Getting Started with Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server

Overview

Tableau is easy-to-use data analytics software for exploring and visualizing data. It emphasizes visual analytics, letting you move quickly from question to insight.

Tableau Desktop is the authoring software for creating dashboards, workbooks, and analyses. It can connect to the University Data Warehouse, local databases, spreadsheets, text files, and more.

Tableau Server (analytics.pitt.edu) is where finished work is shared with University faculty and staff. All Pitt faculty and staff have access to the server, but they can only see the dashboards and data they have permission to view.

Free option: Tableau Web Edit. If you're working with prepared Tableau Server Data Sources, you can use Tableau Web Edit to create dashboards, visualizations, and reports at no cost. It is less powerful than Tableau Desktop: it can only connect to Tableau Server Data Sources and has some other functional limitations.

Tableau Products by User Type

User Type	Product(s)	Cost	Where to Get It
Students	Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep	Free	Tableau for Students
Instructors (classroom and/or non-commercial research use)	Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep	Free	Tableau for Teaching
Staff and faculty administrators (administrative purposes)	Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep	$630/year	PantherExpress

Checking Your Tableau Desktop License

Visit the Tableau Customer Portal .
Go to the License tab .

Your license should appear similar to the screenshot below:

Frequently Asked Questions

Question	Answer
Can I try out Tableau Desktop?	Yes, download the 14-day free trial from Tableau. If you are a student or instructor, you are eligible for a free Tableau license.
How can I access Tableau Server content?	All faculty and staff members at the University of Pittsburgh have access to the Tableau Server at analytics.pitt.edu. Visitors to analytics.pitt.edu will only see dashboards and worksheets to which they have been granted access by a Tableau Desktop author.
Who has access to view a dashboard on Tableau Server?	Tableau Desktop authors publish dashboards and worksheets to the Tableau Server. These authors are also responsible for granting access to those dashboards. If you would like access to a particular dashboard, contact the author of the dashboard to request access.
What kinds of data can Tableau use?	Tableau Desktop users can take advantage of several data sources connected directly to the University Data Warehouse. In addition, Tableau can ingest data from almost any database or format. It can easily connect to Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and other databases, as well as CSV and Microsoft Excel files. These data sources can then be joined together to create unified datasets for analysis.
I'd like to have Tableau Dashboards in my school, department, or business unit. Who can help me?	Your school, department, or business unit may already have someone working with Tableau. If not, Pitt Digital Business Intelligence provides consulting for analytics and dashboards. Contact the Technology Help Desk to find out more.