Case Study: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory achieves integrated analytics for structured and unstructured data with Tableau Software

Tableau Selected for Homeland Security Pilot Project

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy national lab working on energy, national security and environmental science, was asked by the Department of Homeland Security to run a pilot for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The challenge was to combine unstructured text analysis with structured data analysis to provide a new capability for mixed-data analytics, evaluate and characterize ICE data, ensure interoperability with existing tools, and produce a deployable solution within eighteen months.

PNNL selected Tableau to blend structured-data visualization with its existing unstructured analysis tool, In-Spire, and ran simulated real-world pilots to assess ease of use, infrastructure integration, and process improvement. The Tableau–In-Spire workflow met the project’s goals by enabling interoperable visual analysis of large, mixed datasets, simplifying data into actionable visual intelligence, and advancing readiness for field deployment and broader tool compatibility.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Joe Garofalo

Acting Chief of the National Initiatives Unit