ALTERYX — A perfect tool for Data Transformation

Alteryx is an American computer software company, It’s products are used for data science and analytics.

Having a large volume of data at your disposal could be meaningful only if it can generate useful insights. We also need good quality tool to process it further. Therefore, creating data that is ready for analysis is a key step.

This is where a tool like “Alteryx Designer” comes into the picture and makes the process of cleaning and transforming data easier.

When I first heard about “Alteryx”, I had already worked on Microsoft excel, Microsoft access, power pivots, power query etc. Experience taught me that working in any organization and handling a large volume of data can be frustrating if you do not have the right tools at your disposal.

In this article I will talk about the key features of “Alteryx” that should define the adoption process in any organization looking to develop easy data transformation capabilities.

1. Ability to connect to multiple data sources

You can connect directly to multiple data sources, transform it and generate the desired output. For example, if the source of your financial data is an Oracle-based platform then you can easily connect to it. This eliminates the need of retrieving data in excel and then transforming it. For large volume data sets this saves a lot of time. In case you need to update the input data frequently, this direct connection to multiple data sources enables quick and easy download for further processing.

2. Easy to understand, intuitive drag and drop interface. Convenient for users from non IT background

All the data transformation functions/actions can be performed using tools placed on the ribbon.

Tools are connected in a sequence, in the same order as you intend to perform the operations.

For example, if you have to replicate the “sumif “ function of excel, you just need to select the summarize tool.

All you need to understand is the function that a particular tool performs and you are set to carry out complex data transformation operations with ease.

3. Performance on large volume data and output data formats supported

a) Powerful data handling capacity.

Consider a use case in which the source data is around 1 million rows and multiple columns. You can perform any sort of operation on this incoming data, including transposing it, applying formulas etc. Due to application of such complex operations data in the intermediate stages of the workflow can reach millions of rows — much larger than the input data. Even with increase in volume of data, all operations continue smoothly.

You will have to see this in action to believe! You will not be disappointed.

b) Generate output in a variety of formats

Once the data transformation is complete, the output can be dumped into an excel or any other format such as a tableau data extract. This tableau data extract can then be used to create tableau dashboards.

You have the option of selecting a variety of output formats based on your requirement.

4. Functionality to Automate

a) Generate Batch Reports.

The reporting feature gives you the ability to create many reports with ease. Multiple copies of a report can be created and the “Email” tool enables you to share these reports with intended recipients in your organization.

b) Automate execution of workflow on Alteryx Server

The execution of workflows can be scheduled on Alteryx Server.

Once the workflows have been created and the objective is to ensure the data transformation operations happen automatically at pre-defined time or intervals, workflow execution can be automated with the help of server.

This means that you do not need to run workflow manually each time!

c) Create Macros to automate repetitive tasks.

You can create macros to replicate the batch processing/looping feature of any programming language. This means that in specific use cases where the objective is to perform the same operation multiple times within workflow or perform same operation of different batches of data, it can be easily done with the use of macros.

5. Sharing

With Alteryx you can easily create “Analytical Apps”. These apps can be hosted on the Alteryx Gallery.

Users need to login to the Gallery and run the application. Users will not see the underlying workflow and they will get the desired output. This enables easy sharing of useful information within the organization.

The points discussed above can be used to evaluate the use cases of “Alteryx” in your organization.

Above information is based on my personal experience of evaluating and using Alteryx for developing transformation and reporting solutions.