Analytics vendor Tableau Software has released Tableau 2020.2, delivering what it claims is a new data model to simplify the analysis of complex data with no coding or scripting skills required. The aim is to make it easy for users to get answers to complex business questions that require the use of multiple databases.
How it works
Francois Ajenstat, chief product officer at Tableau Software, said the new data modelling capabilities of 2020.2 “reduces the effort needed to analyse even the most complex datasets and simplifies analysis for anyone, regardless of expertise.”
How?
Using a simple and visual drag-and-drop experience, relationships between tables can be created that automatically create accurate aggregations. This eliminates complex coding and reduces the risk of inaccuracies encountered with traditional database joins.
For example, an organization can better plan for expected product return rates in a certain region by relating a table of sales orders with a table of historical returns, through a common zip code ID field. Relationships also make queries more efficient and performant and data sources easier to maintain. To make it easy for anyone to get started analysing their data, Tableau’s new modern data model will automatically aggregate at the appropriate level of detail for the customer’s analysis.
Relationships can also bring unprecedented flexibility to make data sources more efficient and accurate, only querying relevant tables to improve dashboard performance.
Because multiple levels of detail are preserved in a single data source with industry-standard star and snowflake schema support, customers are able to streamline their data source management process, share combined sources across the organization, and enjoy a more intuitive analytics experience - with fewer distinct data sources for organizations to create and maintain.
JLL use case of relationships
“Historically, we have spent a lot of time designing and building underlying data models in our warehouse to optimise for analysis. With relationships, we can seamlessly bring in multiple tables, automatically aggregating at the right level of detail without any calculations or custom SQL, reducing the total number of data sources we need to manage,” said James Baker, global director of business intelligence at Jones Lang LaSalle.
“Being able to drill down within a single data source is a game-changer and enables lots of possibilities. This will provide our analysts and stakeholders with a much better experience as we’ll be able to get them the data they need in one place where they can explore at different levels of detail.”
Why do I need Metrics?
Users upgrading to 2020.2 will get Metrics – a feature which allows users to instantly monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) from a mobile device.
Metrics provides a custom, at-a-glance view of the most critical data, streamlined in one location. Accessible from the Tableau Mobile app via push notifications or in the browser, Metrics provide a curated and consistent view in an on-the-go format.
No need to dive deep into multiple dashboards or adjust filters to see the most up-to-date data, and instead offers KPIs in a view as easy to understand as checking a bank account balance.
