1. Tutorial
Integrate Tableau Software
with Salesforce
Topic 5: Set up Single Sign-On (SSO) between Tableau
and Salesforce using Salesforce as IDentity Provider (IDP)
TUTORIAL
Author: Mathieu Emanuelli
2. Tutorial
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................3
About tableau.........................................................................................................................................3
Benefits/Value Delivered........................................................................................................................3
IN TABLEAU .......................................................................................................................................3
Pre requisites..........................................................................................................................................3
Get all required information...................................................................................................................3
IN SALESFORCE ..................................................................................................................................5
Configure the SSO...................................................................................................................................5
Create new certificate ............................................................................................................................7
Download Salesforce IDentity Provider (IDP) metadata ........................................................................8
Create the Connected App......................................................................................................................9
Authorize the access to the connected app to user profile ..................................................................11
BACK IN TABLEAU ............................................................................................................................11
Create the Connected App....................................................................................................................11
Configure user authentication type......................................................................................................13
CHECK THE LOGS..............................................................................................................................14
In Tableau.............................................................................................................................................14
In Salesforce..........................................................................................................................................15
RESULT ............................................................................................................................................16
REFERENCE ......................................................................................................................................19
CONTACTS .......................................................................................................................................19
3. 2
Tutorial
Executive Summary
A transaction process system (TPS) is an information processing system for business transactions involving the
collection, modification and retrieval of all transaction data. Business Intelligence is a concept that usually involves
the delivery and the integration of relevant and useful business information across an organization. It is therefore
natural to imagine how these two concepts could live together within an organization.
I used to work with several TPS with a preference for a packaged solution that genuinely – naturally provided a
combination of CRM capabilities and business intelligence capabilities. This product, released on the market by
Oracle came after its acquisition of Siebel. Oracle decided to propose a powerful package composed of CRM
product (leveraging Siebel strong industry knowledge), an ETL and one of their business intelligence solutions
already customized to provide the highest value to its customers (Oracle Business Answer). Cherry on the cake this
package was and is (still) a cloud-based solution!
After numerous Oracle CRM on Demand implementations, I understood how significant the value of business
Intelligence combined with a TPS is to many companies. I was lucky to see Salesforce growing up and I was, from
the very beginning, impressed by the positioning of this vendor on IT markets. Indeed, Salesforce may provide the
most advanced – CRM traditional “modules” (Sales, Service and Marketing). On top, they are built on such a
powerful platform that I do not think it exists, in all in 1 solution, an equivalent in any other vendor portfolio.
Salesforce allows companies to create their own TPS without worrying about hardware or infrastructure.
Because business intelligence solutions should get the ability to connect several data sources and should provide
great data visualization and because I am a big fan of cloud solutions I started to look into solutions that might be
integrated with Salesforce. I tried some connectors such as Qlikview for Salesforce (here) and I had the opportunity
to use Tableau. I have done several configurations to see how far this integration might go and I decided to share
my experience in a couple of tutorials.
The tutorial you are reading aims to demonstrate capabilities that can be covered by the integration of Tableau
and Salesforce.
4. 3
Tutorial
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT TABLEAU
Tableau is a business intelligence software that allows anyone to easily connect to data, then visualize and create
interactive, shareable dashboards.
Gartner named Tableau a leader in its Business Intelligence Magic Quadrant report for the fourth straight year. As
the gold standard for business intelligence, Tableau is a leader in empowering the entire enterprise with modern
analytics.
BENEFITS/VALUE DELIVERED
Benefits to get tableau connected to Salesforce will allow customers to leverage the power of a solution allowing
to leverage a package transactional solution (Sales, service, and marketing) or our own transactional solution in the
Cloud and an incredible way to visualize and play with data.
Customers can deploy a cost effective Business Intelligence solution that will improve the way your organization
uses information, collaborates and makes decisions.
IN TABLEAU
PRE REQUISITES
Before you begin you need:
Access to Tableau. Download Tableau desktop
Access to Salesforce with enough rights. Then keep your username and password
GET ALL REQUIRED INFORMATION
Connect to Tableau, go on Parameter and Authentication. Tick the checkbox: Unique Authentication using SAML:
6. 5
Tutorial
Extract the tableau provided certificate:
IN SALESFORCE
CONFIGURE THE SSO
Go to Setup and search for Single Sign-On Settings:
7. 6
Tutorial
Create new Single Sign-On connection:
Filed in the mandatory text fields and import tableau certificate:
8. 7
Tutorial
Paste the Entity ID from the link copied in tableau:
CREATE NEW CERTIFICATE
Create new certificate:
9. 8
Tutorial
Fill in the field
Complete the field
DOWNLOAD SALESFORCE IDENTITY PROVIDER (IDP) METADATA
Download the Salesforce identity provider metadata:
11. 10
Tutorial
Go to Connected App section and click New:
Filled in fields:
Paste the links provided by Tableau:
Make sure that the value specified in the field Subject Type is matching the user’s email address:
12. 11
Tutorial
AUTHORIZE THE ACCESS TO THE CONNECTED APP TO USER PROFILE
Once the connected app is created, select it and click on “Manage”:
Go on Profile section and select “Manage profiles”:
Then select profile(s) that will access the connected app and Save:
Note: Access to the connected app can also be done at the permission sets level
BACK IN TABLEAU
CREATE THE CONNECTED APP
13. 12
Tutorial
Select the metadata downloaded previously in Salesforce and load the file in Tableau:
Select the file and click on Apply:
Then Links are displayed in the read only fields:
On step 5 make sure that you select the “Full name” option and define “Name” (name is the filed used
by Salesforce to display the user full name):
14. 13
Tutorial
CONFIGURE USER AUTHENTICATION TYPE
On Step 6 click on the link corresponding to your need, either select user or add new user:
Select the user you want to change the authentication:
15. 14
Tutorial
And select Sign Sign-On:
Note: make sure that at least 1 user that can connect using Tableau ID until you finish and validate the
configuration otherwise you might not have any access to your site.
CHECK THE LOGS
IN TABLEAU
In tableau you can select the log file:
If all steps have been followed well; you should have the following content:
16. 15
Tutorial
IN SALESFORCE
If you want to check the identify provider logs, select “Identity Provider Event Log”:
If configuration is successful, the following message should appear:
17. 16
Tutorial
RESULT
The user(s) configured with SSO will be connected automatically to Salesforce when he7she is loguued
in Salesforce.
If the user wants to access Tableau Online directly from the browser, he/she will enter his/her email
address:
18. 17
Tutorial
Then he/she will be redirected to Salesforce login page:
He/she enters his/her credential and be logged in Tableau:
