External Report Auto Synchronization for Tableau

The Auto Synchronization functionality automates creation of External Reports from the Tableau's Workbooks and simplifies the process of updating existing External Reports. This article shows how to set Auto Sync for Tableau External Reports and describes all specific details of Auto Syncing for Tableau plugin.

General Features

For Tableau, the system pulls Workbook Names, Descriptions, Tags, and Owners metadata during synchronization.

NOTE: To be able to pull this data, the Include metadata variable in Optional Tableau Parameters grid (the Info tab of the Data Source Editor) must be set to "true".

1. Enabling Auto Synchronization

Access Admin > Collection & Storage > Data Sources and click the Tableau Data Source Active Name link to open the Data Source Editor

In the Info tab:

  1. Activate the Enable Content Auto Synchronization toggle.
  2. Parent Category: External Reports, created during the synchronization process will be saved into the Category chosen here.
  3. Mirror Folder Hierarchy: Activate this checkbox to recreate in Metric Insights any kind of hierarchy between Workbooks.
  4. External Report Template: Choose the Template from the drop-down menu.
  5. Do not delete Element when the associated object is not found: By default, when the Workbook associated with the External Report is not found, the External Report is also deleted during synchronization. Select this checkbox to keep already created External Reports even if the Workbook is deleted.
  6. [Save]

2. Synchronizing the Content

Open the Source Objects tab

  1. [Refresh List & Sync Content] updates the Objects list and creates new External Reports placing them into the Category selected in Info tab.
  2. [Run History] provides data on all previous sync runs.

NOTE:

  • Each new automatically created External Report is named after the Workbook of its origin.
  • Metric Insights creates one Element per Tableau Workbook. They are stored in the Elements tab of Tableau Data Source Editor.
  • If External Report was deleted or changed, syncing option will create a new External Report for this Workbook.
  • If source Workbook for External Report was changed but its name remains the same, then a "version" External Report is created.