Organizations today are both blessed and cursed by data. But to get insights, you need to unlock the data you have. If you are like most analysts, you are spending hours and hours struggling with “dirty data,” data that needs to be joined together, and data that is in the wrong shape for visualization. And each time the data changes, you have to redo your work. You’re stuck in the “gunk” of preparing data, and you never get out of it to do what you really need to be doing, which is analyzing and visualizing your data and realizing new, deeper insights! Learn more about alteryx tableau integration by checking out the presentation.

1. Clean Your Data Faster
for Tableau with Alteryx
Get Out of the Gunk

2. Organizations today are both blessed and cursed by data.
But to get insights, you need to unlock the data you have.
If you are like most analysts, you are spending hours and hours
struggling with “dirty data,” data that needs to be joined together, and
data that is in the wrong shape for visualization. And each time the
data changes, you have to redo your work.
You’re stuck in the “gunk” of preparing data, and you never get out
of it to do what you really need to be doing, which is analyzing and
visualizing your data and realizing new, deeper insights!
Getting the Right Dataset Takes Too Much Time

3. 1. Data cleansing — Removing and correcting bad data
2. Data joining — Combining the cleansed data
sources into a single dataset for analysis
3. Data shaping — Reformatting data into a usable
format for visualization in Tableau
SO WHAT’S
THE PROBLEM?
PREPARING DATA IS:
• Time-consuming
• Must be repeated
every time the data
changes
• Error-prone
What Is “The Gunk”?
You probably recognize the “gunk” as the typical 3 steps
you take every day to prepare your data:

4. Alteryx Helps You “Get Out of the Gunk”
Alteryx:
• Provides tools that speed the processes of cleansing, joining, and
shaping data
• Automates the process of updating when the dataset changes
• Ensures that data is treated consistently every time it is updated,
eliminating errors
• Provides a visual way to see the dataflow, so you can audit the process
and fix errors quickly and easily as you create your data blending process

5. Let’s look at some of the most common
areas where data cleansing and
integration slows you down—and how
Alteryx makes it faster, so you can
spend less time in the gunk and more
time analyzing and visualizing your data.

6. Often, datasets are missing values critical for accurate data analysis.
Some examples of null values commonly found in datasets include
total sales and sales tax calculation, sales price, income, and cost.
In Alteryx, it’s easy to calculate the missing data
using other available data in the record. Using
the Imputation tool, you can replace nulls with
calculated values, such as average, median, or
mode, in one easy step.
EXAMPLE #1: DEALING WITH NULL DATA
Speeding Up the Data Cleansing Process
Imputation tool

7. In every organization, data sources can use different terminology to refer
to the same items. This happens frequently with product names, which
can change over time and be inconsistent in different data sources.
Another example is shown here, in which business unit codes and
descriptions are mixed in the SBU (Standard Business Unit) Code field.
Using the Find and Replace function in Alteryx, you
can normalize the descriptions through a lookup
process and replace the descriptions with codes to
keep the results consistent.
EXAMPLE #2: ENCOUNTERING DATA INCONSISTENCY
Speeding Up the Data Cleansing Process
Find and Replace

8. Filtering helps trim excess data not needed for analysis, keeping the
dataset as small and focused as possible.
Using the Filter tool to remove rows and
the Select tool to remove columns, you can
create the best dataset for analysis.
What’s more, you can also use filtering to easily deselect
Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as credit
card numbers, from a dataset before sharing.
EXAMPLE #3: FILTERING DATA
Speeding Up the Data Cleansing Process
Select toolFilter tool

9. Typically, data is joined using a common key field. But what do you do
when you want to join data that does not have a common field?
Using the fuzzy matching capabilities in Alteryx, you can
join records even though the data is not an exact match.
For example, you can use fuzzy matching to join customer records from
different systems by matching customer names. Names and nicknames, such as
Joe and Joseph, can be identified to provide a match, as can street addresses
with full spellings, such as “Boulevard,” and abbreviations, such as “Blvd.”
Speeding Up the Data Joining Process
EXAMPLE #1: HANDLING NO COMMON KEY FIELD SITUATIONS
Fuzzy Match tool

10. Often, data that really belongs together in a single file is actually
stored in different table structures in different databases or
applications.
You can use the Select tool to rename the
common fields or manually define how the
fields line up by using the Union tool to
drag and drop fields to reorder them.
EXAMPLE #2: OVERCOMING INCONSISTENT
COLUMN FORMATS
Speeding Up the Data Joining Process
Select tool Union tool

11. Data visualization tools often require the data to have a particular
structure. In some cases, entire sections of a dataset must be
transposed from columns into rows in order to visualize the data.
Using the Transpose tool in Alteryx, you can easily
move data within a dataset into the right format
for visualization.
Speeding Up the Data Shaping Process
Transpose tool
EXAMPLE #1: CORRECTING ROW/COLUMN FORMAT

12. Another common stumbling block is that you must replicate data
to associate it for visualization. For example, demographic data for
survey respondents must be repeated with each of the respondent’s
answers in order for the answers to be resorted and grouped by
demographic categories.
The Formula tool in Alteryx can be used to create
new fields and parse data from the dataset and
replicate it into the new fields.
Speeding Up the Data Shaping Process
Formula tool
EXAMPLE #2: REPLICATING DATA FOR VISUALIZATION

13. Use Alteryx To Get You Out of the Gunk…
Alteryx speeds up the time-consuming, error-prone data
preparation process so you can spend less time in the gunk
and more time analyzing and visualizing your data in Tableau.
With Alteryx, you can:
• Speed the process of cleansing, joining, and shaping data
• Automatically update when the dataset changes
• Ensure data is treated consistently every time it is updated,
eliminating errors
• Visualize the dataflow, so you can audit the process and fix errors quickly
and easily as you create your data blending process
With Alteryx and
Tableau, your path to
better, faster business
decisions is clear!

14. See what Alteryx can do for you:
For more information on alteryx and tableau integration, and how it
can help your business. Contact us here:
o: 503-747-2614 x7040
c: 630-685-2883
skype: jmackie-bpmnw
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