Automatically generating lines

Question

Hi all,

I have a problem integrating a data correctly in Tableau Software...

Basically to fix my problem I would have to change my Alteryx workflow.

Those are the columns that matter for my problem:

Client Name

PERIODE

Product

Units

Client name repeats for every product for which units <> 0

Client name also repeats every time Periode is different

What I need is for the workflow to create a Client Name line for all the products even if the units is 0

So for example:

Client Name  Product    Periode      Units

XXX               1              201806        2

XXX                3             201806        4

XXX                2             201701        3

Should become:

Client Name  Product    Periode      Units

XXX               1              201806        2

XXX                2             201806        0

XXX                3             201806        4

XXX               4              201806        0

XXX                1             201701        0

XXX                2             201701        3

XXX                3             201701        0

XXX                4             201701        0

Thank you guys in advance,

Max

dummyWorkflow alldata.xlsx

BenMoss · Accepted Answer

I use both Tableau and Alteryx and have had to approach this problem many times; the solution is sometimes known as 'padding' or 'scaffolding' your data, and it's really simple with Alteryx.

All you have to do is use the summerize tool to create the list of values that you need with each of the fields (i.e. one to summerize each client and products, and a 2nd to summerize each date).

You can then append these streams together to create a list of all possible combinations, and then join this list against your dataset. This will highlight any instances of missing data which you wish to 'pad' or 'scaffold' to which you can do a left outer join to bring this through.

For this example I have used different data to that you have sent, purely because it would be much better for your learning if you translate the logic I show you, into a workflow that works with your data (also you file is painfully slow to run, i'd advise you use the 'cache and run' feature so you don't have to sit through the loading process everytime you hit run!

Ben