Sending Email Alerts through TABLEAU

When data reaches important thresholds of the activity, data-driven alerts automatically send notifications to key people you specify. Data alerts can be sent as an email, or as a notification either in your Tableau site or in a connected Slack workspace through the Tableau for Slack application. You can set data-driven alerts on dashboards and views, but not story points.

Can you send Email Alerts from Tableau?

Tableau can connect to a wide variety of data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, cloud services, and web data connectors. This flexibility allows users to work with data from multiple sources in one place.

As a Tableau Cloud administrator, you set up data-driven alerts much like you do subscriptions.

Email alerts in Tableau are commonly used for various scenarios like:

Alerting stakeholders when a metric exceeds or falls below a predefined threshold, such as sales dropping below a certain level or website traffic spiking unexpectedly.

Sending alerts when system performance metrics, such as server usage or dashboard load times, exceed acceptable limits, ensuring smooth functioning of Tableau Server or Online.

Sending notifications at scheduled times for routine updates or reminders, such as daily sales reports or weekly progress summaries.

Triggering alerts based on specific events or actions, such as a new product launch, customer feedback reaching a certain threshold, or a critical project milestone being achieved.

Create a data driven Alert:

Select a continuous numeric axis of any chart, Numeric bins and discrete numeric axes aren’t supported. Here we are using a Sepsis Patient data for email alerts on their body conditions.

Sepsis is a severe condition where the body’s response to an infection causes inflammation throughout the body. It typically involves symptoms like fever, increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and altered mental status. Early recognition and treatment of sepsis are crucial to prevent serious complications and save lives.

1. Define Alert Conditions:

Determine the criteria for triggering email alerts. For SIRS patients, this may include specific combinations of vital signs and laboratory values indicative of systemic inflammation, such as elevated heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and abnormal white blood cell count.

1. Set Up Calculated Fields:

Create calculated fields in Tableau that evaluate the conditions for triggering alerts. For example, creating calculated fields to assess if a patient meets the criteria for SIRS based on their vital signs according to biomarkers selected.

Create a Data-driven Alert:

• Navigate to the dashboard where you want to set up the alert.

• Click on the “Worksheet” menu and select “Create Alert.”

•  Specify the email subject line, schedule, and recipients as a formula according to the database, Then we need to click on to the Add Action and Go to URL.
  

• Choose the calculated field that represents the alert condition for SIRS patients.

• Define the threshold for the alert condition (e.g., number of patient meeting SIRS criteria exceeding a certain threshold).

• Specify the frequency for checking the alert condition.

• Configure the email recipient(s) who should receive the alert notifications. Then we need to click on to the Add Action and Go to URL as below.

Test and Validate the Alert:

• Verify that the alert conditions are correctly configured by testing the alert within Tableau.

• Ensure that the email notifications are sent to the designated recipients upon triggering the alert condition.

Schedule Alerts:

• Schedule the email alerts to run at regular intervals (e.g., daily, weekly) to monitor SIRS patient status continuously.

Monitor and Refine:

• Monitor the performance of the email alerts and refine the alert conditions as needed based on feedback from clinicians and stakeholders.

• Adjust the thresholds or criteria for triggering alerts to improve the relevance and accuracy of the notifications.

Conclusion:

Setting up email alerts in Tableau provides a valuable means of proactively notifying the users about important insights or changes in data. By configuring email alerts, Tableau users can stay informed in real-time, enabling timely decision-making and response to critical events or trends. This feature enhances the overall effectiveness of Tableau dashboards by ensuring that relevant information reaches the intended audience promptly. Furthermore, email alerts can help streamline communication and collaboration within organizations, facilitating a more agile and data-driven approach to decision-making. Overall, the inclusion of email alerts in Tableau empowers users to leverage data effectively and take proactive action based on insights generated from their visualizations.