---
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id: 313bc390006b54d098a68fa109d6d2c69bd32ed6ee6d3b426261f80d29610e47
title: About Data Management
collection: tableau
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/current/en-us/server/dm_overview.md
canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_overview.htm
source_site: help.tableau.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 672bcfbe65e12353d1f0189d2cc03cbddf81bcb15374405a50cae949af061ad7
description: "Overview of Data Management features: Catalog, Prep Conductor, and virtual connections."
---
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# About Data Management

**Important:** As of September 16, 2024, Data Management is no longer available as an independent add-on option. Data Management capabilities are only available if you previously purchased Data Management, or if you purchase certain license editions: Tableau Enterprise, Tableau Cloud+, or Tableau+ Bundle (available for Tableau Cloud), or Tableau Enterprise or Tableau Server+ (available for Tableau Server).

Data Management is a collection of features and capabilities that helps customers manage Tableau content and data assets in their Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud environment.

Starting in Tableau Server 2019.1 and Tableau Cloud 2019.3, Tableau Prep Conductor is available to schedule and monitor flows.

Starting in Tableau 2019.3, Tableau Catalog is included in Data Management, making a variety of additional features available to you in the data management space. You can use Tableau Catalog to discover data, curate data assets, communicate data quality, perform impact analysis, and trace the lineage of data used in Tableau content.

Starting in Tableau 2021.4, more governance and security features are added to Data Management: virtual connections and data policies. Using the virtual connection editor, you can create:

- Virtual connections that provide a sharable central access point to data.
- Data policies to apply row-level security at the connection level.

## Data Management Features

The following table lists the features for Data Management, including Tableau Catalog, Tableau Prep Conductor, Virtual Connections, and Data Policies.

### Tableau Catalog

<table style="width: 100%;" class="table--plain">
                    <colgroup><col style="width: 25%;">
                    <col style="width: 25%;">
                    <col style="width: 50%;">
                    </colgroup><thead>
                        <tr>
                            <th><strong>Feature</strong>
                            </th>
                            <th colspan="2">Description</th>
                        </tr>
                    </thead>
                    <tbody>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_perms_assets.htm#perms" class="xref">Permissions on metadata</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2"><span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_catalog variable">Tableau Catalog</span> enables you to control who can see and manage external assets and what metadata is shown through lineage by setting permissions.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td>Expanded connect experience - data discovery</td>
                            <td colspan="2">Whether you author in the web or in <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/examples_tableauserver.htm" target="_blank">Tableau Desktop</a>, you can now search for and connect to the specific databases and tables used by published data sources and workbooks on your <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/creator_connect.htm" target="_blank">Tableau Server</a> or <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/creator_connect.htm" target="_blank">Tableau Cloud</a> site.  </td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/search.htm">Expanded search</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2"><span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_catalog variable">Tableau Catalog</span> expands search to include results based on columns, databases, and tables.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/tags.htm" target="_blank">Tag external assets</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">You can categorize items on Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud with tags, helping users to filter external assets (databases, files, tables, and columns).</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/datasource_certified.htm" target="_blank">Certify databases and tables</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">Help users find trusted data that meets the standards you set by certifying databases and tables.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_dqw.htm">Set data quality warnings</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">You can set warnings to alert users to data quality issues, such as stale or deprecated data.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_lineage.htm" target="_blank">Lineage and impact analysis</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">The Lineage tool traces the source of your data. You can use it to analyze the impact of changes to your data, identify which users might be impacted, and <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_lineage.htm#email" target="_blank">email owners</a> of a workbook, data source, or flow, or contacts for a database or table, about data-related updates.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_explore_analyze_interact.htm#use-data-details-to-see-visualization-information">Data Details</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">Enable users to better understand a published visualization by seeing information about the data used.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/qs_content_page.htm#add-or-edit-descriptions">Add descriptions to assets</a>
                            </td>
                            <td colspan="2">Help users find the data they're looking for by adding descriptions to databases, tables, and columns.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td rowspan="3">Developer resources</td>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/api/rest_api/en-us/REST/rest_api_ref_metadata.htm" target="_blank">Tableau REST API Metadata Methods</a>
                            </td>
                            <td>Programmatically add, update, and remove external assets; and add additional metadata to Tableau content and external assets like descriptions.</td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/api/metadata_api/en-us/index.html" target="_blank">Tableau Metadata API</a>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <p>Programmatically query metadata from the content published to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. Programmatically update certain metadata using the <a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/api/rest_api/en-us/REST/rest_api_ref_metadata.htm" target="_blank">metadata methods</a> in the Tableau Server REST API.</p>
                                <p>(Note: <span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductOnline variable">Tableau Cloud</span> requires <span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_sku variable">Data Management</span> to access the Metadata API, but <span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductServer variable">Tableau Server</span> does not. This requirement started with Tableau Cloud October 2026. If you were using the Metadata API without <span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_sku variable">Data Management</span> at that time, you can continue doing so until June 2027.)</p>
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <td><a href="https://help.tableau.com/current/api/metadata_api/en-us/docs/meta_api_start.html#explore-the-metadata-api-schema-using-graphiql" target="_blank">GraphiQL</a>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <p>Explore and test queries against the Metadata API schema using an interactive in-browser tool called GraphiQL.</p>
                                <p>(Note: <span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductOnline variable">Tableau Cloud</span> requires <span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_sku variable">Data Management</span> to access GraphiQL, but <span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductServer variable">Tableau Server</span> does not. This requirement started with Tableau Cloud October 2026. If you were using the Metadata API without <span class="mc-variable Variables.DM_sku variable">Data Management</span> at that time, you can continue doing so until June 2027.)</p>
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                    </tbody>
                </table>

### Tableau Prep Conductor

 
| Feature | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Schedule Flow Tasks in the [Tableau Cloud](https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/prep_conductor_online_schedule_flow_task.htm) or [Tableau Server](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/prep_conductor_schedule_flow_task.htm) help. | You can create scheduled flow tasks to run a flow at a specific time or on a recurring basis. |
| [Monitor Flow Health and Performance](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/prep_conductor_monitor_flow.htm) | Set up email notifications at the site or server level when flows fail, view and resume suspended flow tasks, and view errors and alerts. |
| [Administrative Views for Flows](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/prep_conductor_admin_views.htm) | Use Administrative Views to monitor the activities related to flows, performance history, and the disk space used at the server or site level. |
| Tableau REST API - [flow methods](https://help.tableau.com/current/api/rest_api/en-us/REST/rest_api_ref_flow.htm) | Programmatically schedule flows. |

### Virtual connections and data policies

 
| Feature | Description |
| --- | --- |
| [Create a Virtual Connection](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_vconn_create_conn.htm) | A Tableau content type that enables you to create a shareable re-usable connection to curated data. |
| [Create a Data Policy for Row-Level Security](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_vconn_create_rlspolicy.htm) | Use the virtual connection editor to create data policies with policy conditions that apply row-level security to the data at the connection level. |
| [Test Row-Level Security with Preview as User](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_vconn_test_preview.htm) | Test the data policy with Preview as user to ensure that users can see only their data. |
| [Schedule Extract Refreshes for a Virtual Connection](https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/dm_vconn_extract.htm) | Create an extract refresh schedule for the tables in your connection, ensuring that the data is fresh for any content that uses that virtual connection. |

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