Chaining Workflows

[amtraker1777]

I would like to see Designer offer me the ability to chain workflows together where once Workflow A completes, Workflow B will automatically start.  There are times when linear processing is required in order to avoid dependency issues and/or for making it easier to organize complex processes. It would require outputting results to static files and it would take longer to process than the standard approach, but that is an expected trade-off.  Offering a GUI drag-drop "orchestrator" to tell Designer the order of operation would be even better than having to manually open each workflow and tell it which workflow to kick off next.

[cgoodman3]

You can achieve this on server using the runner macro which will execute workflow B after A has completed.

https://help.alteryx.com/20223/designer/runner-tool

There have also been lots of community post about orchestration, where the status of the idea has recently been updated, so I’m hoping 2023 will be the year we see this added to desktop.

[amtraker1777]

Thanks, cgoodman. I don't have server, just desktop. I would like them to include this functionality in desktop. Transitioning from ACL to Alteryx has not been easy. I am used to doing things in a particular order and modularizing my "code/logic" in multiple scripts/subscripts. I know Alteryx doesn't operate in this manner natively but offering a way to simulate a linear, ordered approach would be very much appreciated.

[alexnajm]

@amtraker1777 There are Desktop workarounds that could work at least in the interim! Let me know if you'd be interesting in learning more

[NicoleJ]

@amtraker1777  Curious to know if the new Control Containers released in 23.1 might be a solution to this use case? Please let me know your thoughts! 

https://help.alteryx.com/20231/designer/control-container-tool 

[amtraker1777]

Unfortunately not, but it is a work around for the time being.  I am asking for one YXMD be able to kickoff another YXMD once it completes.  Organizationally, when a workflow becomes very large/complicated, being able to just separate the various pieces into different YXMD's with their own respective canvas's would be preferred.  There are times when processing several containers can exhaust all available RAM and being able to have clear start/stops could prove beneficial.  I also like to have options and chaining workflows would just be another method to achieve the same result as control containers. I'm sure there are pros and cons to each method.

[alexnajm]

@amtraker1777, like @cgoodman3 said, this works with the Runner macros then! These exist for Desktop here: Chaos Reigns Within: Macros

[amtraker1777]

"The CReW Runner macros (Runner, Conditional Runner and List Runner) are the only CReW macros supported by Alteryx, but for Alteryx Designer ONLY. These macros are not supported when used on Alteryx Server, Alteryx Designer + Scheduler or AAH."

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Knowledge-Base/CReW-Macro-Support/ta-p/465....

I am asking for Alteryx to officially provide a method for Chaining Workflows rather than relying on a Community-created solution that apparently isn't even supported on Server