It is a BI software that allows non-technical users to visualize their data and work with it almost immediately, lowering know-how barriers dramatically.

它是一個商業智能軟體，它讓非技術性員工可以具象化他們的資料並立即操作它，大幅地降低技術層面的阻礙。

In the past, business analysts needed the help of IT personnel who could assist them in gathering raw data and pre-processing it.

在過去，商業分析師需要資訊科技人員來協助他們蒐集並事前處理資料。

Only then could business analysts start working on the visualization of such data.

這樣一來商業分析師才可以開始將資料具象化。

The advent of Tableau democratized this process and allowed BI analysts to be independent.

Tableau 的出現讓這個過程大眾化，也讓商業智能分析師能夠獨立作業。

Non-technical people can easily load data into the program and start playing with it.

非技術型人員也可以輕易地將資料載入程式並開始使用它。

Tableau’s forte are meaningful, intuitive visualizations.

Tableau的專長在於有意義且直覺性的形象化。

And, sometimes, that’s really valuable.

而有時那真的非常珍貴。

Analysts are able to explore their data right away without spending too much time on numbers which provide limited insights and, instead, focus on data that matters.

分析師能夠立刻取得資料，並且不用花很多時間在提供有限見解的數字上而更專注於有用的資料。

This is why we can confidently say that Tableau is an indispensable tool in the arsenal of most corporate business intelligence analysts, data analysts, and data scientists.

這也是為什麼我們可以很有自信地說Tableau被大多數企業智能分析師、資料分析師和資料科學家視為軍火庫中不可或缺的一項武器。

Many people are uncertain about the difference between Tableau and spreadsheet tools like Excel.

許多人不太確定Tableau和像是Excel這類試算表工具之間的差異何在。

And that’s a reasonable doubt, until we point out they serve different purposes.

而在我們指出它們不同的使用目的之前，有這種疑問很合理。

Using Tableau doesn’t necessarily mean you can forget about Excel, and vice versa.

使用Tableau不代表你可以忘記Excel，反之亦然。

While Excel is not as powerful or intuitive as Tableau when it comes to data visualization, Tableau is not optimal when you would like to use it as a data creation tool.

雖然Excel在將資料具現化方面不像Tableau一樣強大且具有直覺，但在資料製作方面Tableau不如Excel來得理想。

Although it has several database management functionalities, the program isn’t the best solution when you would like to perform multiple operations with your data before you start analyzing it.

即使Tableau有數個資料庫管理功能，當你想在開始分析資料以前先進行多重操作時，這個程式不會是最好的解決方法。

Moreover, Tableau isn’t great for multi-layered calculations.

除此之外，Tableau不擅長多層計算。

It is able to calculate its own fields, but it shouldn’t be used as a spreadsheet tool for multi-layered calculations such as the preparation of a budget in Excel.

它可以計算自己的領域，但它不應該被當作試算表一樣來進行多層計算，像是Excel中預算的準備。

Where Tableau surpasses the competition is in data visualizations.

Tableau過人的地方在於資料具現化。

It is a very smart program that allows you to visualize data in a more powerful way compared to Excel.

它是一個非常聰明的程式，並在讓你將資料具現化這方面比Excel強大許多。

So, for example, when you work with geographical data, there is no way Excel could interpret the cells in your spreadsheet as a geographical location.

所以舉例來說，當你在處理地理資料，Excel不可能在試算表中把單元格當作地理位置演算出來。

On the other hand, Tableau recognizes that and allows you to visualize such data and see how a variable is distributed geographically.

另一方面，Tableau可以辨識出來並讓你能夠將那些資料具象化，呈現出一個可變的量是如何在地理上被分佈。

Moreover, Tableau allows you to combine several types of charts and build up meaningful dashboards that are truly interactive and facilitate additional analysis.

再來，Tableau可以讓你將數個類型的圖表整合在一起，建構出一個有意義的面板，提供雙向互動和協助額外的分析。

Once you visualize your data, you can easily dig deeper and explore its granularity, finding the reason for unusual spikes or investigating certain trends.

一旦你將你的資料具像化，你可以輕易地去挖掘和探索它的相關資料，找到不尋常的峰值的原因或是分析特定的趨勢。

Even novice Tableau users would be able to save a significant amount of time if they transfer their pre-designed existing Excel dashboards to Tableau.

如果將事先設計好的、現存的Excel面板傳送到Tableau，即使是Tableau的新手使用者也可以節省非常大量的時間。

Uploading new data and updating visuals is more rapid in Tableau.

在Tableau中上傳新資料和更新圖像是比較快速的。

Therefore, we can agree that a competent analyst needs both Excel and Tableau, given that they serve different purposes.

因此，我們可以同意一個稱職的分析師需要同時有Excel和Tableau，考量到它們有不同的功用。

Tableau is superior when it comes to visuals and dashboards, and Excel is a spreadsheet tool we need in order to perform multi-layered calculations.

Tableau在圖像和面板方面非常優異，而Excel則是一個我們為了進行多層計算所需要的試算表工具。

In the same way a combat soldier carries a rifle and a pistol at the same time and uses them under different circumstances,

如同一個戰場中的士兵攜帶來福槍和手槍，並在不同情況下使用它們一樣，

a business analyst should know how to work with both Excel and Tableau and apply each of them when needed.

一個商業分析師必須知道如何使用Excel和Tableau，並在需要的時候分別將它們派上用場。