Sharing Workbooks Outside Your Department

Overview

The Georgia Tech Tableau Server is designed to support both departmental self-service analytics and enterprise-level reporting. To balance flexibility, data governance, and long-term sustainability, reports developed within a department’s self-service Tableau tenant are restricted to sharing within that department only.

When a report needs to be shared with users outside your unit, it must go through our certification process and be published to a CERTIFIED project. This page explains why that process exists, how certified projects work, and what to do when your report needs a broader audience.

What Is Allowed in Self-Service Tenant Spaces

Each department’s self-service Tableau tenant is intended for department-specific analytics.

Within your tenant space:

  • Reports can be shared with employees in your department
  • Viewer groups for tenant projects only include users from your unit
  • SANDBOX, QA, and LIVE projects are scoped to departmental use
  • Direct sharing with users outside your department is not permitted

This model allows departments to move quickly and build analytics without introducing enterprise-wide access or governance concerns.

When Certification Is Required

If you’ve developed a Tableau report that needs to be shared with:

  • Users in other departments
  • A campus-wide audience
  • Leadership, managers, or other cross-unit groups
  • External users or the general public

then the report must be reviewed and published into a CERTIFIED project.

Certified projects are specifically designed for cross-department and campus-level reporting and are managed with consistent access rules, documentation standards, and governance controls.

Certified Project Audience Levels

To keep the platform manageable and secure, certified projects are intentionally defined at broad, reusable audience levels, rather than highly specific or one-off groups.

Currently, certified projects support the following audiences:

  • Commitment Accounting (“GT Sponsored Report Viewer” role in Workday)
  • FERPA-Authorized Users
  • All GT Employees
  • All GT Users (employees, students, affiliates, etc.)
  • Public (no authentication required)

These audience levels are reused across many reports and departments, which helps ensure:

  • Clear expectations for who can see what
  • Consistent data governance and compliance
  • Lower administrative overhead
  • Easier long-term maintenance as staff and roles change

Why We Don’t Create Highly Granular Certified Viewer Groups

We understand that some reports are intended for a specific cross-department audience (for example, a small committee or a single collaboration). However, creating narrowly scoped certified viewer groups for individual reports creates long-term challenges, including:

  • Group sprawl that is difficult to manage and audit
  • Increased risk of incorrect or outdated access
  • Higher operational overhead for onboarding, offboarding, and support
  • Inconsistent user experience across Tableau

Because of this, we avoid creating certified projects or viewer groups that only apply to a single report or one-off use case.

What If None of the Existing Certified Audiences Fit?

If your report does not align with any of the existing certified audience levels, the next step is to work with the Enterprise Data Services team to determine whether a new, broadly applicable audience makes sense.

Examples of audiences that may be considered (depending on business need):

  • Campus leadership
  • People managers
  • Financial administrators
  • Academic advisors

The key question we ask is:
Would this audience reasonably be used by multiple reports and departments over time?

If the answer is yes, we can evaluate whether establishing a new certified audience is appropriate.

How to Request Certification

If you believe your report is ready to be shared outside your department:

  1. Review the certified audience levels above and determine which best fits your use case
  2. Submit a certification request through ServiceNow
  3. The Enterprise Data Services team will review the request for:
    • Appropriate audience alignment
    • Data sensitivity and compliance considerations
    • Report readiness and documentation
  4. Once approved, the report will be published into the appropriate CERTIFIED project

👉 Click here to request a report be certified for a broader audience

Need Help Deciding?

If you’re unsure whether your report belongs in a certified project—or which audience is appropriate—reach out to ea-tableau@office365.gatech.edu before submitting a request. We’re happy to talk through the use case and help guide you to the right path.