Tableau company's flagship product creates a graphical interface for databases. The system works by creating interactive, drag-and-drop images of data, and allows users to query and organize information from databases in any language. Tableau markets its software to managers, business analysts, strategic consultants, financial professionals, market researchers, scientists, and engineers, and counts Safeway, Wells Fargo, Dow Chemical, and eBay among its corporate clients. The company got its start in 1996 as a research project at Stanford University funded by the US Department of Defense.