Network analysis question (data as excel matrix)

Question

Hello everybody,

I have a matrix of shared customers (just the amount) between various divisions, businesses, branches (whatever you want to call them) of my company and I want to analyze and most importantly visualize the relationships between different businesses. I haven't used Network analysis tool myself ever before and it's hard to find comprehensive examples. Therefore, I'm looking for some help to understand is network analysis the right tool for this as the data is in a bit different format than the limited examples I have seen.

Here's example of the data format (actual excel also included)

e.g.

BU1 BU2 BU3

BU1  10    15     8

BU2  15   20     7

BU3  8     7      30

If I understood correctly, Node input would be BU1, BU2, BU3 and the other input would be this data. But the data needs to transformed to different format: From    To        Weight

Is this true? is it possible to do it with weight included? When the data is in right format everything should be ok?

In addition to this data I also have similar matrix with actual net sales between different businesses. However, in that case the matrix isn't identical e.g. From BU1 to BU2 is different than From BU2 to BU1. How would this be different than the first case?

Example for Alteryx community.xlsx

PhilippK · Answer

Hi @tuomassalminen ,

you can find for most of the tool workflow example directly in the Designer.

Here is an example for Network Analysis:

Here is also a good discussion about the tool and its weights:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Network-Analysis-Edge-weight-issue/m-p/453152#M87771

I hope this gives you a good starting point.

Best regards

Phil

tuomassalminen · Answer

Thank you for your quick reply.

Those two materials were the ones I have already found and checked. For instance the tool description doesn't mention weights but the other link with discussion shows that weight column is used (in addition to from and to). I'm not sure how relevant the Linkedin data is as the data is in completely different format.

I'll try it again and comment on progress. It's a shame that there aren't more concrete examples even though the tool is part of the official Alteryx offering.

PhilippK · Answer

Hi @tuomassalminen ,

sounds like you need the Network Analysis Tool. Here you can learn more about its configuration (2nd link contains an example):

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/network-analysis-tool

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Network-Analysis-Tool/td-p/3449

I hope this gives you a good starting point.

Best regards

Phil