Tableau monitors

Tableau monitors are pre-configured monitors to help you quickly begin monitoring common and critical aspects of your Tableau environment. For more information, see the Monitors documentation.

This list contains all out of the box Datalogz Tableau monitors. Customisations can be made by cloning an existing monitor or on request.

Users Without SAML Setup

BI Pillar	Security
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor flags Tableau users who do not have SAML authentication set up. Its purpose is to ensure all users utilize SAML for secure authentication, thereby enhancing overall system security.
Potential Impact	Security vulnerabilities, non-compliance with security policies, and increased risks of unauthorized access.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Ensure all users have SAML setup for secure authentication. Implement SAML for all Tableau users to centralize authentication, improve security, and streamline user management. This ensures a single sign-on experience and adherence to enterprise security policies.

Uncertified Datasources

BI Pillar	Security
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts for data sources that remain uncertified, potentially impacting data integrity and security compliance. Its purpose is to prompt a review of these data sources to confirm accuracy and consider certification, which improves data governance and trustworthiness.
Potential Impact	Compromised data integrity, security vulnerabilities, reduced trust in data, and potential non-compliance with organizational standards.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Review uncertified data sources to confirm accuracy and trustworthiness. Engage with data owners to validate the data quality and relevance. Consider certifying data sources that meet your organization's standards. Certification in Tableau marks a data source as approved and reliable, improving data governance and encouraging user adoption of trusted data.

Workbook with Unlicensed Owner

BI Pillar	Security
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau workbook has an owner who is unlicensed or no longer listed in the user directory. Its purpose is to highlight potential ownership risks and ensure proper maintenance and accountability for workbooks.
Potential Impact	Unmanaged workbooks, outdated content, security risks due to unclear ownership, and difficulty in providing user support and maintenance.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Review the ownership of the workbook using Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views. If the owner is inactive or unlicensed, transfer ownership to an active, appropriate user or a service account. Tableau Server/Cloud allows administrators to easily reassign content ownership. Consider archiving the workbook if it's no longer needed, moving it to a designated "archive" project or deleting it.

Site Role Changes Last 6 Months

BI Pillar	Security
Alert Type	Event-Based
Description	This monitor alerts for any changes in user site roles within the last 6 months, highlighting modifications to access permissions or user privileges. Its purpose is to ensure these changes align with security policies and user responsibilities.
Potential Impact	Unauthorized privilege escalation, security breaches, and non-compliance with access control policies.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Review recent role changes by examining Tableau Server/Cloud's audit logs or administrative views related to user activity and permissions. Ensure these changes align with security policies and user responsibilities. Confirm that permissions granted are necessary and adhere to the principle of least privilege. Investigate any unexpected or unauthorized role modifications to mitigate security risks promptly.

Stale Tableau Views

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau view has not been updated in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify views that may be outdated or no longer actively used, helping to reduce clutter and maintain environment hygiene.
Potential Impact	Outdated information being consumed, a cluttered environment, user confusion, and inefficient resource utilization.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the view owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the view. Utilize Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Traffic to Views") to assess actual usage and identify truly stale content. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Stale Tableau Datasources

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau datasource has not been updated in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify datasources that may be outdated or no longer actively used, helping to reduce clutter and maintain environment hygiene.
Potential Impact	Outdated data, potential data quality issues, and inefficient resource usage.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the datasource owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need it. Check Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Traffic to Data Sources") to verify recent usage. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Stale Tableau Workbooks

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau workbook has not been updated in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify workbooks that may be outdated or no longer actively used, helping to reduce clutter and maintain environment hygiene.
Potential Impact	Outdated information being consumed, a cluttered environment, user confusion, and inefficient resource usage.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the workbook owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the workbook. Leverage Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Traffic to Workbooks") to understand actual usage patterns. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain environment hygiene.

Stale Tableau Projects

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau project has not been updated in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify projects that may be outdated or no longer actively used, helping to reduce clutter and maintain environment hygiene.
Potential Impact	A cluttered environment, difficulty in project management, and inefficient resource usage.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the project owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the project. Review the content within the project to determine if any active workbooks or data sources are still in use. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Unused High-Level Licenses

BI Pillar	Cost
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a high-level Tableau license (e.g., Creator, Explorer, Administrator) has not been utilized for over six months. Its purpose is to identify potential for reallocation or removal to optimize licensing costs.
Potential Impact	Unnecessary licensing costs and inefficient resource allocation.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Review the user's activity over the past six months using Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Stale Content" or "User Activity"). If inactive, consider reassigning or downgrading the license to a lower-cost role (e.g., Viewer) or removing it entirely to optimize resource usage and reduce licensing costs.

Unused Viewer License

BI Pillar	Cost
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau Viewer license has not been utilized for over six months. Its purpose is to identify potential for reallocation or removal to optimize licensing costs.
Potential Impact	Unnecessary licensing costs and inefficient resource allocation.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Review the user's activity over the past six months using Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views. If inactive, consider reassigning or removing the license to optimize resource usage and reduce licensing costs.

Unused Datasources

BI Pillar	Cost
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau datasource has not had activity in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify datasources that are no longer actively used, helping to optimize storage and maintenance.
Potential Impact	Wasted storage, a cluttered environment, and an increased maintenance burden.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the datasource owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the datasource. Check Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Traffic to Data Sources") to verify recent usage. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Unused Views

BI Pillar	Cost
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau view has not had activity in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to identify views that are no longer actively used, helping to optimize storage and maintenance.
Potential Impact	Wasted storage, a cluttered environment, and an increased maintenance burden.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the view owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the view. Utilize Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative views (e.g., "Traffic to Views") to assess actual usage. If it is no longer needed, consider reassigning ownership, moving it to a "deprecated" project, or archiving it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Unused External Assets

BI Pillar	Cost
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when an embedded external asset has no relationship to any Tableau content, including databases and their tables that have no downstream dependencies. Its purpose is to identify such assets and recommend their deletion to promote an efficient environment.
Potential Impact	Unnecessary storage costs, a cluttered data environment, and increased complexity in data management.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Identify external assets not linked to any Tableau content by reviewing data source connections within Tableau Desktop or Server. Collaborate with data engineers or database administrators to confirm if these underlying database tables or connections are truly unused. Delete external assets that are not used in any Tableau Workbook or published data source to promote an efficient environment and reduce unnecessary data infrastructure costs.

Datasource Refresh Failure

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Event-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a datasource refresh has failed. Its purpose is to ensure data freshness and reliability by promptly flagging refresh failures.
Potential Impact	Stale data, inaccurate reports, and reduced trust in the data.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Investigate the failed refresh by checking the background tasks in Tableau Server/Cloud for detailed error messages. Ensure proper configuration and data source availability. Verify database connectivity, correct credentials, and network access from the Tableau Server/Cloud to the data source. Review the data source connection details in Tableau Desktop or Server to confirm settings are correct.

Orphaned Tableau Datasources

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when an embedded or published datasource's owner has had no recorded activity in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to ensure active ownership and prevent unmanaged assets that could lead to data inconsistencies or security risks.
Potential Impact	Unmanaged datasources, outdated data, security risks, and difficulty in providing user support and maintenance.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the datasource owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the datasource. Utilize Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative capabilities to transfer ownership to an active user or a service account. If it is no longer needed, consider archiving it (moving to a "deprecated" project) or deleting it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Orphaned Tableau View

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a Tableau view owner has had no recorded activity in the last 30 days. Its purpose is to ensure active ownership and prevent unmanaged assets that could lead to outdated content or support challenges.
Potential Impact	Unmanaged views, outdated content, and difficulty in providing user support and maintenance.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Contact the view owner to confirm whether they still actively use or need the view. Utilize Tableau Server/Cloud's administrative capabilities to transfer ownership to an active user or a service account.< If it is no longer needed, consider archiving it (moving to a "deprecated" project) or deleting it to reduce clutter and maintain a healthy Tableau site..

Datasource not recently Refreshed

BI Pillar	Governance
Alert Type	Asset-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a datasource has not been refreshed for more than 30 days. Its purpose is to proactively identify datasources that may be providing outdated information, ensuring data freshness and reliability.
Potential Impact	Stale data, incorrect business decisions, and reduced trust in reports.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Regularly review datasources that have not been refreshed in over 30 days by checking their refresh schedules and last refresh times in Tableau Server/Cloud. Ensure refresh schedules are correctly configured and enabled. Investigate any underlying issues such as connectivity problems, data source changes, or gateway issues that might be preventing refreshes.

Non-Enterprise Standard Connection Types

Other connection types are available on request.

BI Pillar	Performance
Alert Type	Event-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when datasources in Tableau use connection types that may be less desirable due to inefficiencies or higher costs, such as webdata-direct, genericodbc, semistructpassivestore-direct, onedrivesharepoint, and excel-direct. These connections may slow down performance or incur additional expenses, making them suitable for periodic review. Its purpose is to optimize performance and cost by identifying and addressing these less efficient connection types.
Potential Impact	Slower performance, increased operational costs, and reduced data governance due to non-standardized connections.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Evaluate the necessity and performance of these data sources. For those with low usage or high costs, consider migrating to more efficient alternatives. Prioritize the use of published, certified Tableau Data Sources or optimized extracts whenever possible, as these generally offer better performance and governance. Review the metadata to identify the user responsible for setting up each source and collaborate on migration plans.

Projects With More Than 10 Datasources

BI Pillar	Performance
Alert Type	Event-Based
Description	This monitor alerts when a project contains more than 10 datasources, which may indicate complex dependencies and potential performance inefficiencies. Its purpose is to identify opportunities for consolidation and optimization, leading to simpler data management and improved performance.
Potential Impact	Complex data management, performance bottlenecks, and higher system resource usage.
Recommendation	We recommend the following actions to improve the health of your BI system: Assess the project's datasources to identify opportunities for consolidation or optimization. This might involve creating a single, comprehensive published data source that serves multiple workbooks. Encourage the use of shared, published data sources rather than embedding multiple individual connections within workbooks. Reducing the number of datasources can simplify data management, improve performance, and lower system resource usage by centralizing data access and refresh processes.