Visual Analytics with Tableau

Chapter 9Sharing Insights with Colleagues and the World

We have talked about how to connect to data, how to visually analyze it, and how to put several charts together in the form of a dashboard. Often, the next step in the visual analytics workflow is to make the results available to an audience.

Of course, you can email your colleagues the Tableau workbook (the .twbx file). They can then open it in Tableau Desktop or in Tableau Reader. However, they need to have at least one of these tools installed on their machine, and not all organizations will allow their employees to install software as and when they need it.

Often, it is faster and easier to make your dashboards available via the web browser, using one of three Tableau products built for this purpose: Tableau Online, Tableau Server, or Tableau Public. The added benefit of sharing visualizations this way is that they can also be consumed on tablet computers and smartphones. The interactivity of the dashboards, such as the ability to set filters, is retained from Tableau Desktop.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Publish visualizations via Tableau Online, Tableau Server, and Tableau Public.
• Work on the go with Tableau Mobile.
• Embed visualizations into websites and blogs.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

Before sharing anything with your colleagues or other audiences, have a final look at the following checklist:

• Can the intent of the dashboard be understood in less than 30 seconds?
• Will the end user know which ...