What is Tableau?
Tableau is the leading analytics platform for business intelligence and data visualization on the market. It allows users to simplify raw data into a format that’s easy to access and understand by those working at any level of an organization. Even non-technical Tableau users can create customized dashboards and worksheets with the help of this versatile tool. Some of Tableau’s most remarkable features include its capacity for data blending, real-time analysis, and data collaboration.
Since its founding in 2003, Tableau has evolved from a computer science project of students at Stanford into one of the most widely used data visualization tools in existence. Tableau was created as a way to improve analysis flow and use visualizations to make data more accessible. This value continues to inform Tableau’s evolution. Currently, Tableau offers a complete and integrated platform for data analytics. It provides its customers with the necessary resources to help them thrive in a data-driven culture.
The Tableau product suite is used by many companies, like Skype, Wells Fargo, Nike, and Coca-Cola. In fact, thousands of companies and organizations use Tableau for their data analytic and visualization needs.
What is the Tableau Foundation?
In 2014, Tableau Foundation was founded with the mission of discovering new ways to apply data to problem-solving on a global scale. In the years since, it has partnered with a variety of other organizations that share in the goal of data-driven social change. Some of the initiatives Tableau Foundation and its partners have incorporated to help accelerate change pertain to using data to monitor and treat infectious disease, as well as to provide data visualizations depicting how climate change affects communities around the globe. In 2018, the Foundation committed to donating $100 million in training, software, and financial backing by 2025.
Tableau Foundation has partnered with many organizations around the globe to spur social change. Among these organizations are Feeding America, The National Alliance to End Homelessness, World Food Programme, NeighborWorks America, and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Tableau Foundation's annual report shows how grant money has been used and is currently being allocated for various social initiatives. As the interactive visualization displays, nearly 11,000 organizations in 128 countries have benefitted from Foundation funding over the years. In January 2022 alone, Tableau Foundation distributed nearly $5 million in funding.
The Tableau Foundation’s Six Initiatives
Tableau Foundation works to empower nonprofits and organizations with support to help them change society for the better. The Foundation focuses primarily on six initiatives:
- Gender equality: Tableau Foundation envisions a society in which women have the same access to political power, healthcare, financial institutions, and economic opportunities as men. One of its goals is to advocate for improved data collection pertaining to the hurdles women and girls face across the globe. This is why Tableau Foundation works with organizations that leverage data to advocate for programs and policies pertaining to gender equality. Some of the initiatives the Foundation’s partners support involve maternal and menstrual health. They are also working to close the gender gap by stressing the importance of financial security for women and by using data visualizations to illustrate the gaps in women’s leadership in different parts of the world with the hope of helping women achieve more balanced representation.
- Hunger: Almost 700 million people worldwide are currently food insecure. Tableau Foundation sees data as a vital tool for increasing access to food. It has teamed up with other organizations that leverage data to make improvements to the food supply chain and empower local farmers to have the necessary tools to better serve their communities.
- Climate change: Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Tableau Foundation believes that by using data-driven solutions, it’s possible for progress and productive action. With the help of partnering organizations, Tableau Foundation works to change the traditional narrative surrounding climate issues by implementing climate data and solutions journalism so that important stories can be shared regarding climate solutions and how they benefit local communities, as well as what should be expected from policymakers and elected officials. By bringing diverse voices into the conversation, it’s more likely that those who have been most impacted by climate change will also reap the benefits of the solutions. Tableau Foundation also seeks to help organizations develop their data capacity so that they can tackle the disproportionate way climate change impacts communities of color.
- Racial justice: Tableau Foundation views data as an invaluable tool in the fight against systemic racism in America. The Racial Justice Data Initiative and its $18 million, three-year commitment was established to improve the data capacity of community, regional, and national organizations that are devoted to fighting racism in the U.S. This initiative seeks to democratize access to data pertaining to racial justice that is needed by advocates to affect local change. In addition, Tableau Foundation works to tackle anti-Black racism by improving the data capacity of BIOPIC-led organizations that work for social justice reform and equal education initiatives. The Foundation also seeks to increase data literacy by training 2,000 advocates for racial justice and equity. More information can be found on Tableau’s Racial Equity Data Hub and the “Do No Harm Guide, ” which helps storytellers learn how to present their data stories in an audience-sensitive and topic-sensitive manner.
- Homelessness: Tableau Foundation works to provide trustworthy sources of information pertaining to homelessness that can be used by members of the general public, as well as advocates, to learn more about this pervasive problem and work toward solutions. With the help of the Foundation’s partners, new data-driven approaches are being used in an effort to eradicate homelessness and increase collaboration from the homeless services sector.
- Infectious disease: Infectious diseases such as meningitis, malaria, and tuberculosis afflict some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Tableau Foundation devotes resources to scalable data solutions designed to eradicate these diseases. With the help of its partners, the Foundation is developing cutting-edge digital systems that empower policymakers at the local and national level to analyze and visualize complicated health data. In addition, it works to improve data literacy in low-income countries and invest in initiatives devoted to digital health and disease elimination.
Hands-On Tableau Classes
For those who want to learn how to create stunning and engaging data visualizations, maps, charts, and graphs, Noble Desktop’s Tableau classes provide a great option. These small group classes are available in-person in NYC, as well as in the live online format. Tableau-focused courses teach students skills like how to spot the most optimal datasets to connect to, as well as how to analyze, filter, structure, and visually represent data.
In addition, a variety of live online Tableau courses are also currently available from top training providers. These interactive classes are taught in real-time and provide all learners with access to an instructor who is live and ready to provide feedback and answer questions. Courses are offered for novice Tableau users, as well as those with more advanced data visualization skills. Classes range from seven hours to five days in duration and cost $299-$2,199.
Those who are interested in finding nearby Tableau classes can use Noble’s Tableau Classes Near Me tool. This handy tool provides an easy way to locate and browse more than three dozen of the best Tableau classes currently offered in the in-person and live online formats so that all interested learners can find the course that works best for them.