The latest release of Tableau is now available. Tableau 2021.3 includes better ways to prepare and manage data, explore data through Tableau Server or Online site before sharing with others, and new custom sample workbooks.
Improvements to Tableau Prep include linked tasks, which will allow users to automate multiple flow jobs and ensure they happen in the right order, and the ability to generate missing rows based on dates, date times, or integers to fill in gaps in data.
Tableau Catalog updates include data quality warnings in subscription emails and the ability to see inherited descriptions within web authoring flows.
Tableau 2021.3 also introduces Personal Space, which allows users to stage content before sharing with others. “With Personal Space, users can feel comfortable saving content at their own pace and at whatever stage of analysis they may be at, whether it be an ad-hoc exploration or staging a draft dashboard for a presentation. A dedicated space for draft content means a cleaner site for everyone else, making it easier for users to find official content without having to dig through all of the ‘noise,’” Tableau wrote in a blog post.
Users can now customize what set of workbooks to display in the samples area of the Desktop start page. This allows users to customize that section to better suit the needs of their business. According to Tableau, custom samples can be used to get news users setup quickly, create a workbook to highlight a specific part of the business, or to bring teams together for challenges or contests.
Governance and security updates in Tableau 2021.3 include centralized row-level security and a new content type called virtual connections that allow users to create tables through a governed database connection, embed service account credentials, and extract data from data tables to reuse within Tableau Server and Tableau Online.
Another new addition is an improved integration with Slack to enable Tableau notifications directly through Slack. Users can be notified through Slack when a specific data threshold is triggered.
“Say you want to know when your teams meet 90% of your quarterly sales quota—when that happens, you and your teammates can be notified directly in Slack so everyone can rally around closing those final deals to hit your goals,” Tableau wrote.
The Slack integration also triggers notifications when a user is mentioned in a comment in a Tableau dashboard, and allows Tableau content to be shared directly in Slack.
