Last week, Alteryx solution expert, Cameron Steele conducted an Alteryx 101 Virtual Lab where he provided viewers step-by-step instructions to create three simple data preparation and analysis models using the 14 day FREE trial of Alteryx and sample data. The session, designed as an introductory training for viewers interested in self-service data analytics, enabled attendees to create workflows to:
- Cleanse and standardize data
- Blend data from multiple sources
- Create a forecast for near-term demand
Attended by over 200 participants, the session was extremely successful and generated a lively Q&A at the end. Here is a recap of some of the most frequently asked questions from the webinar:
Q:The workflow we are building is not completely applicable to my role. Can you explain how Alteryx is relevant to analysts and business users in different functional roles across departments?
A: Alteryx enables line-of-business users to be more self-service oriented and access and connect to data from multiple data sources – data files like Excel, SAS, SPSS or Access or databases like Oracle, SQL Server, Hadoop and more. A complete list of supported data sources is available from here. In addition, Alteryx data preparation and transformation tools can be used to cleanse, standardize and prepare any type of data, stored in any format. Alteryx also includes a complete range of statistical, spatial and predictive tools analysts can use to create analytic models specific to their own business problems, making Alteryx very useful across different functions/ departments of an organization.
Q: Where can I find predictive tools like “Association Analysis?” I don’t see them on the Alteryx tool bar.
A: To see the predictive tools on the toolbar, choose the “install predictive tools” option when downloading the trial or designer. In case you downloaded the Alteryx Designer Trial without choosing “predictive tools” option, there are two ways to get the predictive tools.
- Open the Help menu and select the “install predictive tool” option there.
- Select the “+” button on the right side of the tool bar and turn on predictive tools from the drop-down list.
Q: Is SAP Hana supported by Alteryx?
A: You can see the whole list of supported data sources from Alteryx at alteryx.com/technical-specifications.
Q: What is the data size limit for uploading data in Alteryx?
A: Alteryx doesn’t put a limit to how many records you can connect to from a data source. However you may be limited by the machine on how many records/data size you can process at a time. To circumvent some of the processing capacity issues of your machine, we do offer in-Database processing capability. Using our In-DB tools, you can leverage the resources of your database and greatly expand the number of records you can process on your laptop.
Q: Can you save the analytic models/workflows created in Alteryx? And if so how?
A: Alteryx enables you to save created workflows to share or re-use later. Working with the Alteryx designer, you can save the pre-built analytic models either as a file or a workflow. To share these saved models with other users with the Alteryx designer, you can either email or export the workflow. If you share the workflow as an email – do know that the other user may not have access to data you used to build the model. Exporting the workflow will allow you to package the data sources with the model.
Q: How do you write into databases or output into Tableau?
A: Once you have cleansed and standardized your data, if you want to update the source data, you can write into the data source or databases. To do so, Alteryx offers an “output data” tool, just like our “input data” tool which allows you to connect to the data sources directly or through ODBC connectors, so you can write into the data file or database. To output data, just do a file browse and pick up the option you want to write into, including visualization platforms like Tableau. For Tableau specifically, you can save the file in a .TDE format and output directly to Tableau. You can also use the connector to connect to a Tableau server. For Tableau, Qlik and Microsoft PowerBI, we also offer visualization kits to help output to those formats.
Q: Can you schedule jobs in Alteryx?
A: Once you have built the workflow, you can run it on an automated basis at defined times/ intervals by either scheduling the workflow in Alteryx server or with Desktop Scheduler option.
Q: Do you have a pre-built solution/ model for pricing?
A: Alteryx is a flexible self-service data analytics platform that can be used for all types of analyses. We don’t offer pre-packaged workflows for specific use cases like demand forecasting, pricing etc. but the product comes with a number of pre-built sample that you can reference to get started. In addition, Alteryx also offers a number of pre-built analytical models, packaged as apps for different functional areas and industries. You can access these apps from Alteryx Analytics Gallery.
To create the workflows shown in the webinar, download a free 14 day trial of Alteryx with the sample data and then view the webinar recording to follow instructions.
