Establishing Tableau Governance and Optimization for a Fundraising Organization

Background

The organization is the fundraising and awareness arm for Children’s Research Hospital. It was established with the mission to ensure that no child is denied treatment based on race, religion, or a family’s ability to pay. The organization is responsible for raising the majority of the hospital’s operating funds, allowing the hospital to focus on pioneering research and providing lifesaving treatments for children battling cancer and other serious diseases. Through innovative fundraising efforts, partnerships, and community engagement, the organization has grown into one of the largest healthcare-related charities in the United States, supporting St. Jude’s mission to advance cures and prevention methods for pediatric illnesses worldwide.

Challenge

The organization’s Tableau environment faces several significant challenges due to its complexity, supporting 150 creators and over 2,000 users. A major issue is the lack of report standardization, which results in inconsistent report design, redundant reports, and confusing metrics. Different teams create reports using varying formats and calculation methods, leading to multiple versions of the truth and making it difficult for users to trust the data. Performance issues further compound the problem, with slow-loading dashboards and high server loads caused by complex data models, inefficient queries, and overlapping data refresh schedules. Inefficient data management, including poor access control and misaligned licensing, leads to unnecessary costs and potential security risks

Approach

Tableau Content Inventory: Identify all existing reports, data sources, and owners. Remove duplicate and unused reports for consolidation or decommissioning. Establish a Tableau data catalog of approved reports and certified data sources. Optimization: Identify long extract data sources and optimize the query and ensure that only relevant data is been extracted. Improve dashboard performance by optimizing the visualization and Tableau calculation. Data Governance: Implement a structured review process for new reports and data sources, automate the identification of unused data, remove unlicensed users, and notify content owners about underperforming reports to improve overall performance and accountability.

Key results

Benefits

By cleansing reports, optimizing data sources, and enabling automation, the organization’s Tableau environment has become more efficient and scalable. Maintenance and operational overhead have been significantly reduced, allowing the system to handle growing analytical demands without requiring additional infrastructure. Enhanced transparency into user activity and behavior helps the organization better understand licensing needs, ensuring cost-effective and efficient resource allocation.

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