Fix column in the right position with "dynamic rename"

[MWoelfels]

Hello everyone,

I have an extensive workflow in which, among many other financial data, quarterly ratings are added as information in a column via a data input. A reference date is also processed as an input. The rows represent accounts, which therefore contain attributes such as "Amount," "Rating," "Maturity," etc.

With the help of a dynamic rename tool, the column header "rating" (in the image "OEKRAT," which stands for economic rating) is transformed into a new column header in the format "DD-MM-YYYY." wich represents the quarterly reference day (30-09-2024 lately). As a result, the output, in the form of an XLSX file, continues to grow and creates a time series of ratings that has been increasing from 2018 to the present. After the ratings, additional columns follow, providing information about collateral, account balance, etc.

My problem: The current rename-rating is always placed at the end of the workflow, even though a "select tool" immediately after the dynamic rename tool shows the rating column in the correct position. How can I fix a column in the correct position?

Follow-up question: Does it make sense to change the structure of the file and move the rating to the end? This way, the latest rating could always be added to the end – but that would mean some effort to restructure the downstream files from this output as well…

Thanks in advance for your help!

[apathetichell · Accepted solution]

easiest way I can think of ---  first dynamic rename tool change the column name to "__date column" - sort tools by name. dynamic rename tool again. for locked schema what I'll often do is create numbered columns -> sort them. then apply a dynamic rename with a match/column number as one of my final steps.

[OTrieger]

@MWoelfels 

The reason for that is that the minute that you replace the name you have a new field that was not there before, therefore it is become the last columns as the Unknown field is the last one.

If you will move Unknown to the place under OEKRAT, each time that you will rename it to the new period it will added just under it. So make sure that you done that renaming after that you add all the needed fields, as Alteryx adding all the new fields instead of Unknown, and you probably want that only the period will be in the correct place.

[MWoelfels]

Thank you. I understand the approach. However, seems to be quite some workaround for something that should be way easier... but I'll give it a try. Thank you 

[MWoelfels]

@OTrieger 
Ok, makes perfectly sense. Unfortunatelly, there are more columns added later on in the workflow. I will try however to place zthe unknown field  in the middle and then rearrange it to the end a step later an see what happens :-)

Thank you.