development teams to begin reviewing content in Tableau QA (https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu) and test for issues related to the upgrade.
    2. Any issues are to be reported by sending an email to busintel@ucsd.edu with subject line "Tableau upgrade issue".
    3. If an issue is deemed critical, the upgrade of Tableau Prod will be postponed until the issue is resolved.
  4. Friday, March 11
    1. GO/NO GO determination for PROD upgrade will be made.
    2. NO GO – the upgrade to PROD is postponed
      1. This will be the determination only if new issues are found in the upgraded version and those issues are deemed significant.
  5. Saturday, March 19
    1. GO/NO GO determination for PROD upgrade will be made.
    2. GO – the upgrade is applied to PROD over the weekend.
      1. This will be the determination if no new issue(s) are found in the upgraded version or if any new issue noted is deemed insignificant enough to move forward.
    3. NO GO – the upgrade to PROD is postponed
      1. This will be the determination only if new issues are found in the upgraded version and those issues are deemed significant.
  6. 11:00 AM on Saturday, March 19 (based on GO determination in previous step): 
    1. A backup of the PROD contents will be conducted.  This will be insurance against any unforeseen issue during the upgrade process.
    2. The admin team will perform the upgrade of the PROD and Public environments.


MonTuesWedThurFriSat

Feb 14

BIA testing in Tableau sandbox

Feb 15

BIA testing in Tableau sandbox

Feb 16

Copy of Tableau Prod added to Tableau QA

Feb 17

BIA testing on Tableau QA

Feb 18

BIA testing on Tableau QA

Feb 19

BIA testing on Tableau QA

Feb 21

BIA testing on Tableau QA

Feb 22

BIA testing on Tableau QA

Feb 23

UAT starts: Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Feb 24

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Feb 25

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Feb 26

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Feb 28

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 1

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 2

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 3

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 4

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 5

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 7

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 8

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 9

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 10

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 11

No Go


Mar 12

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 14

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 15

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 16

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 17

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 18

Workbook developers test in Tableau QA

https://tab-dev01.ucsd.edu

Mar 19

Go / No Go

11am Tableau Prod & Tableau Public Upgrade