Tableau - Is there a "Guest" user account that can be used for the University of Illinois?

Tableau "Guest" user account information for Tableau service only.

Purpose

As you evaluate a project you are working on, a requirement may be to publish the visualization for public consumption. This means that the visualization will be available to anyone on the internet. Utilizing the “Guest” account, you can embed your visualization residing on the Tableau server to a website you manage with "Guest" account permission to your Tableau project. The visualization will display on your web page without a request for authentication.

Embedding a dashboard link from the Tableau Server, using a Guest account does not require individual authentication to the Tableau Server to display the dashboard from your website. Once the Guest user account is permitted, your projects’ workbook/view no further authentication required. All you need to use is a shared JavaScript code or URL of a view for embedding in your web pages. (To view specific URL's or JavaScript code, click here https://answers.uillinois.edu/page.php?id=68073 )

About “Guest” User Account

The Guest account on Tableau servers is username account that is used only to allow anyone (public) to view a visualization. The Guest user cannot browse the Tableau Server interface and will not see server interface elements such as user name, account settings, comments, etc.

When you embed a Tableau Server view into your website page with “Guest” user account permission, no login or authentication is required to view the visualization.

Caution

Any visualization in the project with Guest user access will be accessible by anyone on the internet. Please exercise caution when evaluating the data on your visualization and confirming that no protected information is being shared.

Due diligence and Scenarios that you need to exercise before implementation

Defining Internal and external audiences

Internal audience means authenticated clients who are an employee of the university with Active Directory (AD) account membership of any campus. External audience means clients may have affiliations with the university, but not an employee of the University and does not have an AD account.

Workbook with “Guest” user account permission

If the Guest user needs to be able to access a workbook that uses an extract data source, make sure Guest has View permission for the data source. The Guest user is not allowed to connect to publish data sources unless the publisher embedded their credentials when publishing the content. The "Guest" user is not a username. It cannot be used to log in, to request trusted tickets, or use a filter.

Pre-requisite for all scenarios

In all the situations, the dashboard/View (Tableau Workbook) must be published to the Tableau Server. The data must be available without requiring a data source password prompt (i.e., embedded account and password).

Scenarios

Scenario 1: This scenarios where embedded dashboard/view shared from your web server depending on your audiences and authentication.Share dashboard/view to public (internal and external audiences with no security concern. if you wish to make a dashboard available for public viewing, it can be displayed with no authentication required.

Scenario 2: Share dashboard/view to specific group (internal and/or external audiences) and you manage security or authentication on your own from your web server. For example, if you wish to make the dashboard secure and available to individuals who are not a part of the University of Illinois. Some examples may be an organization available to subscribers, a board of directors or colleagues from another institution. In this scenario, an authorization system is used to authenticate the users before displaying the website.

Scenario 3: Share Dashboard/View with internal audiences only with authentication.

In all of the above situations, the dashboard/view (Tableau Workbook) must be published to the Tableau Server. The data must be available without requiring a data source password prompt (i.e., embedded account and password).

Next step

Steps to follow for Scenario 1

  1. Request a public project with Publisher(s) AD group and “Guest” user account with Viewer permission
  2. Publish a view to your public project
  3. Embed your Dashboard/View URL or JavaScript. (Follow this link for how you can view specific URL or JavaScript code https://answers.uillinois.edu/page.php?id=68073)

Steps to follow for Scenario 2

  1. Request a project with Publisher(s) AD group and “UOFI\tableau-webviewer” account with viewer permission
  2. Publish a view to your public project
  3. Follow our existing embedding web pages’ procedure (steps from the following link https://answers.uillinois.edu/page.php?id=60568)
  4. Use your preferred authentication method to secure your web site.

Steps to follow for Scenario 3

  1. If your audience is university affiliates (have a university netID) and less than ~300 people, you may use the Tableau Server authentication. For audiences larger than 300 people (e.g., all faculty in a college or all employees on campus) we recommend using Scenario 2.
  2.  Publish a view to your project
  3. Embed your Dashboard/View URL or JavaScript. (Follow this link on how you can view specific URL or JavaScript code https://answers.uillinois.edu/page.php?id=68073)

    4. If you have questions about the best approach, please reach out to us via servicedeskaits@uillinois.edu.

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