1094 Tableau Reporting

Georgia State Seal

Georgia Division of Aging Services
Administrative Manual

Chapter:

General DAS Administration

Effective Date:

06/15/2023

Section Title:

Tableau Reporting

Reviewed or Updated in:

MT 2023-07

Section Number:

1094

Previous Update:

MT 2020-01

Summary Statement

This section established guidelines for implementing and managing Tableau environments and reports at the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services (DHS/DAS), Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and provider organization levels of the Georgia aging network.

Definitions

For purposes of these guidelines the following definitions are provided:

Extract: a compressed snapshot of data stored on disk and loaded into memory as required to render a Tableau Workbook. The data file is saved with a .hyper format.

Nested Project: Projects within Projects helping to partition and organize content within each Project.

Project: Folders acting as the organizational structure within Tableau Server. They help group Tableau Workbooks into various logical areas.

Refresh Schedule: An automated process to update published Extract data sources and published Workbooks that connect to Extracts. This eliminates the manual process of updating static distributed content.

Seat: An annual license allowing an individual to log into Tableau Server using a State of Georgia (SOG) account.

Tableau: data visualization tool that connects easily to several data sources and allows for rapid insight by transforming data into interactive visualizations. The overall tool is comprised of multiple products:

  • Tableau Desktop – the visualization-building program Creators use to create Tableau Workbooks

  • Tableau Prep – a supplemental program for Tableau Desktop to help clean, aggregate, merge, or otherwise prepare data from multiple sources and create Tableau Data Extracts (data files created through Tableau programs to help increase Tableau Workbook response times). Tableau Prep also acts as a record source for how the data was transformed as it records all steps used to build the Tableau Data Extract.

  • Tableau Server – the environment used as a Tableau Workbook repository allowing users to access up-to-date reports without relying on static distributed content. Users log in through SOG accounts for security and are split into Creators and Explorers. Tableau Server consolidates all Tableau Workbooks into one location, allows Tableau Data Extracts to update on refresh schedules, Explorers to log in and view reports from anywhere with an internet connection and Virtual Private Network, and all users to communicate specific insights with a built-in messaging system.

  • Tableau Reader – A free desktop application used to open and interact with data visualizations built in Tableau Desktop.

Tableau Server Users:

  • Creator: Report writer creating Tableau Workbooks

  • Explorer: End-user of Tableau Workbooks

  • Server Administrator: IT professionals who maintain and deploy heterogeneous server solutions. Essential areas for server administrators may include networking, hardware tuning and maintenance, security, and access, and managing users and directory services. The tools and documentation delivered with Tableau Server for the server administrator support these core server IT areas.

  • Site Administrator: An administrative role specific to Tableau Server or Tableau Online deployments. The Tableau site administrator is fundamentally concerned with data content. The site administrator manages users and their access to projects, Workbooks, and data sources.

Workbook: Tableau uses a workbook and sheet file structure, much like Microsoft Excel. A workbook contains sheets. A sheet can be a worksheet, a dashboard, or a story.

  • Worksheet: A visualization containing a single view along with shelves, cards, legends, and the Data and Analytics panes in its side bar.

  • Dashboard: A collection of views from multiple worksheets. The Dashboard and Layout panes are available in its side bar.

  • Story: A sequence of worksheets or dashboards that work together to convey information. The Story and Layout panes are available in its side bar.

  • Visualization: Any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Within Tableau Workbooks, a visualization is any graphic used for data analysis.

Tableau Reporting

Tableau products serve as a data visualization reporting tool providing visual insights into an entity’s data. All of Tableau’s reports are visual and interactive in nature – the Explorer is able to click and filter the reports to develop different ways to view the data.

DAS uses four main Tableau products:

  • Tableau Desktop (TD)

  • Tableau Prep (TP)

  • Tableau Reader (TR)

  • Tableau Server (TS)

Purpose

TS provides two main benefits to the reporting foundation at DAS:

  • It grants the ability for Tableau visualizations to connect to live data, removing the need to manually update each workbook with new data. TS allows each report to connect to a live data set or have the data update on a desired cadence.

  • It serves as a report repository for Tableau Workbooks, removing the need for TR which becomes cumbersome after a handful of users due to updating and syncing versions - each update requires uninstalling a previous version and installing the new version.

Maintenance

The responsibility of maintaining TS is shared between the Department of Human Services' Office of Information Technology (OIT) and Division of Aging Services (DAS). OIT’s role is set to Server Administrator and maintains the server instances. DAS’s role is set to Site Administrator and maintains the Tableau Server environment. The division of responsibilities are as follows:

  • Server Administrator – Essential areas for server administrators may include networking, hardware tuning and maintenance, and applying best security practices while overseeing active directory of DAS users. The tools and documentation delivered with Tableau Server for the server administrator support these core server IT areas.

  • Site Admin – maintaining the structure, organization, and access to Tableau Server site. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, adding users, setting permissions, creating Projects, maintaining Workbooks, etc.

Product Updates

Updates to both the Test and Production sites happen on the 15th of every month. If Tableau releases an update after the 15th of a month, those updates will be applied on the 15th of the following month. The Test site will be maintained as the most current version with Production being one version behind.