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Topics#Tableau PrepEliany Perez's Question
Eliany Perez asked in #Tableau Prep
Jun 10, 1:49 PM

Has anyone successfully published and scheduled a Tableau Prep flow using an SFMC connection in your Tableau Cloud site before?

Tableau Prep 2025.2.3 - Create Table works, but Append to Table fails with "No Tableau Server user found"

I'm trying to publish and run a Tableau Prep flow using a direct Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) connection as the input and Tableau Cloud as the output.

Environment:

  • Tableau Prep Builder 2025.2.3
  • Tableau Cloud
  • Site Administrator permissions
  • SFMC connection uses embedded credentials/password

Behavior:

  • The flow runs successfully when the output is configured as Create Table.
  • The output datasource is successfully published to Tableau Cloud.
  • When I change the output to Append to Table, the flow fails.
  • Incremental refresh also fails (which I assume is related since it requires append behavior).

Error messages:

  • "No Tableau Server user found"
  • "Can't connect to datasource"
  • "There was an error with the data source ''" (the datasource name appears blank)

Additional information:

  • I can publish datasources to the same Tableau Cloud project without issue.
  • The project definitely exists.
  • I am a Site Administrator.
  • The issue only occurs when using Append to Table.
  • Create Table works consistently.

Has anyone encountered this behavior before? Any suggestions on additional troubleshooting steps would be appreciated. 

 

#Tableau Prep

1 answer
  1. Ragini Shukla (Tata Consultancy Service (TCS))
    Jun 11, 1:33 PM

    This behavior is a known limitation with Tableau Prep + Tableau Cloud when using “Append to Table” with certain connections like SFMC.

    Root Cause

    • Append / Incremental refresh requires a stable, owned published data source with valid run-as identity
    • With SFMC connections: 
      • The connection does not fully persist user context/credentials for append operations
      • Tableau Cloud fails to resolve the run-as user, resulting in: 
        • “No Tableau Server user found”
        • Blank datasource reference
    • “Create Table” works because it creates a new datasource each run, avoiding this dependency

    Why this happens

    • Append requires: 
      • Existing published datasource with consistent owner + embedded credentials
      • Proper connection mapping during flow run
    • SFMC connector + embedded credentials often does not support append/incremental reliably in Prep flows

    Correct and practical approaches

    Option 1 (Recommended):

    • Avoid Append
    • Use Create Table (full refresh) instead

    Option 2:

    • Publish the target datasource separately
    • Ensure: 
      • Credentials are embedded and valid
      • The datasource owner is explicit and unchanged
    • Then reference it in Prep (still may fail due to connector limitation)

    Option 3:

    • Use an intermediate storage: 
      • Write to Snowflake / DB / Hyper
      • Then handle append from a supported source

    Key Conclusion

    • This is not a permission issue
    • It is a connector + Tableau Cloud limitation with Append/Incremental on SFMC
    • Full refresh (Create Table) is the only consistently reliable approach

    Bottom line:

     

    Append and incremental refresh with SFMC in Tableau Prep Cloud are

    not reliably supported, leading to user resolution errors. Use Create Table or a supported intermediate target.

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