Alteryx Standards Document [Feedback Requested]

[willhaye]

Hi Alteryx Community, 

This is more of an offering and a request for feedback rather than a problem.  When there are multiple Alteryx users in different parts of the corporation, it is good to have a common standards document to show all the developers "what good looks like" for developing workflows and generally existing in the corporate environment.  I'm developing one for use in my corporation but as a start I used the community references I found (list below).  There shouldn't be any corporate proprietary information in this copy. The advice is largely from community but just structured in a "Corporate Standards" type way.  It is more of a shell than a completed work.  I invite your feedback on what good articles I've missed and on how to do it better.  In the couple sections that are blank, I'd appreciate links to good articles and I'll continue to evolve the document for a couple weeks.  

Your thoughts and feedback would be most appreciated.

Thanks, -Hayes

List of Source Articles

• https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works-Blog/Alteryx-Best-Practices/ba-p/1921
• https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Alteryx-Workflow-Style-Guidelines/td-p...
• https://www.theinformationlab.co.uk/2019/02/14/documentation-best-practices-with-alteryx/
• https://3danim8.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/alteryx-strategies-for-solving-tough-problems/
• https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Community-Lounge/Do-you-have-an-organizational-or-personal-way-of-d...
• https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Tips-and-Tricks-How-to-make-your-Alter...
• https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Alteryx-vs-Version-Control-Code-Repo-G...

[ChrisHe]

Hey @willhaye  this is excellent! Love the work to get people in your org on the same page.  Much easier to get new users off to the right foot than working to re-train once things have hit scale.  For the Python and R section of your document here's a few of my favorite resources to get people up and running:

Python

• All about the Python tool [community.alteryx.com]
• Python libraries included [community.alteryx.com]
• How to install new packages [community.alteryx.com]

R

• Help doc has a great overview [help.alteryx.com]
• R tool tips and tricks [community.alteryx.com]
• Install custom packages [community.alteryx.com]

• R packages with Alteryx [community.alteryx.com]

[ChrisTX]

These posts discuss error detection and migration best practices:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Inspire-2019-Buzz/Give-us-Your-Best-Tips-and-Tricks-Calling-all-Tip...
Add an email event (under the Events tab)
Run Event When: After Run with Errors

Methods to detect and raise error conditions:
Community Designer Submit Your Ideas Consistent Error Behavior for Test/Message Tools
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Ideas/Consistent-Error-Behavior-for-Test-Message-T...

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Best-Practice-Workflow-configuration-f...
Best Practice: Workflow configuration for migration to multiple environments (dev / prod / etc)

[willhaye]

Thank you Chris(es): @ChrisHe and @ChrisTX !  Please find enclosed v0.2 of the document inclusive of the links specified and sections with introductory paragraphs based on the links.  Thanks, -Hayes

[trettelap]

Great document! I have started to use the color-coded comments for my workflows. One thing that I have run into with that - when I have a workflow on top of a comment box, you can't multi-select parts of the workflow (drag the cursor to select multiple nodes). Is there a workaround for this that anyone has found?

[ChrisTX]

@willhaye Thanks for sharing your Standards Document.

In this sentence:

Update the size of the string data types to be real-world not the default. US state codes are a string(2), leaving it at V_String(254) is wasteful. This saves space and processing time by explicitly stating the size, less work for the engine.The “Auto Field” tool can automate this process.

I don't think the text "V_String(254) is wasteful" is true.

See Alteryx Help page: Reference > Data Field Types > Data Types
https://help.alteryx.com/10.6/Reference/DataFieldType.htm

V_String

Variable Length. The length of the field will adjust to accommodate the entire string within the field.

See the Knowledge Base page: Alteryx Data Types 101

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Alteryx-Data-Types-101/ta-p/27580

The V_string types are variable in length. The amount of memory reserved for processing varies.

V_String is favorable because it is flexible enough to not truncate fields but will also maximize processing time due to adjusting string size length.

Chris

[silverburst]

This is such an awesome idea and great concept. Such a huge need for this! Thank you for this forward thinking document. 

Are you still seeking feedback? What would be the best way to provide it? 

[TimN]

Thank you for this.  Very nice!

[willhaye]

I've been more intermittent looking at this recently.  Probably the best is to add it to the thread so other people can see it also.  Eventually I'll get around to integrating into another version but I don't promise it'll be soon.  You are welcome to make updates and post an updated version of the document yourself for the community if you think that'd be faster.  I have no "right of ownership" here because these are all community thoughts anyway.  

[elojlewis]

This is amazing! I've created a google doc link so we can collaborate and suggest changes as we find them, also to ensure easy and persistent access to the community.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adI1l1EmH0nO6XaSaZ469yPqGKTkbqWdPkjyv23qj50/edit?usp=sharing