Springbrook Analytics
Springbrook Analytics Administration
Before you can get up and running on Springbrook Analytics, there are few administrative tasks that need to be completed. This topic provides a step-by-step explanation of this initial administration process. In order to prepare your agency for a successful Springbrook Analytics launch, please review all the steps below.
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Springbrook Analytics is powered by Tableau, Springbrook's industry-leading reporting partner. Tableau’s reporting software provides a host of important advantages that collectively deliver a comprehensive interactive view of programs, budgets, and high-level trends across the entire Agency.
- All Springbrook Cloud clients will be able to access the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site via a unique link on the organization's Cloud Portal.
- Before directing employees to the Tableau site, please review the steps below. There are a number of required configurations that must be completed before an organization employee can access the site.
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This help topic will provide a number of links to official Tableau Online help topics. These linked topics were selected to help your organization's Tableau administrator learn more about configuration options not covered in the Springbrook help system.
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Please note that only a limited number of the configuration options covered in the Tableau Online help topics will be accessible by your organization's Tableau administrator. Springbrook has already set up and continues to maintain many of these Tableau administration configurations. The primary goal of this arrangement is to provide Springbrook users with a robust analytics tool without requiring a lengthy and confusing setup process.
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Also note that Springbrook Analytics utilizes Tableau Online. Some Tableau help topics cover both Tableau Online and Tableau Server, so please be aware of this distinction when exploring the Tableau help topics.
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For more information on Springbrook Analytics, you can watch the webinars published on the Springbrook website at https://springbrooksoftware.com/solutions/reporting-and-analytics
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If you have any feedback or suggestions for Springbrook Analytics, you can reach out the Springbrook team at [email protected].
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Please note, this email address is reserved for Springbrook Analytics feedback and suggestions only. Any other questions regarding Springbrook Analytics should be directed to the Springbrook Support team.
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Before a user can log in to the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site, they'll need a Tableau User account. These accounts are created and maintained in the System Wide Access module in Springbrook (SS> Web Maintenance> Tableau Users). Click here for information on Tableau User maintenance.
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This is a required step. Only those users set up with a Tableau User account will be able to access the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site.
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Once a Tableau User account has been created, that user can be added to a Tableau Group in order to control the data access permissions for the user. These groups are maintained in the System Wide Access module (SS> Web Maintenance> Tableau Groups). Click here for information on Tableau Group maintenance.
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If you are the designated Tableau administrator at your organization, add your user account to the Admin Tableau group. This will give you the Tableau permissions required to set the data access permissions for users and groups at the workbook level.
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All Springbrook Cloud clients will be able to access the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site via a unique link on the organization's Cloud Portal or via the Reporting and Analytics icon in the Springbrook Cloud application.
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The first time a new user accesses the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site, they will need to enter their username and click the Don't remember your password? link in order to generate and send an email to their specified email address. This email will contain a confirmation link the user can follow to reset their password and access Tableau.
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Home - The Tableau Home page is where you will land after successfully signing in to Tableau. This landing page provides quick access to reports you've selected as Favorites, reports you've recently viewed, and recommended reports Tableau thinks you might be interested in. From here you can use the navigation menu on the left side of the page to move around your Tableau site.
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Explore - Click the Explore navigation link to open the Explore page. This is where you'll find all the content you can access across your Tableau site.
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The content displayed on the Explore page is determined by your user permissions. By default, the Springbrook Analytics Tableau site is set up with three levels of access permissions:
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Admin - This user (Springbrook recommends limiting the number of admin users to as few as possible) has access to all reports, data sources, and permissions settings.
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Power Users - These users have data access permissions settings similar to the Admin without the ability to control permission settings themselves. This group is reserved for those users who are very familiar with Springbrook data and who are expected to create reports for other users to consume.
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All Users - This is the default user group and should include those users who will be consuming reports but are not expected to create or edit those reports.
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The screenshot below is an example of what an Admin or Power User would see on their Explore page. A user in the All Users group who has not been granted any additional permissions will only see the Agency folder.
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There are three default folders on the Explore page.
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Agency - This folder, referred to as a workbook in Tableau, is where all users will access their reports, referred to as views in Tableau.
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This is the only workbook users in the All User group will have initial access to.
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Reminder - Individual Tableau reports are referred to as views and those views are organized into groups referred to as workbooks. A group of workbooks can also be organized into a larger workbook. For example, the Agency workbook can include a set of Springbrook module-specific workbooks, each of which includes the individual views used to explore the data from that module.
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Springbrook Report Library - This workbook includes the full set of standard Springbrook workbooks and views. They are organized into individual Springbrook module workbooks that each contain a standard set of views. As more standard views are released, they will populate the relevant workbooks in the Springbrook Report Library.
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The Springbrook Report Library workbook is read-only. Users with access to this workbook can access the views but cannot edit them. In order to edit these views, Admin users and Power Users should add the desired workbooks and views to the Agency folder. See the Working with Springbrook Reports step below for more information on this process.
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Click here for information about the reports in the Springbrook Report Library.
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Published Datasources - This folder displays the connections between Tableau and the Springbrook database.
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Favorites - This page displays any workbooks or views that you set as a favorite by clicking the star icon.
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Recents - This page displays any workbooks or views that you have recently visited.
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Shared with Me - This page displays any workbooks or views that have been shared with you.
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Recommendations - This page displays views that may be of interest to you.
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Views that are recommended for you specifically are based on your viewing habits, while trending views are based the viewing habits of your colleagues.
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For a more detailed tour of the Tableau interface, please see the Tableau help article Tour Your Tableau Site https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/navigating.htm
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The Springbrook Report Library workbook includes all the default module-specific workbooks and views that Springbrook has released. This folder will be updated to include new views as they are developed.
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The steps below outline how to prepare these standard reports in order to get your organization's Tableau users up and running.
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Download your desired workbooks from the Springbrook Report Library.
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Open the top-level module workbook you are interested in to display the module-specific workbooks inside.
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You can hover over a workbook to view details such as the number of views in the workbook and the data sources that workbooks is connected to.
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Open the module workbook to display the individual views in the workbook.
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Open the view you would like to add to your Agency workbook and click the Download button in the top menu.
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Select Tableau Workbook on the download options window.
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After selecting Tableau Workbook from the download window, select Current when specifying the version of the report you would like to download.
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Upload the workbook to the Agency workbook.
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Once you've downloaded a workbook from the Springbrook Reports Library, you can upload that workbook to the Agency workbook.
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Navigate to the Agency workbook and select Upload Workbook from the New menu.
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On the Upload Workbook window, you can drag and drop the downloaded workbook into the space on the left or click the Choose a file button to browse to the workbook you would like to upload.
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Once the workbook is selected, click the Upload button to upload the workbook to the Agency folder.
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For more information on upload options, please see the Tableau help article Upload Workbooks to a Tableau Site https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/upload.htm
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Control who has access to your data.
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Tableau uses a "least restrictive" user permissions system. This means a user in both the Power User and the All Users group will be granted permissions commensurate with the Power User group as it is the less restrictive of the two groups.
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All Tableau users - those in the Admin, Power Users, and All Users groups - have default read access to the workbooks and views in the Agency workbook. If you would like to add additional access restrictions to a workbook you uploaded, click the elipsis icon ... next to the workbook or view and select Permissions.
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This will open the Permissions window where you limit access to your workbook or view by adjusting the group permissions. By clicking on individual permissions settings such as View, Filter, or Download, you can cycle through the Allowed, Denied, and Unspecified permission options.
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For more detailed information on setting and maintaining permissions in Tableau, please see the Tableau help article Permissionshttps://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/permissions.htm
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Share your data with other users.
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You can quickly share workbooks and views with other users that have the required permission settings.
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The Share option can be accessed via the elipsis icon ... at the bottom-right corner of a workbook or view.
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Users can also share from inside the view by clicking the Share option in top menu.
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Once you have selected Share, the share workbook/view window will open and you can either send the workbook/view to a specified Tableau user recipient or copy a direct link to the workbook/view that can be embedded in an email. Only those users with appropriate permissions will be able to access the shared workbook/view.
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Shared workbooks and views will display on the Shared with Me tab accessed from the Tableau left navigation menu.
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For more information on sharing workbooks and views in Tableau, please see the Tableau help article Share Web Content https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/shareworkbooks.htm
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Subscriptions are an easy way for users to keep current without signing in to Tableau every time they want to explore a view. Users with the appropriate permissions can click the Subscribe link in the top menu on a view they would like to subscribe to.
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Once the Subscribe window is open, you can specify the subscription settings.
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For more information on subscribing to views in Tableau, please see the Tableau help article Create a Subscription to a View or Workbook https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/subscribe_user.htm
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When the standard Springbrook Report Library doesn't meet all your reporting needs, Tableau offers a full range of report creation tools to help those power users who are comfortable working with Springbrook data.
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See the New Report Overview for a detailed, step-by-step set of instructions on how to create a report from scratch.
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You can also find more information on creating your own reports in the Tableau help article Getting Started with Web Authoring https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/getstarted_web_authoring.htm
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Tableau dashboards are collections of several data views, allowing users to compare a variety of data simultaneously. These view-based data visualizations provide an engaging method for disseminating data across the organization.
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You can find more information on creating a dashboard in the Tableau help article Dashboards https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/dashboards.htm