Exporting Results to Tableau

Alation integrates directly with Tableau Desktop so you can easily send your query results to the tool for creation of plots, visualizations, and dashboards.

In order to export to Tableau, the setting must be enabled on your company’s instance of Alation. If you don’t see it listed and are interested in this integration, contact your Alation Server Admin.

The following is where to locate the Tableau export link within Compose:

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Enabling Tableau Export

An Alation Server Admin with access to the backend of the Alation server is required for enabling export to Tableau. Users will need a Tableau Desktop license to use this feature.

You can use the following command on the host server - from inside the Alation shell by a user with sudo permissions.

Setting the value:

  1. SSH to your Alation instance.

  2. Enter the Alation shell:

    sudo /etc/init.d/alation shell

  3. Set the parameter for Tableau Web Data Connector:

    alation_conf tableau.wdc.enabled -s True

  4. Refresh the page to see the change enabled.

Downloading to Tableau

In Compose, select the down arrow on the Download button in the Query Results window.

Clicking on Tableau will copy your access code for the query results to the clipboard. From there, open a new workbook in Tableau Desktop. For your datasource, select Web Data Connector.

Your Web Data URL is: <YourAlationURL>:port/tableau/wdc/. Next time you return, select the URL under Recent Connectors on the Web Data Connector page.

On the page that follows, paste the access code you copied from Alation:

  • For Mac: ⌘V

  • For PC: CTRL V

You can now start building your visualization using your query results.