Create an App where users can input data that is saved/appended to the original database

Question

I've got a baseball team and I'd like to create an app where each player can select their number and then select from a number of drop downs to rate themselves on different game skills(Low/Med/High). Once completed, the data is time stamped and saved. I do not want the player to be able to see other player ratings when finished, but seeing his own entries is okay. The end goal here is to have this player list with each of the skills list populated with what the player entered and ready for analyzing to see who should be promoted to the next league. (There will be a part B where the coach will be able to enter in data for each of his players, but really, baby steps.)

I stopped when I kept running into challenges with the Find Replace tool...

I'm at a loss here. Is this even possible? Sample data below. I entered in the "Unknown" as a place holder thinking I'd use Find Replace, but I'm not having luck with that. Can basically pull out the player and add the time stamp, but entering and saving the skills I'm at a loss...

Employee IDPositionEmployee MGRPromotion DateDate ReviewedGame KnowledgeAttitude Mentor SkillsReadinessM1PitcherM802/10/2016 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM2PitcherM801/02/2016 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM3CatcherM907/11/2017 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM4CatcherM908/19/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM5Outfield M1011/18/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM6Outfield M1008/19/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM7Outfield M1004/28/2017 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM8Pitching CoachM1108/19/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM9Catching CoachM1111/13/2017 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM10Outfield CoachM1108/19/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownM11ManagerM1108/19/2014 UnknownUnknownUnknownUnknown

LATHROPS · Answer

You could accomplish appending to an Alteryx database by using an intermediary database.  In your workflow, ingest the existing output database as a step, union that database with your player data, and then output to the existing output database.  You will likely need to use some blocking to ensure the file is not open when you are trying to write to it.

No-Sass · Answer

I've updated the original workflow. I realized that I cannot append to a .yxdb So instead of trying to use a single file to update, I switched the file types to Excel and switched to separate source file and an output file-which appends the player results to the current file. I welcome thoughts to address differently.

The user input functionality I wasn't too confident on getting a solution, so I appended the choices(Low/Med/High) into the file and then created filters for the user to select their options. Again, I welcome thoughts to address differently.

CharlieS · Answer

@No-Sass

How about instead of using a Find Replace tool, create a new record for each update with a "Date_Modified" field and only displaying the most recent update? This system could also support a "User_Type" flag to identify player vs coach updates.