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Today’s ACE spotlight is @mkeiffer! Keep reading to learn more about Michael and what makes him a unique Alteryx super user.
Tell us a bit about your professional background.
I am a seasoned independent Data Analyst Consultant with over 20 years of experience specializing in data analytics and fraud detection. I began my career as an Internal Auditor, primarily working for banks and financial institutions, and I was fortunate to work for organizations that prioritized data analytics.
I have been working for myself since 2003, and I started off by working as an instructor and a consultant for ACL as a contractor, eventually obtaining the designation of Certified Master Trainer. I have very strong technical skills in Alteryx Designer, ACL, and Caseware IDEA, with a focus on helping Internal Audit shops improve their data analytics procedures and fraud detection. I have performed several complex data analytics projects for clients in the banking/financial services, healthcare, retail, insurance, government, and travel industries. I have obtained my Alteryx Designer Core and Advanced certifications, and I am currently prepping for my Alteryx Expert certification.
My Wife (Tammy) and I
What is your favorite Alteryx tool, and why?
There are so many amazing tools in Alteryx to choose from that it is hard to pick just one favorite tool. I would say my favorite tool is a tie between the Transpose Tool and the Find and Replace Tool.
There are so many fantastic applications for both of these tools, and I am just so impressed with how easy it is to use them and how quickly they run. In other applications (such as ACL or IDEA), it would involve building a series of complex scripts in order to produce the same output as the Transpose and Find and Replace Tools. I would say the Transpose Tool was the tool that got me hooked on Alteryx!
What has been your favorite Alteryx project? Can you tell us about the business problem you solved?
One of my favorite Alteryx projects was a project that I recently completed for a client who was transitioning their data analytics from ACL to Alteryx. The project involved converting several complex ACL scripts into a single Alteryx workflow, and it involved pulling tens of millions of historical records from the BSEG and BKPF tables in SAP.
The purpose of the workflow was to build a historical vendor spend report for all of the company's vendors, and they wanted to pull in 3 years of historical data plus the current year's data. The size of the records in the BSEG table created quite a challenge, as it took the workflow over 20 hours or more to run.
The solution I came up with was to store the prior year’s historical BSEG tables as Alteryx databases (the data in prior years was not going to change) and to simply reimport these databases when the workflow was run. I built an iterative macro to help accomplish this and put in a condition to only pull the prior 3 years' worth of data from SAP. If an Alteryx database for a particular fiscal year already existed, the data would not be pulled again from SAP by the workflow. Also, after more than 3 years had elapsed, I built another condition to automatically delete any Alteryx databases with SAP data that were more than 3 years old. This process allowed me to produce the desired vendor spend reports, and the workflow ran significantly faster (approximately 4 hours or less).
What advice do you have for new community members?
For new community members, I would encourage them to complete the Getting Started Learning Path, as this will help them get very comfortable with the Alteryx fundamentals and basics. I would also encourage them to participate and complete the Weekly Challenges. These fun activities not only help improve your Alteryx skillsets and help expose you to different tools in Alteryx, but you can also see the creative ways that other members of the Alteryx community utilize to complete the challenges.
I would also encourage all new community members to join an Alteryx User Group. Many of the Alteryx User Groups have virtual options for their members to attend meetings, and it is a great way to interact with and get to know other Alteryx users. I would encourage new Community members to set a goal of taking and passing the Alteryx Designer Core certification as well, as I think this process will help new Alteryx users develop their skill sets and gain more confidence in using Alteryx.
Mark and I at Inspire
What is your favorite way to engage as an ACE? Also, what area of the online community do you spend the most time in?
I would have to say one of my favorite ways to engage as an ACE is through teaching, instructing, and mentoring. I love giving Alteryx presentations to different internal audit groups and professional associations, and I love helping people learn more about Alteryx and showing them what a game changer Alteryx can be for analyzing data. I love helping people get creative when developing their Alteryx solutions, and I am very proud to be participating in the Alteryx SparkED program. This past year, I had the privilege of teaching beginning Alteryx skills to accounting students at the University of Hawaii - Shidler College of Business. I also love answering questions on the Alteryx Community. As an ACE, I am hoping I will get the opportunity to either present or teach a session at an upcoming Inspire event.
What discussion topic(s) could Community members tag you in for help?
I would encourage Community members to tag me in any posts relating to the importing of data, data preparation and data blending. I know that when most folks start out in the world of data analytics, these areas tend to trigger a lot of questions. I love helping people and sharing my knowledge of Alteryx, so I would also say there is no topic relating to Alteryx that is off-limits!
What is one fun thing about you that community members might not know?
One fun thing that community members may not know about me is that, in addition to data analytics, I am very passionate about physical fitness. I teach fitness classes at my local gym, and I am certified in several different Les Mills formats, including BODYPUMP, BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, Les Mills Sprint (cycling format), and RPM (cycling format). Teaching these classes helps keep me active, and I also love to encourage and help others on their fitness journey.
Teaching a BodyPump Class
