Alteryx Connect Ideas

We found out that we are able to setup Nexus modes in global config settings.

We can distinguish modes by relationship types and object types. It is nice.

We would like to distinguish Nexus setting by object’s location as well (to show/hide objects in diagram by their location).

For example to show terms from one folder and to hide terms from another.

We ask you to make possibility to setup Nexus to filter out objects by their location.

Hello Alteryx team,

Can you please includeSAP Crystal Reports loader in the Connect for Future Release.

Thanks

Sri

Our Data Catalogue in Connect has about 2 millions items (tables, views, columns).

I see next issues:

1. We collect metadata from about 10+ DBMS. So after each Metadata loader run, Alteryx Connect will start load_alteryx_db script and process whole staging area (DB_*) tables, not only current extracted metadata set from single DBMS. It will lead huge redundancy.
2. Follows from first issue: One-by-one comparison of loaded metadata will take a lot of time in real environment with 1-2 millions items (ordinary situation in large Bank). And this comparison will be executed several times. It will increase the redundancy in the number of DBMS servers.

3. All queries in this script containing column or table name as a parameter (e.g. src.TABLE_NAME='${query_table_name}' AND                                 src.COLUMN_NAME='${query_column_name}') will be executed as many times as number of columns in Data Catalogue (millions times). It will work very slow because it executes a lot of queries.

Can you optimize somehow this process?

We use Connect widely among hundreds of users. During a lot of concurrent sessions Connect begin to work slow and unstable.

It is nice to have high workload detection - to warn users about potential problems/instability/slow response (either by email or via some banner at the Home page).   

Please add possibility to sort and filter by any field in any asset, which has internal table. For example - column list in table, table list in schema. Or in "Used in " widget. as for now - sort operation is only applicable for name field. it is not convenient for long lists. 

Hello Alteryx Team,

We would like to be scheduling the loaders from the administration console, Connections tab. However, when scheduling from there, the loaders are being sent to the Alteryx Gallery under low priority and therefore can easily end up in a queue. As we are scheduling a number of loaders that run for a significant amount of time, it is essential to have the schedules set on precise times and have a certainty that they will not end up in a queue. However, the low priority in the Gallery prevents us from doing that.

It would be great if there was a priority switch directly in the Connect's Connections section, where it would be possible to select how prioritized should the loaders be in the Alteryx Gallery. Also a possibility to select a specific worker would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for considering this idea.

Regards,

Jan Laznicka

It would be very useful to have a standard metadata loader for chained workflows or apps.

Currently the Crew Macro Conditional runner or the Alteryx Event/CMD based workflow/app chaining or the chaining from interface designer do not have a corresponding metadata loader. 

At the moment the only option of creating a nexus for chained apps or workflows is to manually create the links between various assets and workflows. This can be highly tedious depending on the number of workflows/apps being chained, inputs and outputs involved in each workflow and also error prone.

This creates a sort of blindspots in terms of end-to-end metadata management and showing true lineage when using chained Alteryx apps/workflows.

As the chaining of workflows and apps is a major timesaver and helpful tool to break down larger jobs into smaller manageable jobs it would be massively useful to have a corresponding metadata loader.

Many thanks,

Gourab

Version upgrade of metaloaders gets difficult when customers change or add tools to already complex metaloader workflows.

Please better support customer customization by placing macros in the metaloaders at critical points

• just after data input
• just before data output

These macros would do nothing except pass data in and out

with the intent that customers build these out as they need to improve the resulting data catalog.

Most customer modifications could fit within limits of what these macros could do.

It would be easier to upgrade version when most often it only required replacing entire macros that had been modified.

The improvement would be worth the nominal impact on performance.

Where performance is a problem, un-customized macros could be removed.

.

Hi Alteryx team,

Would it be possible to add functionality to restrict selected Designer users/licenses Input Data tool to only show a Connect source/file?

This would remove the risk of users investigating data through Designer that they are not be entitled to, and could be used to support/strengthen a data governance/compliance model by ensuring users are only using vetted data, but still gives each user freedom to self-serve and create their own workflows.

Thanks for considering,

Andrew.

Hi Alteryx team,

Would it be possible to implement custom URL in the HDFS loader when using Knox Gateway? This could be implemented in the same way as in the normal Input Data tool.

When connecting to HDFS using the Input Data tool, the URL is automatically generated, however, it is possible to change it. Sometimes this is necessary as the 'sandbox' part of the URL is for some companies not applicable, they have for example their company names instead of it:

However, in the Alteryx Connect HDFS loader, this is not possible as there is no such field in the interface:

The 'sandbox' part of the URL is then automatically brought through 2 formula tools:

This makes it impossible to load the HDFS metadata into Connect using the out-of-the-box Alteryx loader. Implementing a field into the interface like in the standard input data tool would solve this problem.

Thank you very much for considering this idea.

Regards,

Jan Laznicka

Hi Alteryx team,

It would be great if it was possible to load SAP HANA systems using ODBC DSN instead of the normal host name.

From our experience, there is often more than 1 node present for SAP HANA systems and when entering the master node into the loader interface, we can't easily switch to a failover node when an unexpected event happens. Sometimes, it is not only the matter of nodes but for example a migration of an instance to cloud might result in a different host name. As a consequence, the loadcode is different and it is not possible to migrate the previous enrichment to the asset pages created under the new loadcode.

A solution for this would be the possibility of loading SAP HANA systems using the ODBC DSNs (this is already possible for example for Hive and it would be great if it was available for all applicable systems).

Thank you very much for considering this idea.

Regards,

Jan Laznicka

Hi Alteryx team,

In Connect, users are able to open workflows, open reports (like Tableau) or use data source in a workflow using the blue button on an asset page. With the new functionality of cataloguing APIs, would it be possible to implement this button for API endpoints as well, meaning users would be able to trigger the API directly from Connect?

Thank you very much.

Michal

The current "File_Loader" only pushes data to the Data Sources section in connect. We have a number of reports that are stored in a file location. Our current option is to bring the report into connect under 'Data Sources' and manually move them to 'Reports'. We have to do this every time the file_load is ran. Additionally, the are currently shown as inputs to workflows when they should be outputs.

Having a file loader for Reports would be greatly beneficial to document within the Connect Platform.

Each workflow state has a very useful option: «Persistent» flag.

I understand how it works, but I would like to setup the system somehow to allow users to see public state by default.

My approach is simple. A lot of users visit Alteryx Connect for searching and reading. And I want to show them ‘public’ (official, approved) state of objects by default, not draft versions.

If the user would like to edit an asset, he/she can exit from public mode explicitly.

Big organizations have strong security policies and one of our potential customers would like to distinguish superadmin actions (login, change the config, change permissions) from other action. For example, they ask to change logging level (from INFO to WARN) when superadmin is logging in.

Our customers would like to see propagated data lineage. For example, if some columns in different tables are linked together, obviously, tables have dependencies as well. So it is a good option to have the possibility to view child objects' relationships. It allows analysing impact and data lineage between objects deeper. 

Manage permissions based on entry type. E.g. I set up some folders structure and I’d like to allow to users only create glossary terms, not new folders. So if I set up CREATECHILD permissions, it allows to create subfolders as well. 

Can we have about me section in the profile? just add a description box. This will allow people to add their expertise and more information about themselves.

A lot of information is not captured when colleagues run numerous SQL codes on server. Oracle, SQL Server, Azure and others...

Would there be a clever way of capturing and archiving all this queries run?

It may be wise to collect these for several reasons;

1. SQL code profiling is an important matter especially for DB admins. You can see the most required tables and fields etc.
2. Also have a grasp on most frequent and time consuming joins to enhance DB performance
3. Figure the queries that can be replicated in Alteryx and deployed to a server so that no business user needs to run SQL code instead  they will be reverted to the gallery.

So found out a similar feature is now available in SQL Server 2016 -->  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/performance/monitoring-performance-by-usin...