Engine Works
Under the hood of Alteryx: tips, tricks and how-tos.
Every Alteryx user has faced the same two situations: they open up their old work, or they inherit a coworker's workflow. The common denominator is usually a messy workflow. The next few days are spent relearning a workflow they built long ago, or worse, one they didn't build at all.
To keep this from happening, two things must be true: clean workflow documentation and repeatable processes. Doing these things will increase the value of the workflow exponentially.
Where is this value found? It is found in the moments of change - organizational changes, transitions between team members, and improvements to the process are needed. During these times, the workflow must be opened and worked on. If the workflow is built with the next user in mind, precious time is saved, and in some cases, time is created. Building a plan for documenting and standardizing workflows will reduce wasted time and improve the speed at which changes are made.
How to cleanly document your workflows
Where does the documentation process start? It starts by understanding the available tools for creating clarity and context within the workflow. A good way to look at them is by function - Grouping tools and commenting tools. The grouping tools help with the look and flow of the workflow, while the commenting tools give the needed context necessary for guidance.
First, grouping tools - Tool and Control Containers. For now, Tool Containers will be discussed primarily, as what separates the two is not a documentation difference, but a process difference. Tool containers are used to group sections of the workflow together that are achieving a common goal - data prep for the next join, inputting new data, transforming data structure, etc.
To add tools to a tool container, there are two options: adding an individual tool and adding a group of tools. To add an individual tool, right-click on the desired tool and select add to Tool Container. To add a group of tools - lasso, or multi-select the desired tools and perform the same action, right click and add to Tool Container. This allows the user to do some very helpful things for clarity and testing - turn off sections of the workflow for isolating specific areas, copy and paste whole chunks of a workflow onto another canvas, and easily move blocks of tools around for visual clarity. Additionally, tool containers can be named and color-coded to give further insight into the section's functionality.
When using tool containers, having a standardized color code is a great way to further increase the readability of the workflow. Color coding allows users to see different sections of the workflow from a high level and begin to understand the rhythm of the workflow.
Legend:
Next, we will look at commenting tools and capabilities. The first thing to cover is annotations. Annotations allow the user to write notes and descriptions within each tool, giving more insight into the function of each tool on the canvas. This allows the user to add a high-level overview of what is happening within each tool, so the next user has a guide to what is happening.
Another option for descriptive context is the comment box. These are actual tools found in the tool palette that can be dragged onto the workflow. They allow the user to add commentary anywhere on the workflow canvas. Comment tools are great for giving more context to whole sections of workflows.
The differences between the two are that annotations are for each tool, and commenting is for sections or blocks of the workflow. Both have a use case—the key is to know how and when to use each one.
Annotation:
Comment:
How to set up your settings to repeat this process
The next step is to optimize the user settings for documentation repeatability. Alteryx allows the user to customize settings to make documenting workflows easier. The place to do this is in the canvas configurations. This is where the user can set up custom settings for their workflows, making the next workflow easier to document.
The first change to make is to the workflow appearance. Cosmetic areas that can be changed are canvas color, connection format, default container color, workflow direction, and view windowpanes.
First, canvas color - this won't change functionality, but similar to setting a phone on dark mode, canvas color can help with the visual appeal of the workflow. Next, the connection format can be changed. This can help clean up messy workflow connections on the page. The default is the Auto Route Bezier, the curvy one. There are two other options, though: straight (no angles or curves) and Auto Route Perpendicular (the curves become right angles).
In user settings, the default container color can be changed as well. This is helpful, especially if the user wants to color-code the containers. Setting the default color to the most used color can save lots of time in the workflow setup. Next, the direction of the workflow can be modified: the default is horizontal (left to right), but if preferred, a vertical (top to bottom) view of the workflow can be shown. Lastly, the location of the windowpanes can be changed - these are the configuration window, the results window, and interface designer. They can be moved to different spots on the canvas and set to floating, auto-hide, and dockable.
There is another window that isn't as well-known but is incredibly helpful—the Find and Replace window. This is not found under the View tab, but in the Help tab. This window not only allows searching for tool names, but it also enables searching for keywords on the canvas, allowing the user to quickly find key areas of the workflow. This makes navigating the page easier and finding tools a breeze. Once you find the Find and Replace window, drag it to your desired location to pin it onto your canvas so you can more easily find it next time—this is a good one to auto-hide.
The next settings discussed are not in user settings - one is a configuration setting that cannot be saved as a user setting, and the other is the custom color palette. The configuration setting that helps more cleanly document workflows is the 'Show with Tool names' option for the annotation settings.
Show With Tool Names:
This allows the user to see the tool names above annotations, making troubleshooting easier and documentation cleaner.
The custom color palette is not a setting in the workflow; it is found by navigating to any section that can have its color changed. From here, colors can be added to the custom color palette. This is done by clicking one of the open slots on the bottom color pane, choosing the color you want, and clicking Add to Custom Colors. This allows for a color-coding standardization that can be used across workflows.
Color Palette:
Most of the discussed settings are permanent changes that can be made; however, not all of them are. Does this mean the user has to repeat some of these steps every time a new workflow is built? No. A template workflow can be created with the desired settings saved to be used as the starter for every workflow going forward. To do this, set up a workflow with the desired settings and the legend that will be used for navigation, and go to save as>template.
Template Location:
This can be done for each type of workflow in Alteryx: App, Macro, and standard workflows. Now that you have your templates, you can open a new workflow, click file, templates, and you will see the saved template(s) to open.
Why is this important to the user's everyday life?
Yes, documentation takes time. But how much time is wasted trying to learn a process that isn't documented well? The right approach is to look at the value add from documenting and standardizing the process. To analyze this, value must be defined. For documentation, it can be broken down into the following areas: ease of transferring work, ease of editing work, and ease of improving work.
Well-documented workflows are cleaner and more legible, meaning they are easier to troubleshoot when breaks happen. The issues that do arise are easier to fix because the canvas has instructions and guidelines for the workflow. A user can isolate issues because the process is understandable, and the canvas is clean.
Well-documented workflows are understandable and simpler to learn, meaning they are easier to transfer between team members. When this time comes, it is best to have it already documented so time can be spent on training the new user, not on documenting the workflow. Picking up a workflow that follows the agreed-upon standard makes it easier to understand, reducing time spent learning it. Documented workflows allow for teams to transfer work more easily between each other, creating a more collaborative environment.
On the flip side, messy workflows with no standards lead to re-creation of work, less than optimal processes, and time wasted learning someone else's workflow. All of this is time and money wasted. The point of Alteryx is to optimize the work we are doing and save time for the business, not waste it deciphering a messy canvas.
Conclusion
Alteryx is a tool used by people who want to increase efficiency, increase effectiveness, and create value for the team. Unclean work and unclean processes make achieving these things almost impossible. The solution to this is thinking ahead, creating a plan, and building a standardized process for documenting your work.
Documented workflows lead to exponential value savings and value creation. The collaboration between your team will grow, the speed at which workflows are updated and maintained will increase, and the impact your team has on the organization will move forward.
Remember to create a plan for your work, set yourself up for success, and create repeatable processes. Doing this will make your workflows cleaner, easier to read, more beautiful to look at, and more useful to your organization.
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