The Tableau Performance Checklist series is designed to help you streamline your dashboard performance and Tableau Server configuration. Each post expands upon one item listed in the master Tableau Performance Checklist.

Ask Tableau users what they love most about Tableau, and they’ll likely say it’s the ability to create stunning data visualizations quickly and easily. Tableau was designed with usability in mind, apparent in its approachable interface, yet behind that interface lies a powerful collection of components capable of cranking out complex data visualizations at lightning speed.

Of course, excited users inevitably find ways to bog things down. It’s easy to do. The good news is that we learned from these mistakes and took the time to jot down a few ways to maintain peak performance. So whether your Tableau Server is running slow or Tableau Workbooks seem sluggish, our Tableau Performance Checklist is here to help with performance-saving best practices. We hope it helps you as much as it’s helped us.

The List

The Tableau Performance Checklist is divided into seven main categories. You’ll find those categories with their subsequent best practices in the master list below:

Data

Filtering

Custom SQL

Limit custom SQL in live connections as they can be inefficient. Where possible, create a view on the database server to implement your custom SQL and connect Tableau to your view.

Avoid parameters in custom SQL in Tableau. Tableau wraps the custom SQL in a subquery that many databases don’t handle well. Consider building a view in the database or use a multi-table join with filters.

Watch for useless clauses, e.g. ORDER BY. Tableau is going to re-sort the data once loaded anyway.

Calculations

Use calculated fields carefully. Think about the data type as you code the calculation. Number and Boolean > date > string calculations when it comes to performance.

Limit blended calculations. They require sequentially querying multiple data sources and can be time-consuming. Where possible, create a view on the database server.

Avoid row-level calculations involving parameters.

Rendering

Local Computations

Even if a workbook is published to Tableau Server, local computations still impact performance. Leverage the power of Tableau Server whenever possible by limiting local computations such as groups, hierarchies, reference lines, table calculations and blending.

Table calculations are powerful, but they can be slow. They are dependent on the local computation engine and can require substantial memory.

Dashboard Layout

Limit the number of worksheets on a dashboard. If you have more than four visualizations on a dashboard, strongly reconsider.

Fix dashboard size relative to end-user consumption. Automatic sizing is less efficient than specifying dashboard size.

Dive Deeper with the Tableau Performance Checklist Series

There you have it. That’s the Tableau Performance Checklist in its entirety – at least for now. Still, what if you wanted to know more about each of the specific items listed above? Maybe you want more of a walkthrough?

You’re in luck!

We’ve begun breaking down this checklist into a Tableau Performance Checklist blog series. Each post in the series will provide an in-depth overview of one specific point found on the list. We’ll link to these posts here as they develop, so check back regularly.

Want to skip the reading? You can just as easily talk to one of our Tableau performance experts today! Simply drop us a line, and we’ll get in touch. You can also download Workbook Tools for Tableau to start getting instant performance feedback with features like Performance Analyzer.

Contact Us!

Want to Share with Others?

A PDF version of our Tableau Performance Checklist is attached below for easy sharing!