Practical Tableau

Chapter 87. Tip #2: Smooth the Excel Transition

Tableau is not Excel. Excel is not Tableau. One of the most common barriers to Tableau adoption is the belief that similar data visualizations can be created more easily in Excel. This may be true for certain situations, but if your goal is to master the art of data-driven storytelling, you must leverage the strengths of each software individually. I do not use Tableau to create and store my datasets. While it’s possible, the thought alone makes me cringe with frustration. That is not what Tableau is best at. On the other hand, I don’t attempt to use Excel to make beautiful, interactive dashboards. I’m sure with some elbow grease, this could be achieved, but the one million row limit in Excel alone makes this solution impossible in the enterprise-level visual analytics projects I work on. That is not what Excel was designed to do.

And that is OK!

I love both of these programs and use them almost every day, but for different reasons. If Tableau’s goal was to replace Excel, Excel would not be one of the primary connection types available in its software. Tableau Personal Desktop users, who are restricted to using flat data files, rely heavily on the ability to interact with their Excel files in Tableau. Tableau knows that it is not Excel.

Nevertheless, the Tableau versus Excel debate is one I encounter regularly. My recommendation for anybody experiencing the same pushback to leveraging the data visualization capability of Tableau, ...