Tableau is a powerful data visualization tool developed by Salesforce. It has a vast number of extensible files which helps in making the data to be visualized easily either in the form of pdf, word, excel, JSON, SQL, statistical file and many more. It supports more than 50 +file formats.
It has the capability to perform various complex operations, and analytics just in a single step of simply dragging and representing in a span of milliseconds. Other than this it also offers various customization options, filters and complex calculations, maps and different types of graphs like bar graphs, histograms, heat maps, box plots and many more.
Tableau offers different-different types of products based on the tasks to perform.
- Tableau Desktop
- Tableau Online
- Tableau Server
- Tableau Public
- Tableau Prep
Let’s talk about all these Tableau Products in detail.
Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization software that allows you to connect, visualize, and share data in an easy-to-understand format. It is the only authorized tool that Drag-and-drop authorized provides drag-and-drop features and allows all the functionalities. You may quickly find hidden insights and make important business decisions using a simple drag-and-drop interface. Basically, it is a premium version. They are of two types:-
- Tableau Desktop Individual: Basically it is a version for individual users. Users can access the local files and all other data sources. But it does not allow the functionality to upload it to Tableau Online and Tableau server.
- Tableau Desktop Professionals: It offers more premium features such as live data contributions, and also the organization can also publish to Tableau Online and Tableau Server.
Merits Of Tableau Desktop:
- Drag-and-drop functionality in Tableau Desktop’s user interface makes it simple for users to construct visualizations without substantial technical skills.
- Data connectivity: Tableau Desktop supports a wide range of structured and unstructured data sources, allowing users to connect to many different data sources at once.
- Real-time data analysis: By enabling users to do so, it makes it simpler to see trends, patterns, and outliers in the data.
Demerits of Tableau Desktop:
- Costly: Tableau Desktop is commercial software that, particularly for individual users or small enterprises, can be extremely pricey.
- Desktop-based: Due to the desktop-based nature of the application, collaboration and sharing of visualizations can be difficult.
Tableau Server
Tableau Server is a web product of Tableau that allows users to do collaborative work on the same database at two different places. People can access it ,either through mobile or the desktop. Moreover, it also provides more security, user roles, permissions and scheduling options.
Merits of Tableau Server:
- Controlled and consistent access to data is ensured via Tableau Server’s centralized platform, which users may utilize to publish, distribute, and manage their representations.
- Scalability: Tableau Server is appropriate for enterprise-level deployments since it can handle enormous amounts of data and user traffic.
Demerits of Tableau Server:
- Implementing Tableau Server costs more in terms of hardware, software, and infrastructure requirements. For tiny organizations with insufficient resources, it might not be practical.
- IT dependence: Because it typically takes IT skills to set up and manage Tableau Server, this could be a drawback for businesses with limited technical resources.
Tableau Online
Tableau Online is a cloud-based platform that performs the same functionality as Tableau Server. Hence it removes all the overhead work of maintaining the server and establishing it. Moreover, it provides the same work of uploading the dataset on the server from anywhere via an internet connection.
Merits of Tableau Online:
- Accessibility and adaptability: Tableau Online gives users the freedom to utilize a web browser from any place to access their visualizations, which is useful for remote work or cross-location collaboration.
- Data security: To protect user data, Tableau Online provides strong security features, such as encryption, secure connections, and user authentication. In order to protect data privacy and confidentiality, it adheres to industry best practices.
Demerits of Tableau Online:
- Cloud data storage presents legitimate security issues, especially for sensitive or personal data. Companies should carefully analyze their data protection needs and the security protections offered by Tableau Online.
- Tableau Online depends on an internet connection, thus users must have a steady and dependable online connection in order to access their visualizations. This could be a drawback when there is poor internet access or when there are network interruptions.
Tableau Public
Tableau Public is a free product of Tableau which provides some limited functionalities for those who want to learn data visualization and understand business Intelligence. It majorly targets students who want to deep dive into the field of business analytics. But it has one demerit that the work which you will do will not be only till you. It will be shared over the network as it does not support security.
Merits of Tableau Public:
- Tableau Public is accessible to people and organizations with restricted budgets as well as those who wish to share data publicly but aren’t constrained by money thanks to its free availability.
- Open data sharing: It gives users a platform to openly publish their dashboards and visualizations, facilitating more information diffusion, increasing transparency, and encouraging data-driven dialogues.
Demerits of Tableau Public:
- Tableau Public visualizations can be accessed by anybody, hence it is not possible to share data on this platform that contains sensitive or private information. Before utilizing Tableau Public for sensitive data, organizations must carefully examine the consequences for data privacy and security.
- Limited data sources: Tableau Public has restrictions on the types of data sources that can be connected to. It supports only a limited number of data connectors, which may not be sufficient for complex or enterprise-level data analysis.
- Data size limitations: There are limitations on the size of datasets that can be uploaded and processed in Tableau Public. Large datasets or those with extensive complexity may not be suitable for analysis on this platform.
- Internet dependence: A working internet connection is necessary to access Tableau Public visuals. In places with poor connectivity, offline access or restricted access may be a problem.
Tableau Prep
Tableau Prep is a data preparation and ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool created by Tableau. It is intended to assist users with cleaning, shaping, and combining data from diverse sources so that it is ready for analysis and visualization in Tableau Desktop or Tableau Server. As data cleaning is the first and foremost step which is of high importance otherwise datasets may contain NULL values and may result in wrong prediction of data.
Merits of Tableau Prep:
- User-friendly user interface: Tableau Prep offers a user-friendly user interface that makes the data preparation process simpler. Without substantial coding or scripting, users may execute data cleansing and transformations using a visual and straightforward drag-and-drop approach.
- Data deduplication, data imputation, and data filtering are just a few of the data cleaning and shaping procedures that Tableau Prep provides. By separating, combining, or pivoting fields, users can rearrange data to make it easier to prepare for analysis and display.
Demerits of Tableau Prep:
- Tableau Prep mostly concentrates on data cleaning and fundamental transformations, with some limited advanced data manipulation. It might not have all of the sophisticated data manipulation functions that specific ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) solutions have. Users with intricate data transformation needs might find the tool to be restrictive.
- Tableau Prep may not support complex calculations, scripting, or custom functions, requiring users to rely on other tools or languages like SQL, Python, or R for advanced data manipulation.
- Different licenses are required for Tableau Prep, which is a different product from Tableau Desktop. This raises the overall cost, and companies must determine if the extra expense is acceptable in light of their unique data preparation requirements.
Conclusions
Tableau provides a suite of powerful tools that tackle a wide range of data analytics and visualization needs, allowing businesses and people to obtain useful insights from their data. Each Tableau product serves a distinct purpose and can be used in a variety of scenarios, based on an organization’s needs and level of data maturity. So it is highly recommended to better understand all the products of Tableau and understand their importance according to the work you want to do.