Tableau Server on Windows Help

After you publish your flow you can schedule tasks or linked tasks (version 2021.3 and later) in Tableau Server to automatically run your flows on a regular basis to keep your output data fresh. You can also run your flows manually at any time (no Data Management required).

Tableau Prep Conductor leverages much of the same functionality for managing flows that you might see when managing workbooks or data sources from Tableau Desktop in Tableau Server . For example, just like extract refreshes, scheduled flow tasks and on-demand flow runs are queued as background tasks. But when it comes to working with flows, there are a few differences.

Flow Overview page

The flow Overview page is the main landing page where you can view data about your flow and schedule, monitor, and maintain the flow. If you don't have the Data Management, you will have different options.

Open the flow Overview page by clicking on a flow in your list. You can navigate there from Content > Explore > All Flows or by opening the project that contains your flows.

1. The header lists the name of the flow, the flow owner and the date that the flow was last modified. Starting in version 2020.4, click Edit to edit existing flows.

   Add a flow to your favorites, or from the More actionsmenu you can also edit, run, download the flow, set permissions, change the flow owner, restore previous flow versions, and more.

2. View and edit the flow description and set tags to help others find the flows they are looking for.

3. View the output steps for a flow along with any parameters applied to the flow (version 2021.4 and later), the status of the last update, any schedule the output is assigned to, and any errors from the last flow run. You can also click the Run button to run all output steps or individual output steps on-demand.

   Parameters	If the flow includes user parameters, the parameter value last run in the flow is shown and you can see all generated outputs in the Output column. When the flow is run, you'll be prompted to enter the parameter values. System parameters (version 2023.2 and later) are automatically generated at flow run time and the type of system parameter is shown in the Parameters column. To see the last system parameter value applied to the flow, edit the flow. For more information about using parameters in flows, see Create and Use Parameters in Flows(Link opens in a new window) in the Tableau Prep help.
   Status	After a flow has run successfully, outputs that are data sources become links that you can click to open the Data Source page to view more information about the data source or edit the flow input connection.
   Schedule	In the Schedule field, view the scheduled tasks that the output step is assigned to. A flow output can be assigned to one or more tasks. If no schedule has been assigned yet, click Create new task to add the output step to a schedule. To immediately run the flow to update a specific output step, click the Runbutton on the left-hand side of the row.
   Errors	If the flow has errors, the flow run will fail. Connectivity errors can be resolved directly by navigating to the Connections tab for the flow and editing the input connections. To resolve any other flow errors, edit the flow then republish it and try running the flow again. If you are using an earlier version of Tableau Prep Builder, from the More actionsmenu, you can also download and open the flow in Tableau Prep Builder, then republish it and try running the flow again.

4. View an image of the flow.

Flow Overview page without the Data Management

If you don't have the Data Management installed on your server, you can still publish flows to Tableau Server , but you will see fewer options to manage your flow.

Flow Connections page

View both the input and output locations for a flow, connection types, authentication settings, input and output steps and any connectivity errors. You can set authentication settings when publishing a flow. For more information, see Publish a Flow(Link opens in a new window).

For database input types, click the More actions menu for an input connection to edit the connection and change the server name, port, user name and password.

Flow Scheduled Tasks page (Data Management required)

View any schedules that the flow is assigned to, the outputs that are included in those schedules, and any parameters applied to the flow (version 2021.4 and later). As an administrator, you can click the schedule link to open the Schedules page and see a list of flows that are assigned to that schedule. For more information about assigning flows to a schedule, see Schedule Flow Tasks in the Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server help.

To view the outputs on a schedule or the tasks assigned to a linked task (version 2021.3 and later), click the links in the Schedule type column.

You can also add new tasks or manage existing ones from this page. To take action on an existing task, select the check box on a task card then click the Actions drop-down menu to run, edit, or delete the task.

If the flow fails to run after a configured number of consecutive attempts, the flow is automatically suspended.

You can see that status on the Overview tab as well as this tab. You can resume suspended tasks from this menu.

For information about how to set the threshold for suspended flow tasks, see Step 5: Optional Server Configurations(Link opens in a new window). For more information about suspended flow tasks, see View and resolve errors.

Note: The Scheduled Tasks page for flows was redesigned in version 2021.3. Your view may look different depending on your server version.

Schedules page

On the Schedules page, you can view the flows assigned to a schedule and the details about the flow runs. If the schedule includes linked tasks (version 2021.3 and later) the number of flows included in the linked tasks is shown.

You can run the schedule on-demand and run all flows assigned to it. You can also select one or more flows, then use the Actions menu to change the flow schedule or priority, delete selected flows from the schedule or resume suspended flows.

For information about how to set up a schedule, see Step 3: Create Schedules for Flow Tasks(Link opens in a new window).

Flow Run History (Data Management required)

See, search, and sort through a list of historical runs for a flow. This page also includes details about the flow run such as run type, parameter values applied to flows included in each flow run (version 2021.4 and later), duration and number of rows that were generated.

If the flow output has an error, hover over the error to view the messages. If applicable, click the Go to Connections link in the error message to navigate to the Connections page to fix connectivity errors. You can also edit the flow directly to fix any errors, or click Download the flow to download and fix flow errors in Tableau Prep Builder, then republish the flow to continue to manage it using Tableau Prep Conductor.

Note: The run history for a flow will persist unless the flow is deleted.

Flow Revision History

If you need to revert a flow to a previous version, from the More actions menu for the flow, select Revision History. On the Revision History dialog, select the flow version from the list that you want to revert to.

Who can do this

Server Administrators can activate Data Management license keys.

Server administrators can enable Tableau Prep Conductor.

Creators can create, edit, and run flows manually. If the Data Management is installed, creators can run flows on a schedule.