Tableau Cloud Help

Tableau as a term is now used in the Salesforce ecosystem to refer to analytics. The products historically known as Tableau are referred to in this topic as Tableau by Tableau. This distinguishes those products and features from Tableau Next, the Salesforce analytics platform integrated with Data Cloud, and Tableau Semantics, the semantic layer of Data Cloud and Tableau Next.

Tableau on the Salesforce platform

There are analytics products developed inside Salesforce that use Tableau branding. These products are built on a Salesforce code base and are native to the Salesforce CRM ecosystem.

• Tableau Semantics(Link opens in a new window) - a semantic layer integrated into Data Cloud and Tableau Next.
• Tableau Next(Link opens in a new window) - an agentic analytics platform built in Salesforce to combine the best of CRM Analytics(Link opens in a new window), Tableau by Tableau, and AI, leveraging the power of Data Cloud(Link opens in a new window). (Tableau Next was formerly "Tableau Einstein.")
  • Licensed as Tableau Next Creator and Tableau Next Consumer.

There are also integrations of Tableau by Tableau functionality available in Salesforce CRM.

• Tableau Pulse(Link opens in a new window) - a purpose-built edition of Tableau Pulse that brings out-of-the-box metrics and AI-powered insights directly into the flow of work in Salesforce.

Tableau by Tableau

Tableau by Tableau is a term we're using to describe the portfolio developed within the Tableau(Link opens in a new window) ecosystem.

• Tableau Desktop(Link opens in a new window) - the authoring tool. The original Tableau product, and the core of what Tableau is (as Desktop or web authoring), providing the ability to see and understand your data.
  • Can be used on its own to create vizzes and dashboards, or to publish analytics assets and curated data sources to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server.
• Tableau Cloud(Link opens in a new window) or Tableau Server(Link opens in a new window) - the analytics platform. Cloud is fully hosted and Server is on-premises.
  • Contains both web authoring functionality that acts as a browser-based Tableau Desktop and a sharing and consumption platform for analytics assets.
• Tableau Prep(Link opens in a new window) - the data cleaning tool, used to create data outputs used by Desktop, Cloud, or Server.
  • Tableau Prep Builder(Link opens in a new window) - the data cleaning tool itself, where flows are built to combine, clean, and shape data.
  • Tableau Prep Conductor(Link opens in a new window) - the scheduling portion of the Tableau Prep products, Tableau Conductor is available in Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server to schedule and automate running published Prep flows. Available as part of the Data Management tier in the Enterprise and Tableau+ license bundles.
• Tableau Public(Link opens in a new window) - the free platform to create and share data vizzes in the cloud (used in place of Desktop and either Cloud or Server). Tableau Public is opened and ungoverned, it is not secure and is for content that is intended to be publicly available (data journalism, just for fun, personal portfolios, etc).
• Tableau Mobile(Link opens in a new window) - a free app on the App Store and Google Play for consuming content published on Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server.
• Tableau Reader - a deprecated product that was used to consume Tableau Desktop workbooks. Reader was a free tool with no security or governance features and was replaced by the viewer role on Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server as the secure ways to share and consume analysis in Tableau.

There are also features and tools within Tableau products.

• Tableau Pulse(Link opens in a new window) - scoped metrics accessible where you work, available as part of Tableau Cloud (was originally a stand-alone product, now bundled with Tableau cloud) and accessible in tools you already work in, such as Slack and email.
• Tableau Agent(Link opens in a new window) - the AI assistant to help you create visualizations or understand dashboards, available inside of Tableau Cloud and Tableau Desktop.
  • AI in Tableau(Link opens in a new window) is the portfolio of all generative AI (GAI) functionality across the product, including Tableau Pulse insights and Tableau Agent.
• Tableau Catalog(Link opens in a new window) - A data management tool for lineage, impact analysis, data quality warnings, etc. Available as part of the Data Management tier in the Enterprise and Tableau+ license bundles
• Tableau Cloud Manager(Link opens in a new window) (TCM) - a free administrative tool for managing multiple Tableau Cloud sites
• Tableau Bridge(Link opens in a new window) - a free tool for bringing data from non-cloud data sources into Tableau Cloud.
• Tableau Exchange(Link opens in a new window) - a platform for Tableau-built and 3rd party extensions, including accelerators, viz extensions, dashboard extensions, and data connectors. (The Salesforce version is Marketplace.)

Tableau's Tableau is sold as licenses(Link opens in a new window).

• User license are tiered:
  • Tableau Viewer - a consumption seat on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.
  • Tableau Explorer - a consumption and data exploration seat on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.
  • Tableau Creator - an authoring seat on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, also giving access to Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep.
• Licenses can be purchased as bundled editions (SKUs):
  • Tableau+(Link opens in a new window) - a license edition for Tableau Cloud that includes user licenses for Viewers, Explorers, and Creators, as well as usage access to Data Cloud and Einstein Requests, and some additional functionality for Tableau Pulse. Also included with Tableau+ is Tableau Next.
  • Tableau Enterprise(Link opens in a new window) - a license edition for Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server that includes user licenses and additional features.