Data preparation is undoubtedly one of the most competency-reliant and time-consuming parts of report generation. For this reason, it is fast becoming the new focal area for further development and we are seeing a large uptick in the number of options being made available to help alleviate these issues.
One recent entrant to this space is Tableau with the announcement of their new tool, Tableau Prep. This tool brings a new user experience to the artform of data preparation and follows the similar user-centred design form as their reporting tool.
Tableau Prep concentrates on providing a ‘no-code required’ solution in data preparation with a view to enabling a greater number of users’ accessibility and a quicker turnaround for organisations in wrangling datasets.
Every step within Tableau Prep is visual and shows the immediate effects of any transforms on data. Its proficiency is in hiding complex smart algorithms that carry out the data manipulation and surface them with one-click operations is greatly simplifying the data preparation process.
The preparation paradigm concentrates on having the user set up a pathway from the dataset through to the output, introducing the required transformations along the way.
By clicking on an element in the workflow, it will bring up a secondary pane showing more details relevant to the step selected.
Adding steps within Tableau Prep is as simple as clicking on the “+” icon and choosing the appropriate method.
Interacting with data within Tableau Prep is similarly a visual experience. In the example below, in performing a group and replace operation, Tableau Prep has recognised that as a result of joining datasets together, some used the full state name of “California” and others used the contraction of “CA”. It then groups these together utilising a fuzzy matching algorithm and presents the options to allow the user to choose which should be the chosen representation of the datapoints.
Tableau Prep provides a visual summary of all changes that have been made within each step. As changes to data are made, it updates the preview in real time, allowing the user to see the effect this has had.
After creating the transformation pathway, generating an output file is done as a final step. Currently Tableau Prep is very focussed on its integration with the Tableau product set. It automatically publishes to Tableau Desktop, Server and Online but it does also offer an output as a CSV file format.
Conclusion
In summary, Tableau Prep is going to enhance the ability of analysts who are used to working with the Tableau product suite. Whilst it won’t replace other more mature and prevalent data preparation products on the market such as Alteryx, Trifacta or Knime, it does offer a significant productivity opportunity to Tableau focussed organisations.
New Subscriptions
With the release of Tableau Prep, Tableau has also introduced new subscription offerings.
The new subscription levels; Tableau Creator, Explorer, and Viewer have been packaged around expected usage within an organisation. Tableau Prep has been included in the Creator package along with Tableau Desktop.
Also see our video test drive here.