UW-IT’s current licensing fees for Tableau Desktop have not changed since 2013. Over the course of the last eight years, Tableau’s additional offerings and subscription-based model have made it necessary for UW-IT to apply an increase to this service. The fees listed below will become effective on December 1, 2021.

What’s changing?

• Tableau Desktop License (No Tableau Prep)*
  • New fee: $40/month (current fee: $35/month)
• Tableau Creator License (Tableau Desktop + Prep)
  • New fee: $60/month (current fee: $52/month)

Please be sure to notify your department’s budget administrator of this change. Since Tableau licenses renew automatically, let your budget administrator know this change is coming on December 1, 2021 so they will recognize the new fee.

Need to renew with a different budget number?

If you need to bill a different budget number, email help@uw.edu by end of business on 11/26/2021 with “Tableau product license renewal” in the subject line.

Need to cancel your subscription?

To avoid automatic renewal of your subscription, email help@uw.edu by end of business on 11/26/2021 with “Cancel Tableau subscription” in the subject line.

Need a new subscription?

For a new subscription, please refer to the Tableau information and order form page.

GET A TABLEAU SUBSCRIPTION

Learn more about Tableau at the UW

Tableau is a world leader in data analytics platforms. The platform helps you, your colleagues, and customers visualize data in engaging and comprehensible ways so you can more easily make business decisions with confidence. Want to learn more about how Tableau is used at the UW? Do you want your own Tableau Desktop license? Get more information at the Tableau page on IT Connect.

LEARN MORE

Questions?

Please contact the UW-IT Service Center at help@uw.edu or call 206-221-5100. 

*Existing subscriptions only

The Business Intelligence (BI) team in UW-IT Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) is completing an infrastructure upgrade.

If you use reports available through BI Portal or if you partner with our team to support data tools on the BI Portal, you need to know about some of the changes we’ve made and how they may impact your work.

1. Increased Security for Reports

Starting on October 6, to increase security, access to the ERA report server and all reports available through the BI Portal (https://biportal.uw.edu) will require you to be physically on campus or connect to UW’s network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for access off-campus. This is a departure from the current security in which reports are accessible from outside the UW networks without installing a VPN client.

Our goal is to provide best security practices around UW’s data to ensure that our systems and the data are not compromised.

How does this impact you?

If you are on campus you don’t have to do anything.  If you are NOT on campus, you must connect to the UW network through a VPN. You will be required to download and install the Husky OnNet VPN application supported by UW-IT. You can read about it, download it, and learn more on IT Connect: Husky OnNet.

The security of the systems and data that you access are our priority and a VPN is critical to help protect personal and University data and information on the UW network.

2. Latest SQL Server and SSAS (aka cubes) Versions

With this tech refresh, we’ve made the following upgrades:

• Migrated to Windows Managed Virtual Machines (VMs) for all of our BI infrastructure.

  • Environment	DEV	TEST	PROD
    Old Servers	edwdevbi1.s.uw.edu	edwtestbi1.s.uw.edu	reports: edw.washington.edu cubes:   cubes.uw.edu
    New Servers	edwdevbi11.s.uw.edu	edwtestbi10.s.uw.edu	reports: edw.washington.edu cubes:   cubes.uw.edu

• Upgraded to the latest software versions:
  • SQL Server 2019
  • SSRS Version 15.0
  • SSAS 2019

Questions?

Whether you’re a BI Portal user or a partner development team, if you have any questions about this tech refresh, please write help@uw.edu with “BI Infrastructure Upgrade/Access” in the subject line.

UPDATE: The Business Intelligence (BI) team in UW-IT Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) has completed our cubes infrastructure upgrade.

Here is what you need to know:

1. Now when you connect to “cubes.uw.edu” you can access the following cubes:
   • Financial Activity 2007-2021
   • ResearchAdminData
   • UW Spend
   • UW Admissions
   • BI Usage
2. We will be retiring our old cubes in October; currently they can still be accessed on edwbissas1.s.uw.edu server.

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If you connect to and query data cubes, or work on a team that partners with the BI Team to support cubes on the BI Portal, the latest upgrade brings you many benefits! Click below to read more:

• For Cube Users
  • Finance Cube
  • ResearchAdminData (RAD) Cube
  • UW Admissions Cube
  • UW Spend Cube
• For BI Partner Teams

For Cube Users: Improved User Experience

Finance Cube Users:

For users of the UW Financial Activity Cubes (2007 – 2019) this upgrade also brings you several benefits.

• We are aligning the 2007 – 2021 cube models. After this work is complete, when you connect to the current biennium cube (2019/2021) or an older cube (2007-2017), you’ll be able to work with the same data elements in a consistent model!

If you already have a finance cube connection to an Excel workbook, you may experience an interruption, and have to re-enter your connection information. If you experience any problems, please don’t hesitate to write us at help@uw.edu!

Finance Cube FAQ:

1. Why are you only including the 2019 and 2021 finance cubes in this release?
   • We are aligning the cube models or “schemas” for the 2007-2021 finance cubes, and we will release these to the new production environment iteratively over the coming weeks.
   • It takes time to test these cubes, so we’re releasing them as they’re available and tested. We did not want to hold off on one “big-bang” release, but rather want to make these tools available as they’re ready.
   • If you need to access the 2007-2017 Biennium Financial Activity cubes before July 30, you can still connect to them through this server: “edwbissas1.s.uw.edu”
   • Here are the steps to follow:
     • Open Excel and choose the data tab at the top:
       1. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
       2. If you don’t see those options based on your Excel version, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
       3. Click “Next”
       4. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the 2007 – 2019 Biennium Cubes
       5. Choose the “Financial Accounting Biennium <Year>” option , then click “Finish”
     • If you have any trouble connecting write us at help@uw.edu and someone from my team will help get you set up!
2. When will the Financial Activity Cube for the 2021 Biennium be ready?
   • We were able to complete the testing for the 2021 cube and include it in our initial release on July 14.
   • We originally targeted July 30, 2021 for the release date for the Financial Activity Cube Biennium 2021. However, based on user feedback we prioritized an earlier release.
3. Are you changing the finance cube perspectives?
   1. We will keep the “Financial Accounting Office” perspective
   2. We are removing the “Decision Support Center” perspective
      1. If you previously had a connection to this perspective, you will experience an error. You will need to update your connection.
      2. You can do this by going to: Data> Properties (Queries and Connections)>Definition tab
      3. Update the “Command Text”:
         1. From: “Decision Support Center”
         2. To: “Model”
4. How do I connect to the 2021 Biennium Financial Activity Cube?
   1. To create a new cube connection, please follow these steps:
      1. Open Excel
      2. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
      3. If you don’t see those options based in your version of Excel, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
      4. For the server name please enter “cubes.uw.edu”
         1. If you log into your computer with your netid and password choose “Use Windows Authentication”
            1. If you log in with some other username and password choose “Use the following username and password”, then type:
               1. User Name: NETID\yourUWNetid
               2. Password: Your netid password
         2. Click “Next”
         3. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the “Financial Activity Biennium 2021” Cube, choose that one.
      5. Finally, choose the “Financial Accounting Biennium 2021” option , then click “Finish”

RAD Cube Users:

Create a new RAD connection

To create a new connection to the RAD cube, please follow these steps:

1. Open Excel
2. Click the “Data” tab, then choose “Get Data”, then “From Analysis Services”
3. If you don’t see those options based in your version of Excel, then alternatively, click “Data”, choose “From Other Sources”, then “From Analysis Services”
4. For the server name please enter “cubes.uw.edu”
   1. If you log into your computer with your netid and password choose “Use Windows Authentication”
      1. If you log in with some other username and password choose “Use the following username and password”, then type:
         1. User Name: NETID\yourUWNetid
         2. Password: Your netid password
   2. Click “Next”
   3. You should see a dropdown in the Wizard with the “Research Admin Data” Cube, choose that one.
5. Finally, choose the “Model” option , then click “Finish”

Update an existing RAD connection

If you have an existing connection to the RAD cube, you will need to update it. When you refresh your connection, you may see an error like this:

To resolve this error:

1. Open you workbook and click into the pivot table area
2. Click Data
3. Then Properties (in Queries and Connections)
4. You’ll see three tabs there, choose “Definition”
5. In Command Text, you should see “RAD”
6. Delete “RAD” and type “Model”
7. Then click OK, then you’ll get a prompt saying “are you sure?” and click “Yes”

What you’ve done is update your “connection properties”. Once you update the connection you should be able to refresh the data, and you should not have to update this connection again!

If you have any trouble with these instructions, please write us at help@uw.edu with “RAD Cube Connection Issues”

Admissions Cube Users:

For UW Admissions Cube users, here’s the first thing you need to know:

No more RunAs “your netid” to connect!

We released the UW Admissions cube on a technology platform that made it unnecessarily hard for our users to get connected to the UW Admissions Cube. Many dedicated early adopters patiently powered through the connection steps while we guided them over Zoom. Those days are behind us. Now to connect to the UW Admissions cube you only need three things:

1. An analysis tool like Excel or Tableau
2. An EDW data access role that has sufficient access
3. Be on the UW network, either physically connected, or through a VPN connection like Husky OnNet

This also means you no longer have to connect to the “edwbissas1.s.uw.edu\tabular” server! Instead, simply go to cubes.uw.edu and you’ll connect to the UW Admissions or any other cube you have access to run!

UW Spend Cube:

In this cutover we also released the new UW Spend Cube. You can read more about the cube and how to get connected here:

• UW Spend Cube Now Available

For BI Partner Teams: Latest Software and Hardware

If you partner with our team to support data tools on the BI Portal, you need to know about some of the changes we’ve made and how they impact our shared work!

Latest SQL Server and SSAS Versions

With this tech refresh, we’ve made the following upgrades:

• Migrated to Windows Managed Virtual Machines (VMs) for all of our BI infrastructure
• Upgraded to the latest software versions:
  • SQL Server 2019
  • SSAS 2019

Tabular Conversion:

Additionally, for all of our BI Portal Cubes, we’ve converted the models from OLAP (multi-dimensional) models to Tabular models. We invested in converting our models to tabular for 3 reasons:

1. The Future: Microsoft is moving away from multi-dimensional models and is promoting tabular models.
2. Azure: Tabular models are a prerequisite for hosting cubes on Microsoft Azure Analysis Services (AAS). We don’t currently have a plan for migrating to Azure, but we are in the early phases of exploring a move.
3. Power BI: Tabular models can be data sources for Power BI reports and dashboards. We don’t currently have a plan for implementing Power BI, but we are exploring the platform.

BI Usage Cube

We’ve redesigned and rebranded the “EDWAdminMart” cube as the “BI Usage Cube”. We made the following changes:

1. For performance reasons, we reduced the scope of data to a rolling 5 year window
2. We removed several little-used measures around “new users”
3. We updated labels to be more user friendly:
   1. “RS” becomes “Reports”
   2. “AS” becomes “Cubes”

The BI Usage Cube is designed for the BI team and our partner organizations to use to analyze BI Portal tool usage. If you have any questions about how to connect to and use it, please write help@uw.edu with “BI Usage Cube” in the subject line.

How does this impact you?

If we partner to support reports or cubes in the BI Portal, you might be impacted by this upgrade. If you are planning any changes to cubes that we partner to support, then we ask you to consider upgrading to the latest software versions to avoid compatibility issues.

Questions?

Whether you’re a BI Portal user or a partner development team, if you have any questions about this tech refresh, please write help@uw.edu with “BI Portal Infrastructure Upgrade” in the subject line.

The UW Spend cube is now available. This story will prepare you to connect to and analyze UW Spend data! Jump to a section to learn more:

• What is the UW Spend Cube?
• Who should use it?
• How to connect to the UW Spend Cube
• How to learn more

What is the UW Spend Cube?

The UW Spend cube is a powerful and flexible data and reporting tool that helps you easily access and analyze UW Spend data. Beginning in Summer 2020, the UW-IT Business Intelligence Team partnered with the Finance DATAGroup to prototype, build, and publish the “UW Spend Cube.” The DATAGroup had 2 cubes: a spend cube and a diversity cube. This project consolidated the two cubes into one using data available in the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW).

This work was made possible by the prior efforts of the DATAGroup and the EDW Team to add Spend data to the EDW (IT Connect News Story). The data currently available in the EDW and consequently in the UW Spend Cube is from FY2017, i.e. July 1, 2016. For the older data, you may find that not all suppliers are in the EDW.  This is because purchases from these suppliers were paid using Procard and the spend activity is attributed to Procard rather than an individual supplier. Starting with July 20, 2017, using the TIN (Tax Identification Number) matching, the spend is attributed to the individual suppliers.

Who Should Use It?

The UW Spend Cube was built for anyone who needs to access UW spend data to do their work. This includes, but is not limited to Fiscal Techs, Departmental Administrators, and the UW Procurement Office.

During development we received feedback and input from campus stakeholders representing:

• UW Finance DATAGroup
• Research Compliance and Operations
• Procurement Services
• Office of Vice Provost Research
• UW Facilities

Thank you to all of our campus stakeholders for your feedback, testing, and contributions!

How to Connect to the UW Spend Cube:

Unlike a report which you can run in the browser, you have to connect to a cube with an analysis tool (like Excel or Tableau). To connect to a data cube you must be connected to the UW network, either physically in the office or through a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We recommend the UW-IT supported Husky OnNet VPN. You can learn more about how to download and use this VPN on IT Connect: Download and use Husky OnNet

Connecting with Excel 2016:

These are the most common instructions for Excel users. However, if you’re using a different version of Excel, and you don’t see these options, then we have alternative steps below!

• First, open up a new Excel workbook
• On the top header click “Data.”
• On the Data ribbon, choose “From Other Sources.”
• Select “From Analysis Services” from the drop-down menu.
• A pop-up, “Data Connection Wizard,” should appear on your screen with the first dialog box – Connect to Database Server:
  • For Server Name, copy and paste: cubes.uw.edu
  • Use Windows Authentication. If this does not work, select “Use the following User Name and password” and fill in your user name and password as follows:
    • User Name: netid\your UW NetID
    • Password: your password
  • Click “Next.”
• On the “Select Database and Table” dialog box, select “UW Spend Cube” from the drop-down menu at the top. Click “Next.”
• On the “Save Data Connection File and Finish” dialog box leave everything as is and click “Finish.”
• You should now have a pop-up to import the data. Select where you want the table to be located on the worksheet (e.g. cell A1) and you can press “OK.”

Now you’re connected! Congratulations, the hardest part is over!

Connecting with Excel 365

• First, open up a new Excel workbook:
  • On the top header, go to “Data.”
  • On the Data ribbon, click “Get Data.”
  • Choose “From Database,” then select “From Analysis Services.”
• A pop-up, Data Connection Wizard, should appear on your screen with the first dialog box – Connect to Database Server:
  • For Server Name, copy and paste: cubes.uw.edu
  • Use Windows Authentication. If this does not work, select “Use the following User Name and password” and fill in your user name and password as follows:
    • User Name: netid\your UW NetID
    • Password: your password
  • Click “Next.”
• On the “Select Database and Table” dialog box, select “UW Spend Cube” from the drop-down menu at the top. Click “Next.”
• On the “Save Data Connection File and Finish” dialog box leave everything as is and click “Finish.”
• You should now have a pop-up to import the data. Select where you want the table to be located on the worksheet (e.g. cell A1) and you can press OK.

That’s it! You’re connected and can begin dragging, dropping, and analyzing UW Spend data.

How to Learn More

If you’ve ever used an Excel Pivot table then we’re confident that you can learn the cube technology. But if you need help getting connected, understanding data definitions, or doing basic analysis, we have a solution for that!

Please visit our Reporting and Analytics Training space for self-service training content including:

• How to Videos for tools like our Financial Activity Cube
• Or consider joining us for one-on-one help at our Office Hours: Enterprise Reporting and Analytics!

You can also explore data definitions and business term definitions here in the Knowledge Navigator: UW Spend Cube Data Definitions

Finally, if you need help from someone on our team or if you’d like to request a demonstration for your department, please write to us at help@uw.edu and include “UW Spend Cube” in your subject line!