Introducing the Import.io Tableau Web Data Connector

Nick Scott

It’s no secret that people who love data, love Tableau.

For years now Tableau has set the standard for powerful yet user friendly data analytics and reporting.

Many organizations use Tableau’s Desktop and Server products to produce and share real-time metrics and dashboards that empower teams, keeping everyone in the business informed and focused.

What goes into those dashboards is often internal data from enterprise tools such as CRM and ERP systems. Data often includes operational and sales data. Increasingly, data-savvy companies like Accenture, PwC and Amazon are bringing web data into play.

Now, Import.io has teamed up with the good folks at InterWorks to provide a Tableau Web Data Connector (WDC) that allows you to bring data captured with Import.io straight into Tableau in just a few clicks.

We’re going to show you how it works below.

Open Tableau Desktop

Click “Web Data Connector”

An empty Tableau Web Data Connector modal will appear.

Enter the URL for the Import.io WDC

https://wdc.interworks.com

Note: there is currently no Tableau catalogue of WDCs so there is no way to “discover” the WDC through Tableau. Once you have accessed it once it will be listed in your “recently used”.

Direct link = https://wdc.poc.interworks.com/importio
I’ve created a shortlink that’s easy to remember: http://go.import.io/tableau

The Import.io WDC looks like this

Now head over to Import.io

Find an Extractor with a run of data that you wish to bring into Tableau.

Here’s my Top 100 Fiction Bestsellers from Amazon.

Tip: you can duplicate and run the above Extractor by visiting the link, logging into Import.io and then clicking the “Duplicate” button on the dashboard. This will copy the Extractor to your account so you can run it.

Hit the Integration tab

Locate the “CSV from the last run” API call & copy to your clipboard

Note: API Access is a premium Import.io feature. You can contact hello@import.io for more information on how to access these premium features.

Paste into the Tableau WDC text box and click “Extract”

Wait while the query is executed. This may take up to 30 seconds.

Choose whether to update once or automatically. We recommend selecting “Automatically Update”.

Note: this feature means that when you are in the data review mode you won’t need to keep hitting “Update Now” every time you make a change. It is not a way to automatically refresh the data from Import.io.