Tableau Software revealed new visual data-preparation tools, code-named Project Maestro, along with natural-language query features, a faster data engine and tools for governance.

Project Maestro, available next year, is aimed at expanding Tableau’s product portfolio beyond simple visual analytics to include self-service data preparation. The software will enable users to more easily manage and customize data programs with a direct, visual approach.

A next-generation in-memory “Hyper data engine” is also on the map for 2017. It will provide interactive analysis on data of all sizes while enabling fast data ingestion for near real-time analysis, according to Tableau.

In what it described as the next leap in analytics, Tableau said it will enhance its Natural Language Processing capability to interact with data through human language. The company is also adding instant analytics, a new capability that will automatically provide users with contextual information.

Offering new data governance capabilities, the company will introduce functionality in Tableau Server to certify data sources, conduct impact analysis on sources and workbooks, promote content and write workflows with simple drag and drop gestures. Businesses can govern their self-service analytics environment at scale with new functionality, set for introduction 2017.

The company is also gearing up Tableau Server for Linux. Users of the open-source operating system will be able to access Tableau’s self-service analytics later this year.

New collaboration capabilities will allow users to work together and discuss insights directly that drive better business outcomes, and machine learning smart recommendations will be made available that Tableau said are trusted and contextually relevant to the individual workflow.

Tableau also plans for 2017 cloud-based, hybrid data connectivity, with a live query agent that will act as a secure tunnel to on-premises data. Data behind the firewall is easier to access and analyze with Tableau Online, Tableau’s SaaS managed service.

“Visual analysis has been a pillar of our R&D effort,” Tableau chief development officer Andrew Beers said last week at the company’s user conference. “We think it’s the future of data analysis and will let you ask better questions, think more deeply, solve bigger problems, all because it puts the power of data into the hands of more people. We want you to ask more questions visually and we want to be able to answer questions for you instantly and automatically.”