Set a Data Quality Warning

Data quality warnings are a feature of Tableau Catalogue, part of the Data Management offering for Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud. For more information about Tableau Catalogue, see "About Tableau Catalogue" in the Tableau Server(Link opens in a new window) or Tableau Cloud(Link opens in a new window) Help.

When Tableau Catalogue is enabled in your environment, you can set data quality warnings on data assets so that users of that data are aware of issues. For example, you might want to let users know that a data source has been deprecated, or that a refresh has failed for an extract data source, or that a table contains sensitive data.

You can set data quality warnings on data sources, databases, tables, flows, virtual connections, virtual connection tables and columns.

Data quality warnings for data sources, databases, tables and flows were introduced in version 2019.3 for Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server. Data quality warnings for virtual connections and virtual connection tables were added in Tableau Cloud March 2022 and Tableau Server 2022.1, and for columns in Tableau Cloud October 2022 and Tableau Server 2022.3.

About data quality warnings

There are two kinds of data quality warnings you can set. The first kind is visible to users until you remove it. The second kind is generated by Tableau when you set Tableau to monitor for refresh failures of extract data sources or flow run failures. Starting in Tableau Cloud October 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, in addition to setting monitoring warnings at the asset level, you can also turn extract refresh and flow run monitoring on or off for the entire site at once. For information about site-wide monitoring, see Site-wide monitoring for extract refresh and flow run failures.

For extracts and flows, you can set one data quality warning of each kind per asset.

For databases, tables, columns, virtual connections, virtual connection tables and live data sources, you can set only one quality warning.

When you set the first kind, it's visible to users until you remove it using the data quality dialog box. You can also use the dialog box to make any updates to the quality warning you set.

When you set Tableau to monitor for extract data source refresh failures or flow run failures, if a warning is generated, it’s visible to users until the extract refresh or flow run is successful. You can update or remove a warning by opening and editing the contents in the dialog box.

Note: You can set both kinds of data quality warnings and enable high visibility using REST API. For more information, see Add Data Quality Warning in the Tableau REST API Help.

Who can see the data quality warning

In Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud, when you set a warning on a data source, flow, database, table, column, virtual connection or virtual connection table, the warning is visible to users of the asset and any assets downstream from it. For example, a warning set on a table is visible to users looking at a dashboard with an upstream dependency on that table – users see a warning icon on the dashboard's Data Details tab and can open the pane to see the details. Warnings are visible elsewhere in Tableau as described in Set high visibility for a data quality warning.

When exploring some types of content using list view, Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud users also see data quality warnings in a column.

If you see a data quality warning column, but don't have a licence that includes Data Management, clicking on the column header displays a promotion for Data Management. The promotion can be disabled in your Account Settings.

In Tableau Desktop and Tableau Web Authoring, users see a warning icon (either a blue circle or a yellow triangle with an exclamation point) on the Data tab in a workbook sheet when either

• a warning is set on a data source used in the workbook, or
• there is a warning upstream from the data source used in the workbook

Note: Data quality warnings for columns and virtual connections do not appear in Tableau Desktop.

To see the details of the warning, hover over the warning icon with the cursor.

Data quality warnings in subscriptions

Administrators can turn on data quality warnings in email subscriptions so that when users subscribe to a view, the email they get includes high-visibility data quality warnings associated with that view. Emails with high-visibility data quality warnings contain:

• Links to relevant views or workbooks with their Data Details pane open.
• Links to relevant upstream assets, such as data sources, tables or databases.

Administrators can turn on data quality warnings in email subscriptions by selecting the Data Quality Warnings in Subscriptions option on the Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud site settings page. For more information, see Data Quality Warnings in Subscriptions in the Site Settings Reference.

How to set a quality warning

You can set one of several different data quality warnings on an asset. Starting in Tableau Cloud June 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, an administrator can add to the list of available data quality warnings by customising data labels. The following data quality warnings are built-in:

• Warning
• Deprecated
• Stale data
• Under maintenance

Beginning in Tableau Cloud June 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, "Sensitive data" is no longer a data quality warning, but is a sensitivity label instead. See Sensitivity Labels for information. In Tableau Server 2023.1 and earlier, "Sensitive data" remains a data quality warning.

In addition to showing the data quality warning, you can include an optional message with more details about the warning.

To set a data quality warning:

1. Navigate to the asset you want to create a quality warning for. This step depends on the type of asset:
• Data source or virtual connection – on the Explore page, select All Data Sources or All Virtual Connections.
• Virtual connection table – on the Explore page, select All Virtual Connections, and select the virtual connection that contains the virtual connection table you want to certify. Then select the virtual connection table.
• Database or table – on the Explore page, navigate to the database or table. Or on the External Assets page, select Databases and Files or Tables.
• Column – on the Explore or External Assets page, navigate to the table that contains the column.
2. Select the actions menu (. . .) next to the asset, and then select Quality Warning. (For columns in Tableau Server 2022.3 and earlier, instead select the column and then click the actions drop-down and select Quality Warning.)
3. Turn the warning on.
4. Select the warning label from the drop-down list.
5. Set the visibility level.
6. Enter a message that users will see in the warning details. You can format the text in a message with bold, underline and italics, and include a link or an image. To see text formatting tips, click on the information (i) icon above the Save button.
7. Select Save.

How to set a monitoring quality warning

You can set Tableau to monitor for two events: extract data source refresh failure and flow run failure. When the event occurs, Tableau generates a quality warning that appears in the same places that a manual quality warning appears.

You can turn on monitoring explicitly on the extract or flow, or, starting in Tableau Cloud October 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, you can enable site-wide monitoring for all extract refresh and flow run failures. For information on site-wide monitoring, see Site-wide monitoring for extract refresh and flow run failures.

To explicitly monitor for either an extract refresh or flow run failure:

1. Select the actions menu (. . .) next to the extract data source or flow you want to create a warning for, and then select the appropriate option:
• In Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server 2023.3 and later:
• Data Labels > Extract Refresh Monitoring
• Data labels > Flow Run Monitoring
• In Tableau Server 2023.1 and earlier:
• Quality Warning > Extract Refresh Monitoring
• Quality Warning > Flow Run Monitoring
2. Enable the warning.
3. Set the visibility level. (Older versions of the dialogs have a tick box for high visibility.)
4. (Optional) Enter a message that users will see in the warning details if the extract refresh or flow run fails. You can format the text in a message with bold, underline and italics, and include a link or an image. To see text formatting tips, click on the information (i) icon above the Save button.
5. Click Save.

Site-wide monitoring for extract refresh and flow run failures

Starting in Tableau Cloud October 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, an administrator can turn on site-wide monitoring to add or remove data quality warnings for extract refresh failures and flow run failures. You can control this feature through the Settings page, under the Extract Refresh and Flow Run Monitoring section:

These settings are turned on by default for all new sites. Sites that existed before the change will have the settings turned off, but an administrator can turn them on.

Interaction of site-wide monitoring and explicit monitoring

The interaction of explicit monitoring on assets and site-wide monitoring of all assets is as follows:

• If monitoring is explicitly turned on for an asset and site-wide monitoring is turned on, the explicit settings on the asset take precedence over the site setting. This includes properties like visibility level and message.
• When you turn off site-wide monitoring:
  • Assets with monitoring explicitly turned on won't be changed.
  • Assets without monitoring explicitly turned on will stop monitoring for extract refresh or flow run failures, and warnings that arose from extract refresh or flow run failures on those assets will be removed.
  • Catalogue ingestion performance might be temporarily reduced as Catalogue re-ingests assets that may no longer have warning labels.

Site-wide monitoring was released in Tableau Cloud October 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3. There is no interaction of explicit monitoring and site-wide monitoring in earlier versions.

Set high visibility for a data quality warning

There are times when you want to make sure that users of a visualisation know important information about the data they're viewing, whether it be that the data is stale, that the source has been deprecated or that the flow run has failed. You can do this by setting the visibility level to high in the Data Quality Warning dialog box, as described in How to set a data quality warning.

When enabled, a notification appears when anyone opens a published view affected by this warning.

High visibility warnings are identified with a yellow warning symbol, which makes them more visible elsewhere in Tableau, as in these examples:

On the External Assets page:

On a database page:

On the Data Details pane:

You can change a high-visibility warning to normal visibility by changing the visibility level in the Data Quality Warning dialog box.

Remove a data quality warning

When a warning no longer applies, you can remove it by navigating to the data asset with the warning.

1. Navigate to the asset you want to create a quality warning for. This step depends on the type of asset:
• Data source or virtual connection – on the Explore page, select All Data Sources or All Virtual Connections.
• Virtual connection table – on the Explore page, select All Virtual Connections, and select the virtual connection that contains the virtual connection table you want to certify. Then select the virtual connection table.
• Database or table – on the Explore page, navigate to the database or table. Or on the External Assets page, select Databases and Files or Tables.
• Column – on the Explore or External Assets page, navigate to the table that contains the column.
2. Select the actions menu (. . .) next to the asset, and then select Quality Warning. (For columns in Tableau Server 2022.3 and earlier, instead select the column and then click the actions drop-down and select Quality Warning.)
3. Turn the warning off.
4. Select Save.

Who can do this

To set a data quality warning, you must either

• be a server or site administrator, or
• have the Overwrite capability for the asset.

Customise Data Quality Warnings

Beginning with Tableau Cloud June 2023 and Tableau Server 2023.3, using the label manager on the Data Labels page or the REST API, an administrator can change the data quality warnings that users see in the data quality warning dialog, or create entirely new ones. For information, see Manage Data Labels.