RECAP: 2023 Q1 Jax Alteryx User Group Meeting

[ccruzagosto]

Greetings Jax Alteryx User Group Members!

Thanks to everyone who attended our Q1 Jax Alteryx User Group meeting on Thursday, 2/23/2023! 

Below is a recap of the meeting.

Topics Covered

• Welcome & Introductions (not recorded)

• Preview of future Alteryx features - @JoshuaB 

  • 20+ top feature suggestions added so far

• Various enhancements coming soon discussed

• Updates have changed to 6 week cycles (previously quarterly)

• Recommend submitting ideas to the Alteryx community. They are churning through them faster in the last year or so

• “Control Containers”=Game changer

• Bill’s Cool Tricks - @DataRangler 

  • Workflow 1: Familiarizing yourself with a data set

    •  Deselect Unknown to detect changes

      • Adding prefix/suffix to column names

      • Sort

    • Join to see on same row

      • Union to see vertically

    • Insert option from right-click menu

    • Select tool:

    • Field Info Tool: Output is metadata about inputed data

    • Summarize tool to get count of courses per student

    • Two ways of data compare

  • Crew macros - @JoshuaB 

  • There is a macro to force the fields to match so process doesn’t fail

    • Link: http://www.chaosreignswithin.com/p/macros.html

    • Before they were built by community; now maintained by Alteryx

• Student Grade example

• Workflow 2: Breaking up Wave data/ digging into the data

  • Candidate for batch macro

    • Depends on situation; this was a one-time run so didn’t go the batch macro route

    • Macros are best for repetitive situations

  • Using yxdb to create subset to examine

• Server Overview - @wottel @wottel 

  • Dynamic rename

  • Set up Server on windows server with an instance of Alteryx; Mongo database backend

  • Publishing to Server from Designer

  • Scheduling

  • Collections: Way to share workflow on server with others

  • Districts: Making workflows public to organization

  • Can run multiple workflows at a time; dependent on workers and number of nodes

  • Version History: Visibility to other versions, ability to download past versions

  • Comments are your friend

  • Everyone doesn’t need access to Alteryx to run workflow with server; can run directly from Gallery

  • Workflow comparison in Designer; Advanced options

And here is the recording in case you missed:

Jax Alteryx User Group Leaders:

Bill Flanagan - @DataRangler 

Brian Lettow - @wottel 

Catherine Cruz Agosto - @ccruzagosto 

[mattyrags]

Hey there gang!

I am moving to Jacksonville this March (2023) 

I am brand new to Alteryx and looking to learn as much as possible!

Is this an annual meet up or what is the usual schedule for these types of events?

Being new to both the city and software, I am looking for any chance I can get to learn as well as meet new people in Jville.

Any advice on where and who I can meet with?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for resources outside of the Alteryx docs and The Academy that could help me prepare for the Core Designer Certification? 

[FláviaB]

Hi @mattyrags! 

The User Group meetings usually happen once per quarter. I see that you already joined the Jacksonville User Group, so you should start receiving notifications when we post anything new here. The meetings are being held in a hybrid format, so if you can't attend in person, we also offer the virtual option. 

Regarding the Core Exam, we have a lot of content and tips in the Designer Discussion board. You can search by "Core Certification," and you should see some related posts. Also, have you checked the Videos section under Academy? We have four Core Certification Prep videos that are very helpful. 

Hope to see you at the next meeting! 

[mattyrags]

Thank you so much! I guess I should have recognized the Q1 in the title to see it was quarterly....Whoops!

And thank you for the links and suggestions for preparing for my Core Certification Exam.

I look forward to earning my first certification as well as meeting and participating in future meet ups :-)

[FláviaB]

You are welcome, @mattyrags! 

Good luck in your certification journey, and if you have any questions along the way, the Designer Discussions is the best place to ask away!