Tableau Pulse detailed breakdown | Dreamforce 23

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. In this video, I've

0:02taken a segment from my two-hour breakdown

0:05of the Dreamforce Tableau keynote.

0:08In this section, I take a look at Tableau

0:09Pulse. I ended up breaking it down in a lot

0:11more detail than I have done in the past.

0:13So that's why I've sort of taken the

0:14snippet out from the two-hour video and I

0:17've put it up here on its own.

0:18If you've already watched that in full, you

0:19don't need to watch this.

0:20But if you're just looking for information

0:21about Tableau Pulse, I think you're going

0:23to find this interesting.

0:24As ever, let's get started.

0:26This is why today we're really excited to

0:28share with you our newest application,

0:30Tableau Pulse.

0:32Tableau Pulse is a whole new experience for

0:34data that's powered by generative AI.

0:37It's personalized for every single user,

0:40contextual to the task at hand, and it is

0:43smart.

0:44It enables you to pull out insights from

0:46your data automatically.

0:48I'm going to pause this here and just say I

0:51've actually done a video breaking down the

0:53Tableau Pulse announcement from Tableau

0:54conference.

0:55It goes into it in pretty much the same

0:57detail.

0:58If there's anything new in here, I will

1:00pull it out now.

1:01But I think this is going to be the same

1:02demo as we saw back then.

1:04So let's have a look.

1:06So you guys want to see it?

1:07Yeah? All right.

1:09Homer, are you ready to show it?

1:11Absolutely.

1:12All right. Please welcome Homer Wang.

1:14Homer Wang.

1:18All right. Thank you, Francois.

1:20And hello, Dreamforce.

1:22I'm Homer, a product manager here building

1:24Tableau Pulse and Tableau AI for all of you

1:27.

1:28Now, I hope you're just as real as I am.

1:31So this is an interesting starting point.

1:35Number one, we're in Slack.

1:36This is what this interface looks like.

1:38I'm actually a customer of Slack, and this

1:40looks like a new interface.

1:42It looks like an updated version of Slack

1:43that is, I think, trying to replicate Teams

1:45.

1:46I think they announced some sort of change

1:48that makes Slack look more like Teams for

1:50the companies that kind of really love

1:53Teams,

1:54but don't want to let go of it and want

1:55something that looks like that in order to

1:57switch.

1:58So really nice.

2:00Obviously, I think it's quite a polished

2:01setup.

2:02So what we have here is a Tableau app

2:03inside of Slack.

2:05And it's obviously the way Slack works with

2:08Tableau is...

2:09My watch is coming out.

2:11The way Slack works is that there's a Table

2:13au app which creates a one-to-one chat with

2:15you as an app.

2:16So that's what you can see here on the left

2:18-hand side.

2:19And in essence, in there is where it

2:21delivers you personalized messages and

2:23notifications.

2:25It doesn't yet feed those in entirely into

2:28the channels setup.

2:30I think it can post alerts into channels,

2:33but specifically these sorts of insights

2:34come to you via the app.

2:38To show you how we reimagine the way anyone

2:40interacts with data.

2:42So, demo hat's on, and let's dive right in.

2:46Like many of you, I start my day in Slack.

2:51With Pulse, I can get a personalized digest

2:53on the key metrics that I follow and matter

2:56most to me.

2:57Now, AI looks at what's happening across

3:00the board and delivers a crisp summary up

3:02front so that I know what to focus on in

3:04just two seconds.

3:06And here, I see an unusual uptick in...

3:09So let's just interrogate what this is

3:12doing.

3:13It's interesting because there's no visual

3:15element, but we do get this call-out of

3:19this unit indicator that we saw earlier on.

3:22So device cells, 1,375 units.

3:25You get this prompt that says, "Is it

3:26helpful or not?"

3:27And at the very top, we've got this Tableau

3:29Pulse Digest for September 12, 2023.

3:32So, this is something new. A Pulse Digest

3:35suggests that it's going to be sending you

3:37a daily update.

3:39And it's a digest of the things you care

3:40about.

3:41So device sales, campaign ROI, and regional

3:43revenue seem like three separate metrics,

3:46hence they're bold.

3:48So device sales are seeing an unusual spike

3:50since the beginning of this week, while

3:52quarterly regional revenue and monthly

3:54campaign ROI are steadily increasing.

3:57So these are three metrics, and it's

3:58basically telling you what's going on.

4:00Additionally, seven of your 12 other

4:02metrics have changed, four favorably and

4:04three unfavorably.

4:06So that's a pretty nice summary.

4:10What is interesting is there's no visual

4:11element here.

4:12So it would be nice to be able to see those

4:15metrics, like as a scorecard here.

4:17Like, just show me all 12.

4:19Show me the four favorable, the three

4:21unfavorable at the top.

4:23And then talk about the other seven, you

4:26know, that are just doing nothing,

4:30basically.

4:32So I think that would be kind of nice.

4:34And maybe this is where the product is

4:35heading.

4:36But, you know, immediately here, well,

4:39maybe that's what this... Actually, no,

4:41that is what this breakdown is below.

4:44The line below it makes it feel like it's

4:45something separate, but actually it's one

4:47thing.

4:48So then we do get a breakdown.

4:50Again, nothing visual, which is a shame.

4:52You get a text breakdown.

4:53So device sales, that's what we've got

4:55there.

4:56Regional revenue we've got there as well.

4:58And so let's see what else is in this.

5:00Let's keep carrying on.

5:01Device sales.

5:03Well, as a regional sales manager, this is

5:05great news.

5:07But I do need to understand a little more

5:08than that.

5:09So let's click in.

5:13Here on the metric detail page...

5:15So I clicked on Slack and it took them

5:17straight to a page in Tableau Pot.

5:20So I'm sure it won't be that smooth.

5:21It kind of animated in between the two.

5:23That's definitely something like a Figma

5:24interaction.

5:25But ultimately you go to Tableau Pass.

5:29This Tableau Pass interface feels almost

5:32entirely new.

5:33It doesn't feel native to Tableau.

5:34Super interesting.

5:35There's a whole social element to this.

5:37There's a whole profile element to this.

5:39If this is the new interface coming to

5:40Tableau Cloud, that's going to be super

5:42interesting.

5:43But you do get this lead in with this sort

5:44of visual element that I was talking about.

5:47So you can actually see the general trend,

5:50the kind of general area that your data

5:52performs in.

5:53And you kind of see a breakdown at the top.

5:56If you use something like Alteryx Auto Ins

5:57ights, this is very similar.

5:59But of course, Tableau definitely has an

6:02upper hand here.

6:04They've got the entire Tableau server and

6:07charting capability to boot as well.

6:10So with something like Alteryx Auto Ins

6:13ights,

6:14what you have to do is essentially push the

6:17data into Auto Insights from the output of

6:20an Alteryx flow.

6:22Or you can feed it specific data sources to

6:24look at.

6:25But even then, this just feels a little bit

6:28more sort of smoother.

6:30The experience feels smoother, even though

6:32it might actually be doing the same thing,

6:34but just not as advanced.

6:35Anyway, let's keep having a look.

6:37You can clearly see this latest anomaly

6:39picked up by Tableau and visually explained

6:41to me.

6:42I can also explore metadata on the metric

6:43that our endless friends helped define so

6:46that I can trust what I'm seeing.

6:49And if I want, I can…

6:52I think the fact that metadata is buried

6:53there is actually a bad thing, right?

6:55The device sells no one clicks on that eye

6:57indicator.

6:58How often do you see indicators like that?

7:00You just blow right past them.

7:01If anything, if it's like any sort of

7:03social or digital feed, what you do is you

7:05look at the things that are calling out at

7:07you.

7:08So the green and the big numbers, that's

7:11where you go to.

7:11If you tell me where do I find the

7:13information about this data source, you'd

7:17look around a little bit and you'd spot

7:19that eye and then you'd click on it.

7:21But it's not natural. I kind of feel like I

7:22should just sit up there at the top.

7:25Device sales, published by, owned by, and

7:28the kind of general metrics.

7:30And then show data metadata.

7:33Just call out that you are going to see the

7:35metadata for this data set rather than this

7:37very sort of clean interface, which feels

7:40like a UX win, but it's not a very useful

7:41…

7:42In business, you need context up front. You

7:44don't have to click in to see context.

7:46That makes it two activities that aren't

7:48necessary. One to click in, one to click

7:50out.

7:51So yeah, nice interface. But I just think,

7:54just put that metadata right up front.

7:57Tableau Cloud, Tableau Server does that

7:58already. And with certified data sources,

8:00you can just go and see some of that

8:01metadata immediately.

8:03So we'd love to see that here.

8:05Build this view to my own liking while

8:07respecting my security context.

8:09Okay.

8:10Now that I know what I'm looking at, what

8:13about the why?

8:16Well, guided questions just by AI help me

8:18phrase what I want to ask but don't

8:20necessarily know how.

8:22And here, I'm interested to know which

8:24products drove this sudden increase.

8:27Right.

8:28And with one click, I get a plain natural

8:30language insight accompanied by

8:32visualization, all coming from Tableau.

8:36There was a subtle sort of broken user

8:41interface there.

8:44When you clicked, the activity happened

8:47below.

8:48So if we just go back a few seconds, this

8:52is like ridiculously detailed product

8:54feedback.

8:55But hey, this is keynote breakdown. We can

8:57do this here.

8:58So here you can see the window, the fold as

9:00it were. So everything in the window is as

9:01is.

9:02But then if you click which products drove

9:04this sudden increase, essentially the

9:06activity happens out of the fold.

9:08Right. It kind of feels like the page

9:09should scroll.

9:10So you see that is one of those sort of,

9:12sort of, let's say, slightly difficult but

9:15annoying things to achieve in web design,

9:18where you're always keeping the user in

9:19context of what they're asking for.

9:21And when you click on that, I kind of feel

9:24like maybe the thing should load the new

9:28inside of the top and the old thing should

9:30go at the bottom.

9:31It's kind of unintuitive or click on it,

9:34but then scroll the page down.

9:35So the user sort of sees that story being

9:37told sort of vertically or goes to the

9:39right or goes to the left.

9:40Go wherever you want. Just make it more

9:41obvious.

9:42If you see this interaction, he clicks and

9:45then it goes over to the bottom.

9:48But we have to then scroll down to see it.

9:50So watch this.

9:50What I want to ask, but don't necessarily

9:52know how.

9:53So here we go.

9:54And here I'm interested to know which

9:55products drove the sudden increase.

9:58So with one click, I get a plain natural

10:01language insight accompanied by a

10:03visualization.

10:05All coming from Tableau.

10:08Now this inside here shows me the top

10:10drivers behind this change.

10:12Ethones and Simpson phones.

10:14Well, like Ryan said earlier, these smart

10:16devices, they're all the buzz these days.

10:20And of course, we all have our own

10:22questions too.

10:24Now, in this case, I'm wondering if we

10:26fulfill these orders so I can simply start

10:28by typing in pulse where smart and

10:30contextual recommendations come up at every

10:32step with the help of AI.

10:35OK, so let's just stop this for a second

10:37and make sure.

10:38Will we fulfill phone orders?

10:43Inventory fill rate, North American phone.

10:47What is projected inventory fill rate? Is

10:49there seasonality in inventory fill rate?

10:53OK, so basically the context here is.

10:59You've seen you've seen an increase in

11:01certain sales.

11:02And then you're basically asking, hey, are

11:03we are we going to be able to meet these

11:05orders?

11:06And by asking the question Tableau.

11:10Let's call it pulse, but it's actually GPT

11:13has come up with three perspectives, let's

11:17say inventory for North America, phone

11:21inventory, fill rate, North America tablet

11:23and then pending orders.

11:25North America's three ways that you could

11:28find out this answer based on metrics that

11:31exist.

11:32I have to assume that it's based on metrics

11:33that already exist.

11:35And yeah, let's let's let's play this out

11:38to see what's going on. I like the social

11:40element telling you which one most people

11:42follow.

11:43Maybe it should be sorted that way. Right.

11:44So most people are probably just going to

11:46go to that inventory fill rate, North

11:48America tablet.

11:49But the context of tablet and phone is

11:50super interesting.

11:52And I wonder if there's an inventory fill

11:54rate in North America view of which tablet

11:56and phone are actual filters.

11:58And so maybe there's some nesting and some

12:00hierarchy work that could work here to say

12:02that these are the same metric with

12:04different options.

12:06That could be a nice little interaction.

12:08But anyway, let's let's play this through.

12:11And there you have it. Another metric,

12:14another insight.

12:16All answer my question. So that kind of

12:18does answer my question. Inventory for it

12:20is the metric.

12:21North America is a regional filter category

12:23, the regional filter, and the month to

12:26month comparison is, again, contextual.

12:29Now, what is interesting is I think they've

12:31kept the month to month comparison

12:33consistent across these.

12:36But you do get an indicator says, "low". I

12:39assume you have like certain thresholds

12:41where you can set that when you build the

12:43metric in here.

12:45You have an overview and then you have a

12:46breakdown view. We'll see what that is in a

12:49second.

12:50You've got this little light bulbs

12:52inventory for a process of that is now 91

12:53percent.

12:54A drop below the expected range of 95 to 92

12:56. That doesn't mean it's bad.

12:59A new unfavourable trend has been detected

13:00for inventory for it's trending down

13:01compared to the previous trend.

13:03You see, that's an interesting one. Like if

13:05you have a blockbuster sales event, then

13:08you will get an unfavourable inventory for

13:10it.

13:11Right. And so that is maybe like a false

13:13positive. Right.

13:15It is bad. But if it's off the back of a

13:17really successful sales period, let's say

13:20you sell out of a product.

13:21That's not a bad thing, especially if you

13:24sell everyone that you made and you can't

13:27make them fast enough.

13:29That maybe leads to other questions around

13:31price and availability and resources and

13:33material. Right.

13:35So that could be something that scales unf

13:37avourably with Habro metrics.

13:40Right. Lots of false positive where people

13:41are going in saying something's unfavour

13:43able, but you go and look at it and you're

13:45like, well, that makes total sense.

13:46In fact, that happens all the time because

13:48I just ran a promotion and I expect my

13:49inventory for it to be super low because

13:51you build up stock to release them all at

13:53once.

13:54Easter eggs, Christmas, Halloween. These

13:57are all events that will have incredibly

13:59low inventory fill rates right after they

14:02've happened.

14:03You're not going to have a high fill rate

14:04for something like turkeys. So how does the

14:06system understand that content?

14:09How do you feed that content into the

14:10system, into these metrics to help you sort

14:12of understand that?

14:14So super interesting challenge for Tableau

14:16to figure out there.

14:17Since at the speed of thought. Now, what's

14:20happening behind the scenes is Pulse

14:23detects business critical insights such as

14:25drivers, trend, forecasts and outliers, all

14:28with trusted statistical calculations from

14:30Tableau.

14:31Where AI can make the language more consum

14:34able and deliver them to you proactively so

14:37that all of us can see and understand data.

14:41So I actually agree with that framing of AI

14:42. I think it's a really good way of putting

14:44it.

14:45AI is like an interface to the data. It

14:48allows you to ask a question and find the

14:49answer. And it's helping sort of synthesize

14:52what you want out of the data.

14:55And what is interesting is in the

14:57background, is AI doing the hard work or is

14:59it actually not just AI doing the hard work

15:02? Is there actually some other more complex

15:05thing going on?

15:06Are analysts setting up these metrics and

15:07building out these contexts like we've seen

15:09in the past with our data?

15:11Who is doing that work? Who is setting the

15:13contextual landscape for this AI machine to

15:16go off and understand how things work?

15:19So that is super interesting. Now, we do

15:20have a new chart here. This one's Amber.

15:23Let's try and figure out why.

15:24You ask what is the projected inventory

15:26fill rate. So I think it's drawn this Amber

15:29chart. Again, this was out of the fold,

15:32wasn't it?

15:33We landed on this page and it's only now

15:34that we've scrolled down. It might be

15:36because the demo screen is small and it's a

15:38laptop.

15:39But kind of vilifies my point earlier on.

15:43This nice little chart was out of the fold.

15:47So we didn't actually see it until you

15:48scroll down.

15:49But if this trend continues, inventory fill

15:52rate for phones is predicted to be 89% call

15:55. Is that a good or bad? That's fine.

15:57That might be fine if you've just had a new

15:58iPhone, for example. The new iPhone has

16:01just come out and you can't get any until

16:03November already, as is always the case.

16:06People just want new friends every year,

16:07apparently. But that's not a bad thing when

16:09you can't fill inventory that fast for a

16:12new product.

16:13That happens every single year. So who sets

16:16the context to say this is good or bad?

16:19Right.

16:19Can you tell the system that only let me

16:21know if it's if it's below 10% set a 10%

16:23threshold for inventory for if it falls

16:25below this, then we're going to have long

16:28term supply issues and long term demand

16:30issues and long term performing issues.

16:33Right. Where is that sort of capability?

16:36Anyway, let's play on.

16:38But it doesn't stop there. What if I want

16:41to stay on top of these changes and share

16:43my findings? Okay.

16:46Well, in just two clicks here, my entire

16:49team now is following inventory fill rate

16:51so that they can start tracking and acting

16:54on it, too.

16:56So if this is Tableau Pulse and this is

16:57going to sit inside a Tableau cloud, that

17:00interface we just saw there is completely

17:01different to the sharing interface we see

17:03today. Side by side, they're just not the

17:05same.

17:06I'll try and put a screenshot of it up on

17:08screen. Yeah, they're just not the same. So

17:10there's a whole lot of, let's say, staging

17:16here that if it's genuinely going to be

17:19available in December as we're seeing it

17:22like this.

17:23Wow, there's a lot of change coming to the

17:30Tableau platform. Definitely. And to

17:37confirm that, I can back out to my personal

17:37homepage where I'll be able to see

17:37inventory fill rate and I'll say other

17:37metrics that I care about.

17:37So let's look at this as well. Device sales

17:39had an unusual spike. Yeah.

17:41These are the same three summaries that we

17:43saw before. There's always this sort of was

17:46this helpful up or down? It feels like this

17:49is sort of like you're training the model

17:52on what you find useful.

17:54And if you do enough of these, eventually

17:55over time, they'll just probably stop

17:57asking you because they know. Right. Google

18:00used to do this. They used to ask you what

18:01you thought of a link and then it just

18:03eventually stopped because they figured out

18:05a way of figuring it out without having to

18:06ask you.

18:07So maybe something we see in the early

18:08stages of this kind of technology, but in

18:11the future, it will just know.

18:13It will just know based on metrics like how

18:14much time you spent, how much you engage

18:16with it, and then they'll start to sort of

18:18train analysts on how to create engaging

18:20metrics that actually drive actions and

18:22stuff like that.

18:24So super interesting. There are three

18:26metrics. Who knows what's below the fold.

18:28All metrics means probably everything that

18:31's shared with you, whereas the ones you're

18:33following are the ones you passionately

18:36care about.

18:37The best part is Pulse isn't just limited

18:40to Tableau. It's everywhere you and your

18:42teams work today. Like an email where you

18:45can receive a daily dose of your metrics.

18:49Let's ask April from my team here. Did you

18:52get it? Awesome.

18:55There you go. So you get a nice email and

19:01Tableau Pulse. Oh, interesting. That looks

19:04like a Pulse tab inside of the Tableau

19:06mobile app. Right. That's what that's got

19:09to be.

19:10That's all I can assume it is. You have

19:12Home and Explore, which are two tabs you

19:15get in Tableau today. Home is like the

19:17favorites and everything. Follow Explorer

19:20is that classic Explore tab.

19:20Pulse feels like it's going to be a new tab

19:21, which means probably when it comes to

19:23cloud, it will also be its own little site

19:24tab. It might even be the default place you

19:26start to go then to find other things. So

19:29it all makes sense.

19:31On your phone, where you can receive

19:34insights on the go. I am scrolling through

19:38them right now. And of course, in Slack, as

19:42you saw earlier, we get to collaborate more

19:45easily.

19:46But here at Dreamforce, we all care about

19:52Salesforce, don't we?

19:57You guessed it. I land in Salesforce and

20:02find out.

20:02The traditional Tableau customer doesn't

20:04care about Salesforce. Maybe I'm wrong. Let

20:07me know. But yes, he was kind of hoping

20:09they'd all say Salesforce and didn't quite

20:12land that one. But this is Tableau Pulse

20:14inside of Salesforce. Now it's interesting

20:16that as soon as it goes to Salesforce, it

20:18feels different, doesn't it? It looks

20:20slightly different.

20:21And Einstein has popped up already and you

20:23've got slightly different sort of layout.

20:25It feels like a more Salesforce centric

20:27version of Pulse. So that's interesting.

20:31There's something called Omni Channel Macro

20:32. I love seeing what else is on screen

20:34whenever you take like a screen grab like

20:35this. It kind of shows you the context of

20:38what people are thinking.

20:39Einstein is sitting in the corner there so

20:40you can ask some questions. But it's more

20:42or less the same thing. This might be like

20:44a new lightning web component that sits

20:47specifically inside of Tableau.

20:49There is a new one for Tableau in 23.3. And

20:54so this might be like a Pulse extension of

20:55that, which is kind of nice.

20:57Pulse homepage deeply embedded with all my

20:59favorite metrics in one place. And clicking

21:02into the metric here, I see the same

21:04detailed view with the same interactions

21:06that we've seen.

21:08Okay, so that answers the question. You

21:10have to have Tableau Cloud to have that

21:12kind of interaction. I don't see how you

21:15achieve that with a Tableau server behind

21:17firewalls. It just doesn't seem to work.

21:20So that might be a nicety you only get

21:23inside of Tableau Cloud. But with Tableau

21:28Server, you might be able to use something

21:31like connected apps to allow this to happen

21:34and get that working. But yeah.

21:36So let's rewind. We trust it. We're

21:40familiar with it. It's quick to find and

21:43easy to use. Now, all of us can truly

21:46succeed from anywhere.

21:49And this is Tableau Pulse. Metrics and

21:52insights reimagined, powered by Tableau AI

21:55to enhance and accelerate everyone. To make

21:59informed decisions fast and take actions on

22:03data.

22:04Thank you.

22:06[Applause]

22:08[End of session]

22:14[ Silence ]