Alteryx
A tool where data preparation and analysis are built by dragging tools onto a canvas and connecting them into a workflow.
Alteryx builds data workflows visually. Tools are dragged onto a canvas and connected, each performing one operation such as joining, filtering, summarising or reshaping. The workflow runs from left to right and the output can be written to a file, a database or a reporting tool. A server product schedules and shares workflows.
What Alteryx replaces
Consider what happens in most finance and operations teams every month.
Someone downloads several files. They open them in a spreadsheet. They paste, look up values against another sheet, filter out rows that should not be there, apply corrections they remember from last time, and produce a summary. It takes two days, it is done slightly differently each month, and if that person is away nobody else can do it.
Alteryx is built to replace exactly that. The sequence becomes a workflow, and next month it runs again.
The canvas
A workflow is built by dragging tools onto a canvas and connecting them.
Each tool does one thing. Read a file. Join two inputs. Filter rows. Summarise. Reshape. Write output. Data flows along the connections from left to right.
The picture is the process. Somebody who has never seen this workflow can look at it and follow what happens, which is not true of an unfamiliar script and certainly not true of a spreadsheet with formulas buried in cells.
Inspecting every step
This is the feature that matters most in daily use, and it is easy to overlook.
After a workflow runs, the data leaving each tool can be examined. Not just the final output, but every intermediate result.
That changes how problems are found. A wrong total at the end is normally the start of an investigation: reasoning about which step could have caused it, checking assumptions, adding temporary outputs. Here, you look at each step in turn until the data stops looking right. The tool before that is the problem.
For a data preparation tool, that single capability accounts for a large part of why people are productive in it.
Beyond preparation
The tool categories extend past joining and filtering.
Spatial tools handle geography: assigning records to areas, measuring distances, working with boundaries. Statistical tools cover analysis and modelling. Reporting tools format output.
That range means a workflow can carry a task further than preparation, which is why the tool is used for analysis and not only for cleaning.
Scheduling and sharing
A workflow on somebody's machine still depends on that person.
The server product runs workflows on a schedule and makes them available to others. That is the step that turns a personal productivity gain into a process the organisation owns, and it is usually where the real value appears.
Who uses Alteryx
Alteryx is used heavily in finance, accounting and operations teams, by analysts who are expert in their domain and do not write code. It is also used by data teams for preparation work where a visual approach is easier to hand over.
Points to consider
It is commercial software with licensing to consider, and the official site is the reference for current products and terms.
A canvas is also not a text file. Comparing two versions and reviewing a change works differently from reviewing code, which matters to organisations that expect changes to be reviewed.
For work that is naturally expressed as SQL against a warehouse, doing it there is often simpler than moving data out to be processed. The tool is most valuable where inputs are varied and messy rather than already in a well modelled database.
Getting started
The help documentation covers installing the designer, building a first workflow from an input to an output, and the tool categories in turn. Rebuilding one existing spreadsheet process as a workflow is the usual way teams begin, and it demonstrates the value immediately.
Key features of Alteryx
Capabilities described in the official documentation.
A canvas of connected tools
Each tool performs one operation and the connections between them show the path data takes.
Results visible at every step
After a run, the data leaving each tool can be inspected, so a problem is located by looking rather than guessing.
Tool categories beyond preparation
Alongside preparation and joining, categories cover spatial operations, statistical methods and reporting.
Scheduling and sharing
A server product runs workflows on a schedule and makes them available to other people in the organisation.
Advantages of Alteryx
Factual advantages that follow from the features above.
Analysts build without code
Because operations are configured tools, substantial data work is done by people who do not write code.
Debugging is inspection, not deduction
Being able to see the data after each tool means a wrong result is traced to the step that caused it.
Work becomes repeatable
A workflow reruns on new input, which replaces a manual sequence of spreadsheet steps performed each month.
The logic is visible to others
A canvas can be read by a colleague, which makes review and handover practical.
Common use cases for Alteryx
Situations the official documentation describes this tool as being used for.
Replacing a monthly spreadsheet process
A sequence of manual steps becomes a workflow that reruns on the new month's data.
Combining data from several sources
Inputs from files, databases and applications are joined and reconciled in one workflow.
Preparing data for reporting
A workflow produces the cleaned table a reporting tool reads, refreshed on a schedule.
Analysis involving location
Spatial tools work with geography, such as assigning records to territories or measuring distances.
Official website
Everything on this page is based on the official documentation for Alteryx. You can read the source here.
Alteryx official documentation