Beyond Excel: Building a Scalable Data Solutioning Strategy with Alteryx

Or re-stated in a way for the purposes of this article, if our “go-to” data tool is Excel, don’t expect your organizational data solutioning to be mature or robust. True, in certain use cases, Excel and related Microsoft products can “do the job.” But allow me to paint a picture of what we see often: in today’s complex, data-driven world, we are still drowning in multiple rows and columns, of multiple tabs, of multiple older Excel files trying to follow very slow processing, complex formulas and making sense of the 2-dimensional grid system of rows and columns that has dominated the business world for 30-something years. Now add data coming from various other systems into the mix. Finally, to yet further complicate matters beyond the source of the data, data teams are often confronted with tight deadlines and evolving business requirements that, while might seem like simple asks, can at times represent entire unanticipated changes to prior data structures; e.g., requests for data at more granular time periods or other static attributes that affect data cardinality (think: 1:1 relationships become 1:many). There are certainly a lot of moving pieces to an organization’s data picture. 

The Hidden Risks of Spreadsheet Dependency 

Today’s data management and data processing can often be described as “out of control” and “not scalable.” We hear it all the time. How many in your organization truly know who owns what data, who is requesting it, securing it, and processing it? How frequently is the same type of data requested and processed? Does the current data ETL process even work or is it at the mercy of one employee who intimately knows the data, especially the calc in cell AU5765 (you know, the one which is likely taking the Excel file literally 20 minutes to calculate)? A comprehensive analysis that lends insight into the people, process, and technology surrounding data ownership, processing, and consumption might just be the right exercise to address these questions. The importance of taking the time, prior to consideration of any ETL approach, to engage internal data stakeholders in honest assessment of organizational data needs cannot be overstated. 

People, Process, and Technology: The Bigger Picture 

But ETL capability alone is also only one piece of our technology-enabled puzzle to help us provide real data insights that can drive business value creation. The other pieces are: (1) your data workers who are well versed in the intricacies of both working with data broadly speaking and your data and business specifically and (2) the myriad reports that are often custom built and maintained in whatever reporting tool was preferred at one point in time. As organizations grow and employees change roles, the technology-enabled puzzle truly represents an evolving puzzle. Questions like “Can new joiners get up-to-speed on our data and reporting tools fast?” and “Do our reports and reporting tools meet our existing needs, and if so, are they easily maintainable by our employees and is the product well supported by the vendor?” are naturally raised. 

Enter Alteryx: A Smarter Way Forward 

Enter Alteryx, providing the Swiss Army knife utility of our Maslow’s Hammer for our A to Z data solutioning puzzle. 

With Alteryx, forward-thinking data teams are enabled with a user-friendly, easy-to-learn data “workflows” process that can ingest multiple sources of data at once, apply sequential, editable, and repeatable data transformations, provide data sampling after each step for validation, and perform sophisticated calculations at a fraction of the time versus Excel and other tools. Data teams then reap the benefits of a scalable, agile solution: one with faster calculations and better visibility into the ETL steps that allow for improved maintainability, business continuity, and ever-changing business requirements in the future. In real-time, data analysts can see the progression of data transformations play out on the screen: click the “Run” button and watch as green checkmarks appear on screen indicating that data tasks contained within each tool have been performed. 

An example of a basic Alteryx workflow: data from various input data files or sources is brought into the workflow, data tools perform various steps to the data, and transformed data can then be outputted into one or more files. Tools found on the top ribbon enable easy use through drag and drop functionality on to the white design space, while a Results window towards the bottom of the screen displays helpful data sampling of the data post each data tool step.  

Future-Proofing Data and Reporting 

In our technology-enabled puzzle, we need to consider new joiners to our teams and reporting considerations if we want to take steps to future proof our A to Z data solutioning. This is also where Alteryx can shine. Not only is the tool easy to learn, but data workers of any caliber can utilize Alteryx’s AI guided, predicted data transformation suggestions to learn the tool on the fly without exactly knowing what data steps they need to implement in Alteryx’s workflow drag and drop canvas. Finally, when it comes time for reporting, Alteryx provides both the ability for custom reporting development and the ability to utilize newer AI tools such as Auto Insights and Magic Documents. With the latter options, AI built into Alteryx generates trends and insights into your data and, if desired, can output polished presentation materials in seconds. 

How Alpha Alternatives Can Help 

Contact Alpha Alternatives to see how we can help provide insight, control, and scalability to your data solutioning processes leveraging industry leading solutions from our partner, Alteryx.