MicroStrategy for Tableau

MicroStrategy for Tableau allows you to fetch data from reports or cubes that reside in MicroStrategy projects into Tableau Public (also known as Tableau Desktop). You can import datasets with up to four million rows and 30+ columns.

MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024) adds support for Tableau Web Data Connector 3.0. If you are using a version prior to MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024), see Connect to Tableau Prior to MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024).

Starting in MicroStrategy 2020 Update 2, you can use an independent MicroStrategy for Tableau connector as a separate web application. You can find the installer on the MicroStrategy download site.

To learn more about the MicroStrategy for Tableau connector, see KB484311: Independent MicroStrategy for Tableau connector.

Prerequisites

Required Privilege

You must have the Use Application Tableau privilege.

Enable the Feature Flag

An administrator must enable the connector feature flag:

1. Locate the configOverride.properties file under the following locations:

   • Windows:<DEPLOY_LOCATION>\webapps\MicroStrategyLibrary\WEB-INF\classes\config\ConfigOverride.properties

   • Linux:<DEPLOY_LOCATION>/webapps/MicroStrategyLibrary/WEB-INF/classes/config/configOverride.properties

2. Locate features.tableau-connector.enabled=false and edit false to true.

3. Save the file and restart the Library server.

Library Administration Setting

You must allow Library embedding in other sites to use the connector:

1. Open the Web window.
2. In the Navigation pane, choose Environments to view the available environments. Make sure the environment is connected.

3. Right-click the environment and choose Properties.

4. In the left pane, click Library.
5. Next to Allow Library embedding in other sites under Security Settings, select All.

6. Click OK.

Download the MicroStrategy For Tableau Connector

1. Download the MicroStrategyForTableau.taco file.
2. Copy the file to one of the following locations:
   • Windows users: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Connectors
   • Mac users: Users/<insert your username>/Documents/My Tableau Repository/Connectors
3. Restart Tableau Desktop.

Import Data from MicroStrategy to Tableau

1. Open Tableau Desktop. Under Connect, click MicroStrategy Connector by MicroStrategy.

   If you can not find the connector in the left navigation pane, click More....

   

2. Paste your MicroStrategy Library URL in the prompted window and click Continue.

   

3. Log in to your MicroStrategy Library environment.

4. Use the Import Data dialog to search and select reports, cubes, and datasets to import into MicroStrategy.

   

5. Click Import or Prepare Data, if required.

Known Limitations

• If an error occurs during the initial import, Tableau will not open the worksheet page and will display a native error. If a user session is timed out and clicks Extract > Refresh Tableau, the native error will display.

  

  There is no way to reopen the connector window. If a user clicks the connector name, Tableau will display the error. The only way to reopen the connector is to restart the Tableau Desktop application and click the connector name.

  If this error appears, you can check the Connector’s logs. Logs are located one of the following locations:

  • Windows users: C:\Users\<your_user_name>\Documents\My Tableau Repository\Logs\EPS

  • Mac users: Users/<yourusername>/Documents/My Tableau Repository/Logs/EPS/<latestfolder>/eps.<dateandtime>.log

• Users with larger reports may experience double the waiting time due to limitations in Tableau WDC 3.0 compare to previous versions. This limitation is the result of a lack of functions that allow the connector to separate the schema and data gathering processes.

• Choose Your Search Engine dialog appears on the Opening Login Page for during authentication for EU based users. The pop up displays every time new a window opens and is a result of the Tableau Connector not saving any user preferences.

• A Session Timeout is possible if a user does not perform any actions during the session. For example, importing or refreshing data.

• Users can not use the same environment URL or any other data across sessions using client-side JavaScript. This restriction is related to Tableau session and security handling.

• Users can not import data that exceeds 52.6 MB of data or a "Promise was abandoned" error displays. This error is related to the size of the data imported and currently a WDC 3.0 limitation.

• Due to Tableau limitations, it can only connect to a single Library server node, even when operating in environments with multiple Library servers. This limit is due to load balancing solutions, such as AWS and Azure, do not support partitioned cookies to maintain session consistency. To set up the load balancer to accommodate Tableau's networking needs, users can reach out to the load balancer vendor.

Connect to Tableau Prior to MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024)

Deploy the MicroStrategyForTableau.war File Prior to MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024)

1. Download and extract the MicroStrategy for Tableau connector zip file.
2. Run the installer.
3. Deploy the .war file. See How to Set Up Application Servers for MicroStrategy for Tableau.

Import Data from MicroStrategy to Tableau Prior to MicroStrategy ONE (September 2024)

1. Open Tableau Desktop Public Edition. Under Connect, click Web Data Connector.

   If it is not there, click More > Web Data Connector.

   

2. Enter the following URL:

   • If MicroStrategForTableau.war is deployed: https://<MSTR Domain>/MicroStrategyForTableau/
   • If CommunityConnectors.war is deployed: https://<MSTR Domain>/CommunityConnectors/mstr/

   If the connector does not automatically detect Tableau, add the query ?mode=tableau to the end of the URL and refresh your browser.

3. Enter your API Server URL and environment credentials.

   Your REST API URL is your environment URL with /MicroStrategyLibrary/ added at the end.

4. Click Log in with credentials.
5. Select your applications.
6. Click OK.
7. Under Datasets, select a dataset or use the search to locate a dataset.

8. Select the attributes, metrics, or filters to include.

   

9. Click Select All to either select all attributes, metrics, or filters.
10. Use the View selected toggle to only see selected objects.
11. Click Data Preview.
12. Click Submit.
13. Click Update Now or Automatically Update to finish importing your dataset into Tableau.

    

Related Articles

KB484311: Independent MicroStrategy for Tableau connector

KB484146: "Your credentials or authentication mode is incorrect” error message appears when attempting to log in to the MicroStrategy for Tableau connector