Set a Data Quality Warning

Data quality warnings are a feature of Tableau Catalog. Starting in 2019.3, Tableau Catalog is available in the Data Management Add-on to Tableau Online and Tableau Server. When Tableau Catalog is enabled in your environment, you can set data quality warnings. For more information, see "About Tableau Catalog" in the Tableau Server(Link opens in a new window) or Tableau Online(Link opens in a new window) Help.

You can set a warning message on a data asset 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.

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.

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

For live data sources and for databases and tables, 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

When you set a warning, 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. This applies to Tableau Server and Tableau Online users.

Tableau Desktop 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 a warning is set on a data source, table, or database used in the workbook. To see the details of the warning, hover over the warning icon with a mouse.

Data quality warnings in subscriptions

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

• Links to relevant views or workbooks.
• 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 Online site settings page. For more information, see Data Quality Warnings in Subscriptions in the Site Settings Reference.

How to set a quality warning

There are several types of data quality warnings you can set on an asset:

• Warning
• Deprecated
• Stale data
• Under maintenance
• Sensitive data

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

To set a data quality warning:

1. Select the More actions menu (. . .) next to the asset you want to create a warning for, and then select Quality Warning.
2. Select the Enable warning check box.
3. Select the Warning type from the drop-down list.
4. (Optional) Select the Enable high visibility check box.
5. Enter a message to display to users.
6. Click Save.

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 the information (i) icon above the Save button.

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.

To set Tableau to monitor for either event:

1. Select the More actions menu (. . .) next to the extract data source or flow you want to create a warning for, and then select the appropriate option:
   • Quality Warning > Extract Refresh Monitoring
   • Quality Warning > Flow Run Monitoring
2. In the dialog box, select the monitoring check box.
3. (Optional) Select the Enable high visibility check box.
4. (Optional) Enter a message to display to users. To see text formatting tips, click the information (i) icon above the Save button.
5. Click Save.

Set high visibility for a data quality warning

There are times when you want to make sure that users of a visualization know important information about the data they're viewing, whether it be that the data is stale or that the source has been deprecated or that the flow run has failed. You can do this by selecting the Enable high visibility check box in the Data Quality Warning dialog box, as described in step 4 of 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:

On metrics. Warnings appear when you open a metric in Tableau Mobile, and in Tableau Server and Tableau Online when you hover over a metric in grid view and on the metric details page, as shown below:

You can change a high visibility warning to normal visibility by clearing the Enable high visibility check box 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. Select the More actions menu (. . .) next to the data asset and select Quality Warning.
2. Clear the Enable warning check box to remove the warning.
3. Click Save.

Who can do this

To set a data quality warning, you must either

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