Due to the pandemic, the demand for quick ad-hoc analytical dashboards from various data sources for different departments on campus, has increased. Tableau ecosystem is used to meet these needs. A few examples include the initial travel registry reports, "Faculty Assessment for Teaching Online Survey" reports by Office of Institutional Research and "COVID Room capacities" visualizations produced by Facilities Engineering.

A new Tableau product, Tableau Prep Builder, has been added to the analytic life cycle of the Tableau ecosystem during the yearly renewal of Tableau licensing in August. A self-service data preparation tool, Tableau Prep Builder completes the analytics life cycle as the Tableau server and desktop are used to share analytics and produce insight, respectively.

Tableau Prep Builder provides the user with a visual and direct way to combine, shape and clean data. This makes it easier for analysts and business users to start their analysis faster, as not all data collected are ready to produce analytics.

Tableau Prep Builder is included for all Tableau desktop license owners. During the Tableau user’s group meeting, the Enterprise Data and Business Intelligence team conducted an introductory training on this new product to Tableau users on campus.

For more information about Tableau Prep Builder or to view the training, visit https://data.rice.edu.