Tableau 9.1 New Features

Product Updates Enabled in Tableau 9.1

When you install Tableau Desktop 9.1, Product Updates is ON by default. That means when you launch Tableau Desktop 9.1, Product Updates will notify you when a new maintenance version is available. You'll have options to: Download and install at exit, skip the update, or be reminded the next day.

If you choose to download and install at exit, Tableau will download the update in the background as you continue to use Tableau, uninterrupted. The total download time may vary depending on your network speed. Then, when you exit Tableau, the installer will start to update the software. No further action is needed unless the user is not the machine's administrator. With Tableau Desktop 9.1, administrator privileges are required to update the software.

If you choose the reminder option, Tableau will not prompt you again until you launch Tableau Desktop the next day. If you choose to skip this update, Tableau will not prompt you until the next maintenance release is available.

By design, Product Updates is only available to help you take advantage of each new maintenance release. In the 9.1 release, Tableau Software will not auto-update major or minor versions of the product, because Tableau Software want to make sure there are no compatibility issues for customers who also use an older version of Tableau Server. Tableau Software wants Product Updates to be a convenient and a risk-free feature that you can take advantage of.

Web Data Connector:

      Using a web data connector, you can: 

•          Connect to a data source that is accessible over HTTP and that doesn't already have a connector.
•          Create HTML that prompts users for information that you use to query the data source.
•          Create an extract in JavaScript. The extract can get data from multiple sources. 

After you’ve created a web data connector, you can publish it to Tableau Server for others to use.

Connecting to New Data sources:

• Google Cloud SQL
• Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse
• Microsoft Azure SQL Database
• MapR Hadoop Hive Connectivity for the Mac
• Amazon Aurora
• Spark on Azure HDInsight 

New Live Connections for Tableau Online:

    Google Cloud SQL, Microsoft Azure Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL Database, Spark     on Azure HDInsight, and Amazon Aurora are available as live, direct connections to more           data sources means even greater flexibility for users accessing data over the web.

    

     SAP Connectivity Enhancements:

With SAP HANA and SAP Netweaver Business Warehouse (BW), you can prompt for a variable when a workbook is opened. In many cases, SAP HANA and BW require parameters and variables to be provided at the time of the query to establish a connection. Users can now access and modify the variables from a new menu option in both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server. This Feature will also allow workbook authors to identify additional variables to prompt before a query is run. This can reduce the amount of data returned improving processing speed and presenting the user with a filtered view that meets user expectations right away.

     When SAP HANA is configured to support single sign-on (SSO), after you sign into the SAP      HANA server, you can access data, and publish data sources and workbooks to Tableau            Server, without having to re-enter your user name and password. Note that Tableau Server        must be configured for SAP HANA SSO.

     

     Story Updates:

   

     When you create and re-arrange story points in Tableau 9.1, a new, smooth auto-scroll              experience makes it easier for you to drop your caption in the right place, no matter how            many story points you have. In addition, colors and color behavior have been updated so the      Update, Revert, Delete, and navigation buttons in the navigator are always readable and            beautiful.

Update Drag and Drop Analytics:

Now you can drag median lines with confidence bands directly from the Analytics pane into the view. You can drag a median line for a specific measure or all measures.

You can format and modify your median lines, the average lines that were previously available, and confidence bands by clicking on the line.

  

Visual Analytics:

In Tableau 9.1, you can ask and answer more explicit questions with your data and take advantage of new features that make it easier for you to generate powerful visualizations, write calculations, and customize your views.

Measure Distance with Radial Selection Tool:

You can use the Radial tool, which was new for Tableau 9.0, to measure approximate distances between your data and the locations or landmarks in a map view. Simply zoom in to an area or landmark. Select the Radial tool on the view to see the distance.

The Distance value will display at zoom level 8 and higher, and units (miles or kilometers) display based on your workbook locale.

Turn Off Pan and Zoom:

You can now turn off pan and zoom controls in your maps. This is useful in many scenarios. For example, if you turn off pan, users on mobile devices can move from sheet to sheet with ease. Similarly, if your map view is zoomed in to a particular city, you might want to make sure that viewers won't zoom out.

When you turn off pan and zoom, the corresponding controls will be removed from the view toolbar and Rectangular selection becomes the default tool.

Map Preferences set in Tableau Desktop will be maintained when you publish to Tableau Server.

Bin Size Optimization:

When you create histograms, Tableau 9.1 will automatically calculate the optional number of bins for your data. In previous versions, Tableau defaulted to 10 bins. In Tableau 9.1, when you use Show Me to generate a histogram, Tableau will use a new binning algorithm to size bins.

Histograms will include all bins on a continuous axis, including bins with no data.

If you create bins from a field by using the Create Bins dialog box, Tableau will automatically populate the values in the dialog box using the new binning algorithm. If your data source is too large for Tableau to determine the optimal bin size when the dialog box opens, Tableau will populate the values in the dialog box with a standard 10-bin sizing, and the Suggest Bin Size button will be available.

When you click Suggest Bin Size, Tableau will calculate the optimal bin size for your data source using the new binning algorithm. You can continue to use the dialog box fields to set custom bin sizes.

New Calculation Editor in Filter and Set Dialog Boxes:

In Tableau 9.1, when you use a formula to create or edit a conditional or a top N filter, or to create a set, you will be able to use auto-fill, syntax highlighting, and validation support, so authoring calculations for these scenarios become much easier.

Tableau Mobile:

The Tableau Mobile app for the iPad is completely redesigned to make it easier for you to find, interact with, and manage your content on the go.

New Ways to view and Interact with your content: 

•          Large, high-quality thumbnails with corresponding metadata (for example, owner, date, and project information) for favorite worksheets and workbooks make it easy to find the visualizations you need.
•          A New Viewing, navigation, and search experience lets you quickly find your content and add views to your collection of favorites.
•          Ability to hide the chrome and use native gestures to fluidly swipe through your favorites.
•         Better performance and a more touch-friendly experience improve your interactions.
•          You can now switch between sites on your Tableau Server. 

Offline Snapshots:

Mark a view as your favorite, and Tableau will save high-resolution images called snapshots that you can view offline at any time.

The offline snapshots are stored securely on your device. When you are connected to the server, you can refresh snapshots to reflect most current data.

Mobile Analytics:

More of Tableau's analytic functionality is now available when you access Tableau from browsers, including mobiles ones. You can now:

• Use the new view toolbar to access Rectangular, Radial and Lasso selection tools. The Radial tool includes the new distance measuring feature, introduced in Tableau 9.1
• Edit Calculations with auto-complete functionality and drag and drop portions of calculations between the Data pane and the calculation editor.
• Use instant analytics on the Analytics Pane. 

Improvements to Tableau Server:

New Features in Tableau Server 9.1 make it easier to manage your deployment and extend the Tableau the Tableau Server security and authentication features to provide a seamless and secure experience for more users.

SAML Logout:

Users who sign into Tableau Server 9.1 SAML single sign-on (SSO) can now terminate their session by signing out of server.

This feature is a standards-compliant solution that provides support for logout actions initiated by both Tableau Server and an organization's SAML identity provider to help ensure SOX compliance and provide a seamless end-to-end SSO experience with Tableau Server.

If your organization uses this feature, users will see a sign out menu in Tableau Server, Tableau Desktop, and Tableau Mobile app, and will be redirected to a post-logout landing page when they sign out. The default is the standard server sign-in page.

You can specify a logout redirect URL by using the tabadmin set

wgserver.saml.logout.redirect_url option.

Mutual SSL Authentication:

Tableau Server 9.1 can use SSL Client certificates and mutual SSL to provide a secure automatic sign-in experience with Tableau across all devices.

Scheduled Active Directory Synchronization:

In Tableau Server 9.1, Server Administrators can synchronize all Active Directory groups on a schedule or on-demand, on the Server Settings page.

As a Tableau Server Administrator you can: 

•          Enable and disable automated synchronization for all Active Directory groups that have already been imported into Tableau Server.
•          Set a minimum site role to be assigned to new group users when they are synchronized to Tableau Server. You can set this for all users or by group.
•          Schedule synchronization for customized time intervals such as daily, hourly, or monthly. 

Tableau SDK and APIs:

The New Tableau SDK incorporates the existing Tableau Data Extract API and Tableau Server API, with added support for the Mac. You can use the SDK to write programs that connect to data that is not currently supported by Tableau data connectors, create extracts, and publish the extracts to Tableau Server or Tableau Online. The SDK supports C, C++, Java and Python, and can be used on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Scenario 10: How to create empty extract?

Scenario 10: How to create empty extract?

For large extracts, though, it can be quite time-consuming to create a desktop version before publishing to the server. Understandably, customers often ask if there’s a way to “just have Server do it.”

The first step is to establish a Boolean parameter for a little control:

Show the parameter control in the workspace for easy toggling.

Next, we’ll need a calculated field to expose the chosen value.

Now we define our extract, using the above calculation as a filter.

The trick here is to exclude the exposed value (“True”, in this case), because we need this condition to evaluate false immediately. The goal, after all, is for no rows to be returned.

Our extract definition now looks like this:

Hit Extract, select a location for the .tde file, and the process should be finished in seconds. We now have an extract with no data in it at all.

Next, we'll move this content – perhaps in the form of a reusable data source – to the server. The critical step is to flip the parameter, like so…

…and publish.

The published version doesn't contain the forced fail condition in the extract definition, so any refresh – immediate or on a schedule – will populate the extract in full.

The above technique is more appropriate for an extract that is part of a shared data source than one living within the context of a workbook. This is because we’re likely to need the extract at the beginning of the development cycle, and employing Data Server in our work flow is an obvious path.

Scenario 9 Some times we will see synchronize axis option as disabled. why? And how to solve this?

Scenario 9:

Problem: Some times we will see synchronize axis option as disabled. why? And how to solve this?

Description:

In this chart I am showing State wise Sales on one axis and on another axis I am showing countD of Order ID.

I am using Dual axis for this chart. When I am trying to Synchronize both axis, I am seeing 

Synchronize axis option as disabled. See below

Why I am Seeing Synchronize Axis Option Disabled?

Ans: When you are trying to Dual axis two different types of measures. I mean two different data types of measures then we will see Synchronize Axis option as disabled.

In this example I am using Sales and CountD(Order ID). Sales numbers have floating values. Where as CountD(Order ID) will give us Integer value.

For State New York:

Sum(Sales): $839,593.73 (Which is float number)

CountD(Order ID): 402 (Which is Integer)

So if you come across this kind of scenario you wont see Synchronize Axis Option.

How to solve this?

Solution:

Solution is very simple. You need to convert integer values into float.

Create a calculate field and use that field in report.

float(CountD(Order ID))

Create dual axis chart using Sales and New calculated field. Now you will see Synchronize Axis Option Enabled.

Using Bar Charts in Tooltips

Reference: Click Here

Scenario 8 How to calculate Year over Year Growth when quarters are like 15Q1, 15Q2......

Scenario 8:

Problem: How to calculate Year over Year Growth when quarters are like 15Q1, 15Q2......

For problem description see below image

Solution:

Note: I don’t have Quarter like 15Q1, 15Q2 ….. in sample super store data source. So I am creating calculation field as “Year-Quarter” using below formula.

right(str(year([Order Date])),2) + 'Q' + str(datepart('quarter',[Order Date]))

Step 1: User want to see current quarter and last 4 previous quarter. So darg “Year-Quarter” column to filter shelf and select last 5 quarters in the filter list. I.e 12Q4, 13Q1, 13Q2, 13Q3 and 13Q4.

Step 2: Now create a calculate field “Year over Year Growth” using below formula.

(sum(Sales) – lookup(Sum(Sales),-4))/lookup(Sum(Sales),-4)

See explanation below:

Step 3: Drag Year-Quarter Column to Row Shelf and Region Column to Column Shelf.

Step 4: Drag “Year over Year Growth” field to Text Shelf

see below

In above image you are seeing blanks for each each Quarter. Because by default Year over Year Growth table calculation computing across table. We need to compute this along Table Down. See below

Then you will see like below

Step 5: Right click on Year over Year Growth field which is there in text shelf and change number format to percentage.

Note: User wants to see only last row. Because Other rows showing blank.

Step 6: Create a Calculate filed “Show Last Row” using below formula.

if last() = 0 then "Show" else "Hide" END

Note: In above formula, some people may directly use “last() = 0” only instead of entire formula which I used. I like this kind of usage in formula. In future maintenance people can understand easily, that we are doing some show and hide functionality.

Step 7: Drag “Show Last Row” field to filter shelf and select “Show”. After applying filter you will see like below

This is not desired output. “Show Last Row” is computing along table across. Right click on “Show Last Row” which is there in filter shelf, go to compute using and select Table Down then it will pop up once again for filter selection. Select “Show”. Click OK button.

Here you will see final output:

Tableau Performance Checklist

The Tableau Performance Checklist is divided into seven main categories. You’ll find those categories with their subsequent best practices in the master list below:

Data:

• Keep analysis simple. Work with a subset of your data. Extract a sample if needed.
• Bring in only the data needed for analysis. Consider adding a data source filter or using an extract. If using a join, minimize the number of joined tables.
• Use “Describe” to explore dimensions in new data sets without having to load them into a viz (keyboard shortcut CTRL+E).
• Remove unused columns (measures/dimensions) in order to minimize extract refresh time or custom SQL query time.
• Create a published TDS file for your business team to use rather than each analyst creating their own data source. This includes all metadata associated with dimensions, measures, calculated fields, hierarchies, sets, parameters and naming conventions.
• Use extracts wherever possible to accelerate performance. Hide unused and confidential fields. Roll up data granularity by pre-aggregating or filtering. Break hierarchies to only visible dimensions.

Filtering:

• Minimize the number of quick filters. Use dashboard filter actions where possible.
• Avoid selecting “Only relevant values” for your quick filters. This requires sequential queries. Do not use this when not needed.
• Avoid high-cardinality quick filters (multi-select or drop-down lists). High-cardinality quick filters are slow to load and render.
• Avoid quick filters or actions that drive context filters. These require reloading the context table and should be avoided wherever possible.
• Keep range quick filters simple. The more complex the range, the slower the query.
• Replace quick filters showing “Only Relevant Values” and high count of quick filters with dashboard filter actions. They will cascade as your user interacts, and they perform faster.
• Don’t be lazy with user filters. Security by user filters can impact performance on Tableau Server as the server cannot share connections and query caches if user filters are active. Consider building a summary view that is a user-agnostic overview using a pre-aggregated extract with underlying data hidden. For a detailed view, restrict it to specific users or active directory groups instead of user filters.

Custom SQL:

• Limit custom SQL connections as they can be inefficient. Where possible, create a view on the database server to implement your custom SQL and connect Tableau to your view.
• Avoid parameters in custom SQL in Tableau. Tableau wraps the custom SQL in a subquery that many databases don’t handle well. Consider building a view in the database or use a multi-table join with filters.
• Watch for useless clauses, e.g. ORDER BY. Tableau is going to re-sort the data once loaded anyway.

Calculations:

• Use calculated fields carefully. Think about the data type as you code the calculation.
• Number and Boolean > date > string calculations when it comes to performance.
• Limit blended calculations. They require sequentially querying multiple data sources and can be time-consuming. Where possible, create a view on the database server.
• Avoid row-level calculations involving parameters.

Rendering:

• Avoid high mark counts. More marks = longer rendering time.
• Limit the use of detailed text tables with lots of marks.
• Minimize the file size of any images or custom shapes where possible. As a general rule of thumb, keep images under 50kb.
• If using custom shapes, use transparent background PNGs instead of JPGs. Views will render cleaner, and shape files will take up less space.

Local Computations:

• Even if a workbook is published to Tableau Server, local computations still impact performance. Leverage the power of Tableau Server whenever possible by limiting local computations such as groups, hierarchies, reference lines, table calculations and blending.
• Table calculations are powerful, but they can be slow. They are dependent on the local computation engine and can require substantial memory.
• Data blending builds a secondary temp table in cache. Although pre-aggregated, it is still computed locally. In v9.0, Tableau will begin processing queries in parallel, but it will be dependent on the data source. Until v9.0 releases, all queries run in series (sequentially).

Dashboard Layout:

• Limit the number of worksheets on a dashboard. If you have more than four visualizations on a dashboard, strongly reconsider.
• Fix dashboard size relative to end-user consumption. Automatic sizing is less efficient than specifying dashboard size.

Reference: www.Interworks.com

Scenario 7 How to make % of Total Sales consistent after applying filter

Scenario 7:

Problem: How to make % of Total Sales consistent after applying filter.

In above image showing region wise percentage of total Sales. Before applying filter you can see percentage of total sales for each region. But when apply Region filter only for Central and West. The percentage of total sales changed. This is not desired functionality. I just want to filter rows not values.

You can see my required output in image. How to do this?

Solution:

we can give solution in two ways.

1. using lookup( ): This is not 100% perfect solution.

2. Using Fixed( ): I am providing solution here using Fixed( )

Step 1: Create a calculated field as “Fixed Sales” using below formula.

{FIXED : sum([Sales])}

Step 2: Create a calculated field as “% of Total Sales” using below formula

sum([Sales])/sum([Fixed Sales])

Step 3: Drag Region to row shelf and % of Total Sales to Text shelf. Drag Region to filter shelf and show it as quick filter. See below

Step 4: Right click on Agg(% of Total Sales), go to format options, change number format to percentage.

Step 5: Now you will see sales in percentage. Change the filter and see that percentage is not changing.

See Report Below: