User permissions and roles in Tableau - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a Tableau administrator at a retail company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to set up user permissions and roles to control access to sales dashboards based on department and job role.

📊 Data: You have a list of users with their departments and job roles. You also have sales dashboards that should be accessible only to specific groups: Sales team, Marketing team, and Executives.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a Tableau user permissions setup that restricts dashboard access appropriately and document the roles and permissions configuration.

Sample Data

User	Department	Job Role
Alice	Sales	Sales Rep
Bob	Marketing	Marketing Manager
Charlie	Sales	Sales Manager
Diana	Executive	CEO
Eva	Marketing	Marketing Analyst
Frank	Sales	Sales Rep
Grace	Executive	CFO
Hank	IT	Support

1

Step 1: Create user groups in Tableau for each department and role: Sales Team, Marketing Team, Executives.

In Tableau Server or Tableau Online, go to 'Users' > 'Groups' > 'Create Group'. Name groups as 'Sales Team', 'Marketing Team', 'Executives'. Add users to each group based on their Department and Job Role.

Expected Result

Groups created with correct users assigned: Sales Team (Alice, Charlie, Frank), Marketing Team (Bob, Eva), Executives (Diana, Grace).

2

Step 2: Assign permissions to each group for the sales dashboards.

Navigate to the sales dashboard project or workbook. For each group, set permissions: 'View' allowed for their respective dashboards, 'Deny' or no access for others.

Expected Result

Sales Team can view Sales dashboards; Marketing Team can view Marketing dashboards; Executives can view all dashboards.

3

Step 3: Test permissions by logging in as a user from each group to verify access.

Use Tableau's 'Test as User' feature or login with test accounts. Confirm that users see only dashboards allowed by their group permissions.

Expected Result

Alice (Sales) sees only Sales dashboards; Bob (Marketing) sees only Marketing dashboards; Diana (Executive) sees all dashboards.

4

Step 4: Document the roles and permissions setup for future reference.

Create a document listing groups, users in each group, and their dashboard access permissions.

Expected Result

Clear documentation that shows user groups, assigned users, and their dashboard access rights.

Final Result

Dashboard Access Permissions
----------------------------
| Group         | Dashboards Access        |
|---------------|--------------------------|
| Sales Team    | Sales Dashboards only    |
| Marketing Team| Marketing Dashboards only|
| Executives    | All Dashboards           |

✓User groups help manage access efficiently.

✓Sales team members only see sales data, protecting marketing and executive data.

✓Executives have full access for oversight.

✓Testing permissions ensures correct access before deployment.

Bonus Challenge

Implement row-level security in Tableau so that Sales team members see only their own sales data within the Sales dashboards.

Show Hint

Use Tableau's User Filters or Row-Level Security with a data source filter that matches the logged-in user to their sales records.