Alteryx Customer-Managed Telemetry installation issue

[lucasquintieri98]

Hello guys!

I am having some issues when it comes down to turning on CMT.

I've found the possibilities that CMT brings very interesting and I want to try it out, but I just can't seem to get it to work properly.

When it comes down to editing the RunTimeSettings file (which is located in C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData in my computer, apparently I do not have the authorization to do such thing, since it's a corporate computer and I really am not an admin (this is a privilege of certain IT department members that I am not a part of)... Even though I have downloaded and installed Alteryx all by myself, with no extra "admin permission" needed, which makes me a bit confused).

Either way, I've contacted the IT members that have that admin privilege and asked one of them to change the file for me, adding the telemetry tags and the location in which the logs will be saved (I chose a folder that's stored in our company Drive).

We were able to edit the file and save it accordingly, then I rebooted my pc(it is informed in the tutorial in this link Customer-Managed Telemetry: A Window into Workflow... - Alteryx Community that we should do it) and tried running some workflows as tests, but none of them generated logs... (I tried running through analytic apps, debugs and the "default way", none of them seemed to output the logs in the designated folder.

I also noticed that when we save the file (RunTimeSettings) after editing it, the "address in which the logs will be stored" automatically changes, like so:

The one that we input: <Telemetry><EnableCustomerManagedTelemetry>C:\Users\lucas.quintieri\Alt - Alteryx\000. TelemetryLogs</EnableCustomerManagedTelemetry></Telemetry>

The same one after we save it: <Telemetry><EnableCustomerManagedTelemetry>C:\Users\lucas.quintieri\Alt? - Alteryx\000. TelemetryLogs</EnableCustomerManagedTelemetry></Telemetry>

As you can see, when referencing the Alt - Alteryx folder, a random "?" appears and I don't know if that is the cause of the issue...

I've tried with other locations that are not in our corporation shared drive, such as my desktop, my private documents etc... and the "random chars" still show up after saving...

I don't know if that's the main cause of it not working, but any help would be greatly appreciated as we are really looking foward to implementing it.
Thanks in advance!

[pmaier1971]

Hi,

A few things come to mind.

1) As pointed out, editing the file indeed requires admin rights 

2) To test it out, I usually create a folder C:\Temp\Logs and use that - this avoids any potential permissions issues (note that the folder must already exist for CMT to write log files)

3) The folder location cannot contain spaces (this seems to be the issue here)

Hope this helps - Philipp

[lucasquintieri98]

Hello Phil!

First of all, thank you for your reply, it was really helpful.
The folder location did in fact contain spaces, but it is something we will have to take a closer look in our end, because many folders in our drive have that space, making it inefficient in this case.

I took your advice and created a local folder, in my C: and it worked, after I restarted my computer three times, when I run a workflow, the xml log is automatically created/stored in the new folder in C:

Now, when it comes to using the Parse Customer Managed Telemetry workflow, we are having other issues.

After changing the Directory tool to where my .xml Telemetry log files are stored, and the dynamic input accordingly, the workflow runs as it should (no other errors pointed out by my Alteryx Designer).

The problem we are facing is regarding the outputs now. Since we do not have Tableau licenses in our firm, we are left with the other option (Power BI, in which I do not have much knowledge/experience).

Looking at the tutorial in this link: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/Customer-Managed-Telemetry-Walking-through-our-new-Ent... in section 2.3, it is informed that we can access some pre-configured
dashboard through the "Table of Contents", but ours does not work, when I click the link, I get the message that it is not possible to access this page...

Do I have to change something in the URL for it to work? How will those .csv output data tools be connected to PowerBI within Alteryx? Can you help me with this?

After watching your presentation held in 11/01/2023, we thought it was great and got really interested in CMT, but as you can see, we are having a hard time to set it up properly.

Best regards, Lucas.

[pmaier1971]

Hi Lucas,

There are two options:

1) After running the CMT workflow, if you do not have access to either Tableau or PowerBI, you can open the CSV files - you should basically get the same information, but not in a "processed", pretty way, just the raw data. If you just want to get a sense of the type of information CMT is generating then this is likely enough.

2) Alternatively, if you want to use the pre-built dashboards you'll have to get either Tableau or PowerBI. These will give you a more visual experience.

Does that help?

[lucasquintieri98]

Hello Phil!

Thanks again for your reply.

Let me be clear, even though we do not have Tableau available, we do have full access to PBI, I am just not familiar with it. That's why
I wanted to see those pre-built dashboards that are mentioned and linked in the Table of Contents Workflow.

The thing is that when I click the links, Alteryx states that the page is not accessible / incorrect address (screenshot attached, the language is Portuguese).

My question is, do I have to do anything in order for it to work other than just clicking it? Or are the hyperlinks actually corrupted as my Alteryx Designer currently states?

 

Thank you so much for your support, I will be waiting for a response.

Best regards, Lucas

[hli2007]

@lucasquintieri98 : Here is an alternative way to find the PowerBI dashboard. Open the Telemetry workflow -> Hover over the workflow name and right click to select 'Open Containing Folder' -> Look for folders like '\01 Supporting_Macros\output' and you should be able to find the sample PowerBI dashboard. Thanks!

[mmichaelson]

Hi @hli2007 - I am running into the same issue(s) as @lucasquintieri98 and wanted to add some observations that might help.

I followed your suggestion; however, the folder you specify above does not exist.  I've explored all other directories related to this workflow and don't see any folders containing supporting macros or output from the workflow.  Are the assets in these folders properly packaged with the workflow on the Alteryx Marketplace?

Interestingly, the macro that generates the Tableau dashboard(s) and hyper file is also broken in my version of the workflow (I've confirmed that I have the Tableau Output tool installed).  This is why I ask about whether the Customer Managed Telemetry app is properly packaged.

@lucasquintieri98 - Apologies if this is different from what you're observing.  Hopefully this helps.

[hli2007]

@mmichaelsonalso worth trying this path: Open the Telemetry workflow -> Hover over the workflow name and right click to select 'Open Containing Folder' -> Look for folders like this: C:\Users\{user name or user id}\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Samples\data\Enterprise Utilities\Customer Managed Telemetry\output. 

[mmichaelson]

@hli2007 - Thanks.  This folder ("output") does not exist in my installation of the Customer Managed Telemetry utility.  I have run the workflow, but get errors related to the Tableau Output.  I'm assuming this is part of the reason the "output" folder does not exist.

[lucasquintieri98]

Hello mmichaelson!

Did you figure out how to do it in PBI or did you implement the Telemetry using Tableau only like you suggested earlier? (above)

I couldn't use the Tableau suggestion because we are stuck with PBI only at my firm.