How do I generate a Data Dictionary...

[FogoFortitude]

As my Alteryx workflows are becoming more complex and involve integrating and conforming more and more data sources it is becoming increasingly important to be able to communicate what the output fields mean and how they were created (ie transformation rules) as output for end user consumption; particular the file target state output. 

What are my options to create an extract of metadata including field definitions I've defined using the SELECT Tool? 

[MarqueeCrew · Accepted solution]

Data captured in a select tool can be transformed and ready for export via a FIELD INFO tool.

https://help.alteryx.com/11.0/index.htm#FieldInfo.htm

Cheers,

Mark

[ryan_stericycle]

That is a good option for the first part of a dictionary.

How would we add the next fields to it dynamically.  That is we have a data frame with m variables.  We want to add these fields to describe the data even more.

total n

total missing

total unique

Min

Max

Mean

5th percentile

10th percentile

25th percentile

50th percentile

75th percentile

90th percentile

95th percentile

first 10 records of the field

last 10 records of the field

[FogoFortitude]

I'd also like to extend it to include the source and target databases data types. Perhaps also the their database names. With this wealth of meta data it could then be used to create a large flat file that a tool like tableau web server could run off to make a cost effective data dictionary with search functionality.