Roll-forward workflows each quarter

[hpatel1234]

Hello!

We have developed several workflows for regulatory reporting that banks must complete each quarter. There are a total of 24 workflows, each with its corresponding input files and outputs. What is the best way to preserve the workflow for June 30, 2025, and roll it forward to September 30, 2025, without having to relink all the workflows in the folder that will be copied for the new quarter?

Thank you,

Hiren

[jrlindem]

I'm not sure why you'd want to do this?  I also come from a highly regulated space, and they prefer to see the workflows being completely stable and unchanged.  

That said, there are times where, to your point you need to show what underlying files were processed each cycle.  We solve that by grabbing file metadata like path/name/dates for the inputs (using Directory Input) and logging that information in a separate output to provide to audit control.

All that to say, I'd recommend rethinking the approach to be more dynamic instead of defeating the beauty of Alteryx in its repeatability and automation benefits.

Hope that helps,  -Jay

[Ladarthure]

It depends on a few different things like what you have access to and what you use, for instance, if you are using server, you could publish a version and comment it.

If you want to save the whole folder with inputs and outputs, another way would be to use relative paths and copy paste the whole folder for each period, the use of relative paths would instead of pointing to a fixed file point to a file location relative to the workflow location, so this could help you around. 

Even though this is a possibility, I would also advocate as @jrlindem to rethink your process so that you benefit the most of alteryx automation capabilities, like generate files with a timestamp included in the name and have a versionning of the flow so that you can know when you made a change.

[hpatel1234]

We currently do not have a server and have only been using Alteryx for less than a year. Could you please provide some links or guidance on building relevant pathways? Additionally, how can I generate timestamp files that indicate when the workflow was edited? Auditors will likely be looking for this information, and we were unaware that it was possible to access without a server. Our team wanted to develop workflows first to ensure we have enough use cases to justify the cost of a server.

[Ladarthure · Accepted solution]

Hello @hpatel1234,

here are some elements regarding the paths : 

• https://knowledge.alteryx.com/index/s/article/Paths-and-Alteryx 
• using relative paths would allow you copy paste the whole folder and still refer to the same files, in your case, it could be having one folder per quarter and just rename it, each folder containing the sources and the outputs

for the versionning of the workflow, without server, there is no automated versioning that I am aware of, but you can copy paste the whole flow (yxmd file) to have a versionned element.

Another solution would be to use git for versionning if this is a solution used in your company, but it adds a layer of complexity.

[KGT · Accepted solution]

I'll add to this, I also agree with the recommendations so as not to have to have many workflows. However, we currently have one process left for a client that involves editing a workflow set every 2 weeks. Although you could technically replicate those results by going into the workflow and entering the workflow constant for the relevant fortnight, there was already a process in place and so we kept it. There's just not the imperative to change it currently as it works and won't save any time by changing it.

Each fortnight after generating the files, we copy all the workflows into an archive folder with that fortnight name. We use Relative Paths and so all the paths are .\ etc, but we don't copy the input files so that doesn't matter. We have a relatively robust structure to store the input files, and so if someone needed to reproduce those files, they could pull out that workflow set and edit the workflow dependencies pretty easily.

Importantly here, and why I haven't felt the need to prioritise changing this, is that there is a set of workflows that we work on, and the archives are all copies of them. This is different to starting a new quarter by pulling out the templates. We have a folder the work gets done in, and when it's finished for the period, we back up those, not copy the templates and create a new working folder for each period. There is a huge difference in how robust the process is kept.

[hpatel1234]

Greatly appreciate all your feedback!!! We will work towards the workflow having relative pathways!