Tableau Workbook Policy Enforcement: Technical Guide & Rules | Wiiisdom Support

Tableau: Workbook Policy Enforcement Guide

Introduction

The Workbook Policy Enforcement step allows users to automatically validate Tableau workbooks against a set of best practices and organisational policies predefined by their administrator. This step ensures that workbooks promoted or tested with Wiiisdom Cloud Platform meet specific performance and usability standards.

Prerequisites

  1. License: Ensure the Lifecycle Management license is enabled in your environment in Platform Settings > Licenses.
  2. Permissions: You must have the Administrator role to access the BI Asset Policies menu to configure rules.

How to Configure Workbook Policies

  1. Enable Admin Mode: Navigate to the BI Asset Policies administration menu and select the Tableau tab.
  2. Define Rules: Configure the expected values and severity for the available rules. Rules are categorised into two main categories:
    1. Performance: Focuses on technical efficiency (e.g., Custom SQL Query usage, Data Sources Extract vs. Live).
    2. Usability: Focuses on end-user experience (e.g., number of views, dashboard complexity).
  3. Set Severity: Assign a severity level (Informational, Best Practice, Critical, or Blocker) to each rule. These levels impact the final Quality Gate score (A to E).
  4. Set the Minimum Acceptable Score, from A to E.

Key Points of Attention & Troubleshooting

This guide provides a technical breakdown of how each rule is calculated, where the data is retrieved from, and what is included or excluded.

Performance Rules: Technical Details

Rule Name
Scope
Data Retrieval Method
Specifics & Limitations

Render Duration

Per View

Tableau Simulation Engine: Uses Playwright and the Tableau Embedding API to simulate a user opening the workbook in a browser.

Counted: Published Worksheets and Dashboards.


Excluded: Stories.

Hidden Fields

Per Data Source

XML Parsing: Analyzes the .twb file.

Logic: The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of hidden fields by the total number of fields.

Rounding: Rounded up to the nearest hundredth (ceiling).

Excluded: Fields automatically generated by Tableau are notre retrieved.

Limitation: Complex fields like drill-downs, sets, or groups may result in an Unknown status due to current technical limitations.

Custom SQL Query

Per Data Source

XML, REST API & TDS Parsing: Parses the .twb file. For published data sources, it also uses the Tableau REST API to query all data sources, retrieve the datasourceId from the contentUrl, and parse the .tds file.



Live or Extract

Per Data Source

XML Parsing: Analyzes the .twb file.


Data Source Embedded

Per Data Source

XML Parsing: Analyzes the .twb file.


Level of Detail (LOD)

Workbook

REST API & XML Parsing: Retrieves published views via REST API and parses the .twb file.

Counted: Only LOD expressions actually used in the workbook's views (worksheets) are counted. If an unpublished worksheet is used in a published dashboard, the LOD expressions it contains are also counted.

Excluded: LOD calculations created within the workbook but not present in any active view.


Workbook Extract Size

Workbook

Tableau REST API: Performed via a HEAD request to the server.


Usability Rules

Rule Name
Scope
Data Retrieval MethodSpecifics & Limitations

Context Filters

Per Worksheet

REST API & XML Parsing: Retrieves published views via REST API and parses the .twb file.

Counted: Published worksheets and unpublished worksheets used in a published dashboard. These worksheets will appear with an "(unpublished)" badge.

Dashboards in the Workbook

Workbook

REST API & XML Parsing: Retrieves published views via REST API and parses the .twb file.

Counted: Published Dashboards.

Global Filters

Workbook

REST API & XML Parsing: Retrieves published views via REST API and parses the .twb file.

Counted: Filters in Data Sources and published Worksheets.

Views in the Workbook

Workbook

REST API: Retrieves published views via REST API.

Counted: Published Worksheets, Dashboards and Stories.

Worksheets in Dashboard

Per Dashboard

REST API & XML Parsing: Retrieves published views via REST API and parses the .twb file.

Counted: All worksheets in published Dashboards.