Tableau Certified Consultant

The Tableau Certified Consultant Certification is intended for individuals who engage with customers to lead the design of an analytics solution within the Tableau Platform.

This credential validates core Tableau knowledge and development skills of employees, partners, customers, and freelancers who need to work with Tableau products including Tableau Prep, Desktop, Cloud, Server, and Bridge.

There are no prerequisites for the exam. Upon successful completion of this exam, candidates are awarded the title of Tableau Certified Consultant. This title is valid for 2 years.

Candidates for this exam engage with customers to lead the design of an analytics solution within the Tableau Platform. They can work through very complex data issues. Projects may be scoped to the executive level rather than just the business unit level. They provide longer-term, strategic recommendations for analytics and handle complex performance issues independently.

The consultant typically has a minimum of 2 years of experience using Tableau products such as Tableau Prep, Desktop, Cloud, Server, and Bridge. The consultant has hands-on experience building a variety of solutions and is capable of leading implementations on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.

The consultant has the skills to pass the Tableau Desktop Specialist (TDS) and Tableau Certified Data Analyst (TCDA) certification exams. This exam is the advancement of that skill set. Candidates will not be tested on the level of the TDS and TCDA exams because they are assumed to possess the competencies covered in those exams.

This exam guide is designed to help you evaluate if you are ready to successfully complete the Tableau Certified Consultant Exam. This guide provides information about the target audience for the exam, the recommended training and documentation, and a complete list of exam objectives. We highly recommend a combination of on-the-job experience, course attendance, and self-study to maximize your chances of passing the exam.

Read on for details about the Tableau Certified Consultant Exam.

Exam Overview

• Content: 60 multiple-choice and multiple-select items and up to five non-scored items
• Product version: Currently testing on 2024.2
• Time limit: 108 minutes (includes 3 minutes for reviewing the NDA)
• Language(s) offered: English
• Passing score: 63%
• Results: Reported by email within 48 hours of completing the exam
• Prerequisite: None
• Registration fee: US$250 plus applicable taxes as required by local law
• Reschedule fee: $25 plus applicable taxes as required by local law
• Delivery options: Proctored exam delivered onsite at a Pearson VUE testing center or in an online proctored environment
• Exam check-in: Begins 30 minutes before the scheduled exam time
• References: No hard-copy or online materials may be used during the exam.

Exam Registration, Scheduling, and System Preparation

Registration and Scheduling

1. Create and/or log in to your Tableau Certification Account.
2. Navigate to Schedule My Exam.
3. Choose Schedule or Manage my exam with Pearson.
4. On your Pearson Dashboard, select the exam you would like to take and proceed with scheduling.

System Preparation

For a successful exam experience, ensure your computer, network, and the physical environment are properly configured. This includes performing a system test before the exam. Be sure to conduct the system test in the same conditions under which you will take the test (for example, time of day, number of people connecting to the system, etc.).

Review the Technical Requirements for complete details. For questions, visit tableau.com/learn/certification or submit a case through Trailhead Help.

Check-in process

During the check-in process, you must show a valid government-issued ID in its original form (not a photocopy). The name on your ID must match the name on your exam registration and must include a recent, recognizable photo. You can find more information on ID requirements here. Failure to meet ID requirements will result in the termination of your exam session.

Find additional information about the check-in process and testing experience for each method here.

Exam Structure

Timeliness

Completing a task effectively and efficiently has become a standard that organizations expect from employees. This exam is timed as a critical competency of successful candidates.

Access to Materials, Applications, or Internet

Access to the internet or any other outside application is prohibited during the entire exam.

Comments

Candidates have the ability to comment on items in the exam. Please note that you will not receive a direct response to your comment(s). The Certification Team reviews all comments submitted and considers this feedback, along with item statistical performance, before the release of new versions of the exam.

Technical Issues

If you encounter technical issues during the exam, please contact the proctor. In many cases, the only course of action the proctor can recommend or take is to restart the exam. More than one restart may be needed. However, if you are not seeing a resolution in a timely manner and you feel your results will be negatively affected or you will not be able to finish the exam, ask the proctor to stop the exam and log a case with Pearson VUE. Once the exam has been stopped, please follow up with the Tableau Certification Team by submitting a case through Trailhead Help.

Results and Scoring

Results

Candidates will receive an email when their score report is available (within 48 hours of completing the exam). To navigate to that score report, log in to your certification account. Once you are logged in, click Schedule My Exam/Schedule or Manage my exam with Pearson then, GO TO PEARSON. In your Pearson VUE account dashboard, click my Exam History or View Exam Results to download your score report.

Score Reports

Score reports are sent when a candidate fails the exam. This report contains a table of categories of performance at each section level. This information is designed to provide general feedback concerning exam performance. The scoring table contains general information, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Section-level feedback should be interpreted with candidate caution and paired with other available forms of remediation before retaking the exam.

Scoring Insight

Keep in mind that your final score is based on the number of questions answered correctly. If you leave a question unanswered, you will not receive credit. Furthermore, you do not receive partial credit. For example, if a question requires you to select three correct options, you do not receive credit for selecting one or two of the three options that are correct.

Unscored Content

This exam includes unscored items. These items are placed on the exam to gather statistical information to verify their validity for future use. These items are not identified on the exam and do not affect the scoring of the exam.

As a reference, this exam guide includes test domains, coverage percentages, and objectives only. The table below lists the main content domains and their weightings.

Domain Objectives

NOTE: This is not a comprehensive listing of the content on this exam.

Domain 1: Evaluate Current State

1.1 Map current state of analytics to future state

• 1.1.1 Map business needs to Tableau capabilities.
• 1.1.2 Translate analytical requirements into Tableau context by using best practices.
• 1.1.3 Recommend whether to use Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, including migration.
• 1.1.4 Recommend and plan a Tableau Server upgrade.

1.2 Evaluate current data structures

• 1.2.1 Evaluate whether existing data supports business needs.
• 1.2.2 Evaluate lineage of existing data structures.
• 1.2.3 Evaluate existing data structures for performance risks and enhancement opportunities.

Domain 2: Plan and Prepare Data Connections

2.1 Plan for data transformation

• 2.1.1 Recommend an appropriate data transformation strategy.
• 2.1.2 Specify the requirements for minimum level of granularity.

2.2 Design a row-level security (RLS) data structure

• 2.2.1 Implement RLS and an entitlement table.
• 2.2.2 Identify group functions versus user functions.
• 2.2.3 Compare RLS approaches.

2.3 Plan and implement advanced connections to data

• 2.3.1 Recommend an appropriate method to connect to data, such as Web Data Connectors, web extract APIs, custom SQL, or ODBC.
• 2.3.2 Create connections by using Tableau Bridge.
• 2.3.3 Specify aggregation level and strategy for data sources in Tableau products (Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep, Tableau Cloud, Tableau Server).

Domain 3: Design and Troubleshoot Calculations and Workbooks

3.1 Design analytics for advanced use cases

• 3.1.1 Recommend when to use an advanced chart type, such as Sankey, chord, radar, tile map, small multiples, and data densification.
• 3.1.2 Identify the effect of the Tableau order of operations on calculations.
• 3.1.3 Troubleshoot issues caused by the Tableau order of operations.
• 3.1.4 Plan and implement advanced techniques to build interactivity into dashboards, such as dynamic URL actions, parameter actions, and filter actions.

3.2 Design workbooks to optimize performance

• 3.2.1 Identify and resolve resource-intensive queries.
• 3.2.2 Maximize caching for Tableau Server.
• 3.2.3 Identify and resolve performance issues caused by calculations such as string comparisons, IF THEN statements, and Level of Detail (LOD) expressions.
• 3.2.4 Recommend calculations that should be moved upstream of Tableau.
• 3.2.5 Interpret and resolve issues by using performance recordings.
• 3.2.6 Identify and resolve performance issues caused by design elements such as number of sheets, number of filters, and image size.

3.3 Implement advanced calculations that include multiple steps

• 3.3.1 Implement aggregations that include dimensions.
• 3.3.2 Implement advanced table calculations, such as window, nested table, or multi-directional.
• 3.3.3 Implement advanced date functions, such as fiscal calendars.
• 3.3.4 Implement advanced LODs, such as nested LODs.
• 3.3.5 Implement combinations of advanced calculations.
• 3.3.6 Troubleshoot advanced calculations.

Domain 4: Establish Governance and Support Published Content

4.1 Recommend and apply a Tableau governance strategy

• 4.1.1 Map an organization's governance requirements to Tableau features and capabilities.
• 4.1.2 Recommend a strategy for securing access to content.
• 4.1.3 Recommend a strategy for ensuring data quality, including certifying data sources, minimizing data proliferation, and configuring data quality warnings.

4.2 Leverage administrative views

• 4.2.1 Specify insights that require an administrative view.
• 4.2.2 Recommend the appropriate administrative views and data sources for a given scenario.

4.3 Recommend a content distribution strategy

• 4.3.1 Map publishing requirements to features and capabilities of Tableau.
• 4.3.2 Recommend an approach for the workbook lifecycle, including building, testing, deployment, distribution, and maintenance.

Domain 1: Evaluate Current State

• Compare License Types
• Tableau Products
• Upgrade Tableau Server Overview
  • Upgrading from 2018.2 and Later (Windows)
• Location Data that Tableau Supports for Building Map Views
  • Geocode Locations Tableau Does Not Recognize and Plot Them on a Map
• Dashboards
• Structure Data for Analysis
• Optimize Relationship Queries Using Performance Options
• Best Practices for Published Data Sources
• Optimize Workbook Performance
• Tableau Cloud Release Notes
• Tableau Support Policy
• About Tableau Catalog
• Use Lineage for Impact Analysis
• Designing Efficient Production Dashboards Whitepaper

Domain 2: Plan and Prepare Data Connections

• Get Your Data Tableau-Ready
• Set Up Data Sources
• RLS Best Practices for Data Sources and Workbooks
• Overview of Row-Level Security Options in Tableau
• Row-Level Security in the Database
• Best Practices for Row Level Security in Tableau with Entitlements Tables Whitepaper
• How Relationships Differ from Joins
• Functions in Tableau
  • User Functions
• Dashboard Extensions API
• Tableau Prep: Save and Share Your Work
• Designing Efficient Production Dashboards Whitepaper
• Manage Data
  • Data Connect for Private Network Data
  • Use Tableau Bridge
• Refresh Extracts

Domain 3: Design and Troubleshoot Calculations and Workbooks

• Optimize Workbook Performance
• Tableau Workbook Performance Checklist
• Create Custom Fields with Calculations
  • Create Level of Detail Expressions in Tableau
    • Level of Detail Expressions and Aggregation
  • Functions in Tableau
  • Best Practices for Creating Calculations in Tableau
• Actions
• Filter Data from Your Views
• Tableau's Order of Operations
• Use radar charts to compare dimensions over several metrics
• View Acceleration
• Interpret a Performance Recording
• Designing Efficient Workbooks Whitepaper
• Exploring Sankey and Radial Charts with the New Chart Types Pilot on Tableau Public
• Use Dynamic Zone Visibility
• Fiscal Dates
• ISO-8601 Week-Based Calendar
• Set a Data Freshness Policy for Query Caches and View Acceleration

Domain 4: Establish Governance and Support Published Content

• Governance in Tableau
• Publish Data Sources and Workbooks
• Data Security
• Data Labels
• Introduction to Tableau Metadata API
• Create a Virtual Connection
• Send Data-Driven Alerts from Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server
• Embed Views into Webpages
• Work with Content Revisions
• Administrative Views
• Use Admin Insights to Create Custom Views
• CMT Migration Limitations
• About Tableau Catalog
• Collect Data with the Tableau Server Repository
• Manage Content Access
• Tableau Public FAQ
• MFA and Tableau Cloud