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What data can I analyze with

Tableau?

Your data needs to be in a database, spreadsheet or structured text format

before you can analyze it with Tableau. Databases include relational
databases and multidimensional OLAP databases. The specific databases
your copy of Tableau can connect to depends on your purchase options.
To see which data sources your copy of Tableau can connect to, select Data
> Connect to Data. Any data source that is not supported by your version
of Tableau is grayed out. Contact Tableau to upgrade your database
accessibility options.
Tableau can connect to many relational data sources, and two OLAP/cube
data sources: Oracle Essbase and Microsoft Analysis Services. Tableau
queries the data using standard drivers and query languages (like SQL and
MDX) and presents a visual analysis of the data.

Data sources supported by Tableau

Actian Vectorwise 1.5 and later

MySQL 4.0 or later

Aster Data nCluster 4.5 and later

Netezza release 4.6 or later

Cloudera Hadoop Distribution via Hive

(CDH3u1, which includes Hive .71, or
later)

OData

Firebird 2.0 or later

Greenplum 4.x and later
IBM DB2 (9.1 or later) for Linux, UNIX,
and Windows
MapR Distribution for Apache Hadoop
Microsoft Access 2003 or later
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services
2000, 2005, 2008,2008R2, 2012 (Multidimensional mode only)
Microsoft PowerPivot 2008 (whether or
not published in Sharepoint)

Oracle Hyperion Essbase 11.1.1

Oracle Database 10.x or later
ParAccel Analytic Database (PADB)
version 3 and later
PostgreSQL 7.0 or later
Progress OpenEdge 10.2B patch 4 or later
SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.00
with SP20+ recommended. Also requires
SAP GUI for Windows 7.20 Client
Sybase IQ 15 and later
Teradata 6 or later
Text files, comma delimited format

Microsoft Excel 2003 or later

Vertica 4.x or later

Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008,

2008R2, or 2012

Also, many databases that are ODBC

Version 3.0 compliant

Microsoft Windows Azure Marketplace

DataMarket

Evaluation of Tableau Strengths

Speed The greatest strength of Tableau is its speed with

which it analyzes hundreds of millions of rows and gives the
required answers in seconds.
Ease of use- Its just basic drag and drop. One can start
using Tableau even with no prior programming experience.
With just basic MS Excel skills one can easily learn Tableau.
Beautiful and interactive dashboard -The Dashboard of
Tableau is very interactive and gives dynamic results. Rich
visualizations can be created very easily. The graphics and
charts are smart and beautiful. Images, web pages and
documents can be added into the dashboard for easy story
telling.
Direct connection Tableau allows the users to directly
connect to databases, cubes, and data warehouses etc. The
data access is so easy without any advanced setup and the
data is live that keeps getting updated on its own. One can
pick tables from spreadsheets to data from Hadoop to
create a perfect mash-up and get desired results in no time.