Establish Connectivity to Tableau Server (v7.2.1+)

Connecting Metric Insights to Tableau allows you to create Datasets and Elements sourced directly from your Tableau environment. This version of Metric Insights introduces a redesigned Tableau Data Source Editor that replaces the previous Editor with a more streamlined experience, making it easier to configure and manage your Tableau connections.

PREREQUISITES:

1. Add New Data Source

  1. [+New Data Source]
  2. Choose Tableau from the Plugin drop-down list.
  3. [Next]

2. Provide Required Parameters

  1. Data Source Name: input a descriptive phrase.
  2. [Create]
  3. Auth Type: Select one of the following options. This setting defines how the Plugin connects to the REST API, which is the default API used to collect object hierarchy and metadata.
    • PAT: Enter the PAT name and the PAT generated on the Tableau side in the fields below.
    • Password: Enter your Tableau credentials in the fields below.
    • Identity Profile: Select a preconfigured Identity Profile from the drop-down. This option is equivalent to Password authentication.
    • PAT Identity Profile: Select a preconfigured PAT Identity Profile from the drop-down. This option is equivalent to PAT authentication.
  4. Tableau Server: Specify the URL of the Tableau server.
  5. Site ID: Provide the Tableau Site ID.
  6. Content loading strategy: Select one of the available options. This setting defines which API the Plugin uses to collect content – via:

3. Configure Additional Settings

  1. Project: Optionally, specify project names to narrow down the list of Tableau projects from which objects are fetched.
    • If left blank, all objects from all sites will be fetched.
  2. Tableau Object Types: Specify the object types to fetch from Tableau.
    • If left blank, all objects types will be fetched.
  3. Embedding: Define the parameters to configure the JWT authentication for embedding, if required.
  4. Uncertified/Certified: If toggled on, the date and first/last name of the User who certified the Data Source will be displayed.
    • NOTE: This setting has no impact on the Data Source's behavior, MI's security model, or any other functionality. Power Users with Edit Access to an object's editor can activate the Certification setting. Certification is a memo notation only and does not affect processing logic for the object.
  5. Tags: Add Tags or create new ones.
  6. Enable On-Demand Element Creation: Optionally, toggle on.
  7. Enable Content Auto Synchronization: Optionally, toggle on.

4. Configure Advanced Settings

  1. Use Remote Agent: Enable if a Remote Agent is required. A Remote Agent is a Windows-based service that allows Metric Insights to connect to Data Sources requiring Windows integrations or located behind a firewall. 
  2. Use Proxy: Enable if a proxy is required.
    • If enabled, select the proxy from the drop-down below.
    • See general instructions on how to set up proxies.
  3. Generate Object List: Choose one of the following options:
    • Automatically: All Reports are fetched by the system.
    • Dataset: Select a Dataset to source the Objects list from. The Dataset must contain the following columns: 'id', parent_id, 'name', 'level'. The following columns are optional: 'external_guid', 'capabilities', 'is_default_ind', 'last_data_refreshed', 'supports_filters', 'index', 'last_modified', 'content_type'.
  4. Object List Refresh Trigger: Select the trigger that will be used to fetch data via the Plugin.
    • NOTE: Triggers set to run every few minutes or hours are not shown in this drop-down to prevent excessively frequent refreshes of large databases. Only Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly triggers are available.
  5. Threads to utilize during data and/or image fetch: Specify the maximum number of concurrent threads to be used in background processing when the system updates Reports for this Data Source.
    • If not specified, batch data collection processing will be single-threaded.
  6. Multiple dimension values delimiter for Multiple Dimension Values.
    • Supports fetching aggregate data for multiple Filter Values.
    • Use only the following delimiter symbols: tilde (~), underscore (_), or hyphen (-).

5. Configure Optional Parameters

  1. Base URL: The base hostname used to construct URLs when linking to Tableau objects (e.g., Workbooks, Views, Dashboards).
    • Enter the root address of your Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud instance (e.g., https://tableau.yourcompany.com). Leave blank if the Plugin can derive the URL from the connection settings automatically.
  2. Primary Date Format: Define the date format the Plugin should use when parsing date values from Tableau data.
    • Only required if your Tableau data source returns dates in a non-standard format. Use standard date tokens (e.g., MM/dd/yyyy, MM YY, yyyy-MM-dd). If left blank, the Plugin will use the system default.
  3. Data freshness policy: Defines how long (in hours) a live Tableau Data Source is considered "fresh" before the Plugin treats it as stale and re-fetches it. Default: 12 hours.
    • Increase this value for data sources that update infrequently to reduce load on the Tableau server; decrease it if you need more up-to-date data.
  4. Data expiration: Only applicable when Force Refresh Cache is enabled. Sets the interval (in seconds) at which the Plugin will automatically refresh cached Tableau data.
    • For example, a value of 3600 triggers a refresh every hour. If Force Refresh Cache is disabled, this setting has no effect.
  5. Attempts: Defines the number of times the Plugin will retry a failed HTTP request to the Tableau server before reporting an error.
    • Increase this value in environments with unstable network connections or intermittent Tableau server availability. Example: a value of 3 means the Plugin will try up to 3 times before giving up.
  6. Timeout: Defines the maximum amount of time (in seconds) the Plugin will wait for a response from the Tableau server on a single HTTP request. If the server does not respond within this period, the request is considered failed.
    • Increase this for slow or high-latency Tableau environments; decrease it to surface failures faster.
  7. Maximum iterations for single data fetch: Sets an upper limit on the number of data fetch iterations the Plugin will perform for a single Element.
    • When External Filters are applied, the Plugin calculates all combinations of Filter Values and runs a separate fetch for each — which can be a large number. If the total number of required fetches exceeds this limit, the Plugin will skip the request entirely to protect the Tableau server from overload. Use this to guard against runaway requests when Elements have many filter combinations.
  8. Validate SSL Certificates: Enable to verify the SSL certificate of the Tableau server before establishing a connection.
    • Important: self-signed certificates will cause the connection to fail when this is enabled — only use it with servers that have a certificate issued by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). Disable this option if your Tableau server uses a self-signed certificate.
  9. Force refresh cache: Enable to force Tableau to refresh the data for Elements on the server before loading them to ensure the most current data is retrieved. This is useful when Tableau's own cache may be stale.
    • NOTE: the refresh interval is controlled by the Data Expiration parameter above. Enabling this may increase load on your Tableau server.
  10. Include device layouts metadata: Enable to additionally collect information about whether a Tableau Dashboard has been optimized for mobile or tablet layouts (device-specific layout configurations).
    • Useful if your reporting needs to reflect which dashboards are mobile-ready.
  11. Include metadata: Enable to collect additional descriptive metadata for each Tableau object during refresh, including: Workbook description, Project name, Owner, included Worksheets, Tags, Data Source, Last Modified date/time, and Total View Count.
    • NOTE: Total View Count is only available for users with the Server Administrator Tableau account role. Enabling this option may slow down data collection, especially for large numbers of objects.
  12. Include Update Time: Enable to additionally retrieve the timestamp of the most recent data refresh for each Tableau workbook. This allows you to display or track when Tableau data was last updated.
    • NOTE: Enabling this option may slow down data collection.