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Tableau | Data engineering | Analytics | Tool strategy

Tableau 2020.2 Dashboards in the lineage

Tableau 2020.2 now shows dashboards in your data lineage, so you can trace a single field all the way through to every asset it touches.

Tim Ngwena •6 May 2020 •1 min read •5 min watch •2.5K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2020.2

Watch on YouTube

Seeing dashboards in the lineage requires the Tableau Catalog add-on for Tableau Server or Online; I demonstrate it using a developer version
Access lineage via External Assets, where clicking a data source reveals its metadata and a right-hand lineage view of connected tables, workbooks, sheets and dashboards
You can perform impact analysis by selecting a specific field, such as an industry column, to see exactly which sheets, dashboards and owners it affects before making changes
The same lineage information is queryable programmatically through the Tableau metadata API, so you can pull it into your own custom services
Lineage is always shown in context of where you are, so you can trace any workbook back to its underlying files, data sources and databases

0:00In Tableau 2020.2, Tableau have added the

0:02ability to see dashboards in the lineage of

0:06your Tableau assets.

0:08Now if you're wondering what this is about,

0:09this is about a general feature called the

0:11Tableau catalog.

0:13You actually need a specific add-on for

0:14your Tableau server or Tableau Online

0:17environment in order to be able to see it.

0:19But I have a developer version here, so I

0:20actually have access to that here, so I'm

0:22going to show you.

0:24In order to access your data lineage, you

0:26need to actually go here to the external

0:28assets and you'll see this list of items

0:31here.

0:32And I've actually got a Salesforce

0:34connection in my test environment that I

0:36use for testing purposes.

0:38So that's what I'm going to click on and

0:39you'll see that when I click on it, it

0:41gives me some metadata about that data

0:43source.

0:44Now the key thing here is that this catalog

0:46then allows me to look over here to the

0:48right hand side and see the lineage.

0:51And this is what Tableau have been adding

0:52features to over the last few versions.

0:55Most notably in this version, they've added

0:57the ability to see dashboards.

0:59So you can see here that I'm connected to

1:00this Salesforce item. Let me zoom in to

1:02make this clearer.

1:04I'm connected to the Salesforce item. There

1:06's six tables in that item.

1:08I then have two workbooks that use that

1:10data source. And in those two workbooks,

1:13there's 13 sheets and those 13 sheets form

1:17two dashboards.

1:19And it has one owner, notably myself.

1:22So this is a really cool feature, but this

1:25goes a bit beyond that.

1:26So if I just click on dashboards, you'll

1:28see that the two specific dashboards appear

1:31.

1:32But let's say I want to analyse this in

1:34more detail. Let's go back to one of the

1:37tables and let's look at the account

1:39information that we have.

1:42So let's start this analysis on the account

1:44level. This is the account table in my

1:46Salesforce connection.

1:48Now you'll see here the number of sheets in

1:50which these fields are actually being used.

1:54And if I just sort of scroll down, you'll

1:56see that I'm not actually using many of

1:58these fields.

1:59So if I simply say, what if I change the

2:01industry field to be replaced by something

2:05else?

2:06What impact would that have on my Tableau

2:08server?

2:09Well, if I tick this industry here, you'll

2:11see it's highlighted in blue.

2:13You'll actually see here a small visual

2:15isation that shows you the impact of that

2:18one field across all your different assets.

2:22So we're obviously aware that it comes from

2:24the Salesforce database, but it actually

2:27has an impact on all the workbooks.

2:30Basically 11 of 12 sheets, all the dash

2:33boards and it impacts me as an owner.

2:37Now this information is actually available

2:39to you through something called the

2:42metadata API.

2:43So you can actually query this information

2:45yourself using that API and then get that

2:48information back,

2:50maybe into your sort of custom service that

2:52has all this information stored.

2:54So this is a really, really powerful

2:56feature.

2:57We can pretty much start asking questions

2:59from anywhere we want and then start being

3:02able to analyse the impact

3:04these changes have across our entire

3:07workflow.

3:08So this is a really, really powerful

3:09feature.

3:10It's great to have this edition of dash

3:12boards in there and it just gives you that

3:14more granular view of what's going on.

3:16And of course, if you want to see some of

3:18these items, if you click on dashboards

3:20here and you go to the workbook,

3:22you can just go in and see exactly what's

3:25going on and start looking at the views by

3:28just going over here to the left.

3:30So you'll notice that I've gone over to a

3:32different part of Tableau and all I've done

3:35is switched this tab over here

3:37that explains the lineage of this

3:40particular asset.

3:43So it's always in context of where you are.

3:45If I go back to the home page and maybe let

3:47's say I go to the Viz vocabulary,

3:50you'll see that I have the lineage

3:52available to me over here and I can

3:54actually see all the different data sources

3:57and even the databases in which all this

3:58data comes from.

4:00So even on this workbook, which I didn't

4:02build, my colleague Andy Kreeble built this

4:04.

4:04It's one of the best workbooks on Tableau

4:06Public. Go check it out.

4:08I'll put a link in the description.

4:09You will see that I can see all the

4:10different files that have been used to

4:12comprise these different views.

4:15And it starts to give me a context about

4:17what's being used, where and why.

4:20And that's a really, really powerful

4:22feature.

4:23That's it pretty much.

4:25If you've enjoyed this video, hit the like

4:26button, hit subscribe.

4:28If not, drop a comment below.

4:29Let me know what you'd like to see instead

4:31on the channel.

4:32I'll catch you in the next video.

4:33Bye.

Rollup

Tableau 2020.2 extends data lineage to show dashboards, not just workbooks and sheets, so you can trace a single field all the way from its source table through to every dashboard and owner it touches.

This relies on the Tableau Catalog add-on for Tableau Server or Online, shown here on a developer version connected to a Salesforce data source. The goal is to understand what breaks downstream if you change a field.

The Breakdown

Tableau Catalog needs the add-on 0:00

Seeing dashboards in the lineage is part of the Tableau Catalog feature set, which requires a specific add-on for your Tableau Server or Online environment. Without it you won't see this view at all.
Open lineage from External Assets 0:24

You access lineage by going to External Assets and clicking on a data source. This surfaces its metadata and, on the right, the lineage panel.
Lineage now includes dashboards 0:55

The lineage view chains together the data source, its tables, the workbooks that use it, the sheets within those workbooks, and now the dashboards those sheets feed into, plus who owns them. Clicking on the dashboards node filters the view down to just those assets.
Drill into a table for field-level detail 1:32

From a table in the lineage, you can open it to see every field and how many sheets use each one — useful for spotting fields that are barely used before you decide to change or remove them.
Run impact analysis on a single field 2:02

Selecting one field highlights exactly which sheets, dashboards and owners depend on it, with a visualisation of that reach. This lets you check the blast radius of a change before making it, rather than finding out after something breaks.
Pull lineage via the metadata API 2:37

The same lineage information is queryable programmatically through Tableau's metadata API, so you can pull it into your own custom services or tooling rather than only viewing it in the UI.
Lineage is contextual wherever you are 3:16

Lineage isn't a separate standalone screen — it follows you. Open any workbook and you can switch to its lineage tab to trace it back to its data sources and underlying databases, even for workbooks you didn't build yourself.

Worth Knowing

You need the Tableau Catalog add-on enabled on Server or Online — this isn't available by default.
The feature works even on workbooks you didn't build, since lineage is tied to the asset, not the author.

Use It When

Reach for this before changing or removing a field or data source, when you need to know exactly which sheets, dashboards and people will be affected — or when you want to build lineage checks into your own tooling via the metadata API.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

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Source video: Watch on YouTube
Drafted: 5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited: 5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

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