Tableau is a tool designed for the visual analysis of data. It allows you to see and understand what is hidden behind the figures. Slack is an instant messaging application developed for business applications, which facilitates communication within the organizations. It enables sending messages, files and other content – all communication can be tailored to match the requirements of specific projects. What new functionalities could the combined Slack and Tableau offer?
What will change when you integrate these two tools?
Tableau has a number of built-in tools that allow you to facilitate the communication around the reports prepared within the organisation. These are, among others, comments, notifications informing about sharing data and alerts. You can comment in Tableau all available reports, and the user mentioned in the comment will be notified about it via e-mail. The same also happens when you share your report with a co-worker. Moreover, you will also get notified when the level of the selected measure reaches a certain point or falls below this point. Alerts are sent by e-mail.
The problem is that most of us receive tens of such e-mails every day and we tend to treat them as spam. They aren’t a high priority. It’s slightly easier what you receive notifications in a messaging tool, as you don’t need to go through your e-mails. In addition to a simple notification icon, there is a handy preview with links in one place. When you integrate Tableau with Slack, all of these notifications will be also sent to Slack.
Let’s imagine a scenario where the stock level of a spare part used in production falls to a dangerously low level. This facts gets recorded in the dashboard previously created in Tableau, and the owner receives a notification. This notification will appear in Tableau online, but in order to view it, you need to go there first. For this reason, a notification is also sent via e-mail. If the number of incoming e-mails allows you to read them on an ongoing basis, this should solve the problem. However, the integration of Tableau with Slack provides an additional protection mechanism by sending an alert to the messaging tool.
It is also possible to use the Ask Data functionality in Slack. Ask Data is the application that allows us to ask questions regarding data in a natural language (in natural English). Moreover, using Tableau CRM, you can prepare forecasts and recommendations for the data used in Tableau reports directly in Slack.
How to make it work?
In order to use Tableau in Slack, you must fulfil several conditions. First of all, the administrator, both in Slack and in Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud (Online) has to prepare the two tools for integration. In addition, they may allow to use ASK Data in Slack. The other steps need to be completed by users. To be able to combine these tools, you need to configurate appropriate apps in Slack: Tableau for notifications, Ask Data to have conversations with data, and CRM Analytics to draw conclusions. However, you should bear in mind that you need a Salesforce license to use CRM Analytics, and an additional license for Tableau CRM.
To summarize, if Slack is implemented in your company, it takes only several minutes to integrate it with Tableau and start using the aforementioned functions. What if your company works with MS Teams? There are some other options available too, however this needs to be discussed in a separate entry.
Agata Mężyńska
Tableau Desktop Certified Professional
