5 ways to improve excel processes

Enabling Self-Service Data Analytics: 5 Ways Alteryx Improves Excel Processes

Download a FREE Trial: alteryx.com/trialEnabling Self-Service Data Analytics: 5 Ways Alteryx Improves Excel Processes

The Rise of Self-Service Data AnalyticsAny good analysis starts with utilizing the right data. If you’re like most data analysts today, you know what data you need, but you don’t have the right tools and technology to analyze it effectively.

If you’re still using basic tools like Microsoft Excel and Access to prepare data, or work with the ever-growing number of different data sources to get critical business insight, and those tools are letting you down, we’re not surprised. But we can help.

This paper will highlight how transitioning from the rows and columns of spreadsheets to a workflow environment for data preparation, blending, and analytics can supplement the work you do in Excel—and lead to better analysis.

http://alteryx.com/trial


From Spreadsheets… Excel is ubiquitous around the world, and used for a wide array of tasks from data entry to calculations to analysis to reporting. The spreadsheet look and feel is in every analyst’s comfort zone because the data is neatly organized into rows and columns. And spreadsheets give you the instant feedback you need when you calculate formulas or update data.

But most spreadsheets can only access a few select types of data—and woe to the analyst who attempts to blend multiple data sources. Even if you’re an expert at using Excel, the recent improvements Microsoft has made for handling large data sets and new data sources falls short.



…to Workflows The beauty of a workflow is it allows users to stop thinking about data and analytics in rows and columns, incorporate a wider variety of data sources, and look at it as more of a process. It allows users to understand where issues or errors might be in the data and the process. Data analysts can interact with data using a drag-and-drop workflow environment, and easily insert additional data processing steps to prepare, blend and analyze data.

“With Alteryx, we can see the flow of data during the process and immediately make adjustments without having to wait for the output.”

– Deanna Sanchez, Market Planning & GIS Manager, Rent-a-Center



Five Ways Alteryx Improves Excel ProcessesAlteryx can help alleviate some of the challenges you face when you use Excel for data preparation, blending, and analytics:

1. Transparency 2. Repeatability 3. Operationalize 4. Scalability 5. Advanced Analytics



In spite of its ubiquity in business, Excel is anything but transparent. Without comments, it’s virtually impossible to track changes and understand updates in an Excel spreadsheet. If you realize you’ve deleted data in a cell, you need to start from scratch. And worst of all, no one trusts your spreadsheet results, even with notes and other documentation.

In contrast, using an analytic workflow in Alteryx lets you understand what has happened at each stage of the process—transparently. If you’re building out a workflow and notice an error, you can go right to that point in the workflow and make the change, with no starting over. And you don’t need to comment and document your thought process—because it’s all right there for everyone to see.

1. Transparency

R

J

LL

R

Input tool: Connect to Customer Database

Auto Field tool: Automatically change

field types

Select tool: Change field names

Summarize tool: Count and add the value

of the transactions

Join tool: Combine data streams

on common fields

Input tool: Connect to Customer Database



“What Alteryx allows us to do is actually take a lot of the processes in Excel and put them into a visual format… a senior analyst can then design a solution and easily transfer it to somebody else. The same solution can be executed over and over again for the same results. So now we’ve actually captured what I think of as the intellectual property of that analyst, transferred from an Excel file, to a workflow that anyone can understand, no matter what language they speak.”

– Tom Sturgeon, Director of Business Analytics, IT Business, Schneider Electric



A large part of your job involves repeatedly preparing updated data in the same format, and producing the same reports and tasks—a time-consuming exercise that’s anything but value-added. While Excel allows some automation to simplify repetition, you need to create complicated macros or Visual Basic scripts, which means more time spent manual coding and less time analyzing data. Plus, macros and Visual Basic scripts can be interpreted as viruses by Excel, which will cause concern with others in your organization.

The Alteryx workflow environment frees you from the tedious task of producing the same reports over and over, allowing you to build out an analytic process once—and use it again whenever the data changes. Best of all? You can do it all in a drag-and-drop environment that requires no coding.

2. Repeatability



“Before we used Alteryx, our consultants would regularly take hours to structure data using Excel. It was a time-consuming process to develop the complex reports that our clients rely on to make decisions. Now that we have Alteryx available, we’re able to produce reusable workflows that structure the data for us far quicker and more accurately and enable a greater array of our consultants to perform the complex financial modeling that our clients need.”

– Thomas Haslan, Director of Data & Analytics, KPMG



Automating or operationalizing processes in Excel can require the same tedious coding in VB or building macros. This may require putting a Visual Basic macro on the front end of a spreadsheet, and then sharing that out to users and decision makers, so they can automate a process and get the results they need. Once you start weaving a bunch of formulas and some VB together, it becomes difficult to maintain and modify.

In contrast, Alteryx makes it easy to operationalize any process. Once a workflow is created, users can schedule and automate a workflow to run at a specific time or interval to feed downstream processes. Workflows can also be turned into macros to simplify future processes, or even wrapped into an analytic app that can be shared throughout your organization.

3. Operationalize



“I’ve recently started building apps and pushing them out onto the gallery for my real estate team to use…And they can just go on there, run it themselves, send it directly to the person that needs it. And then it frees me up to be able to actually analyze the data, as opposed to just spitting it out for them.”

– Penny Miller, Real Estate Coordinator, The Fresh Market



In today’s data explosion, you need to be able to analyze large quantities of data—as well as different types of data. Unfortunately, Excel wasn’t built to handle today’s data requirements. The limitations on the number of rows and columns that Excel can handle, as well as its lack of performance when utilizing large amounts of data or running VLOOKUP formulas, make Excel anywhere from frustrating to impossible to use.

Enter Alteryx. Without any limitations on either data size or format, Alteryx allows your analysis to grow with your data and reporting needs. In addition, incorporating Alteryx Server helps enterprises manage and scale analytics across the organization.

4. Scalability



“Alteryx has been able to handle the scale and diversity of the data and enhance our analytics efficiently and effectively. As a result, Alteryx is helping Experian Marketing Services continuously improve the quality and value of its commercial services.”

– Todd Rudie, Vice President of Data Development and Delivery, Experian Marketing Services



According to a study by TDWI, nearly 86 percent of organizations expect their business analysts to use predictive analytic tools. What’s more, location-based analytics is increasingly important: You need to know which store that unhappy customer tweeted about, so you can remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

These types of advanced analytics are nearly impossible to accomplish in Excel, even with an add-on.

Alteryx makes it easy to incorporate statistical, predictive and spatial analysis in the same workflow environment with over 60 pre-built tools—and you don’t have to write a single line of code.

5. Advanced Analytics



“Previously, to do statistical analysis or predictive modeling, I would have to export the data into another software solution. With Alteryx, I am able to keep all of the analysis as part of the same workflow. In fact, I can do all of my data extraction, cleansing, exploration, and modeling in one module—seamlessly.”

– Greg Bucko, Manager of Customer Insights, Southern States



Novus Manages Complex Advertising Campaigns and Forecasts Outcomes with AlteryxUsing Alteryx, Novus quickly gleaned strategic insights from hundreds of data inputs to manage the current advertising planning process for its clients while also forecasting anticipated outcomes.

Deeper Insights Analyzed effectiveness metrics for thousands of placements, supporting timely optimization

Hours vs. Weeks Produced insights in 30 minutes, allowing for continuous evaluation of and improvement to media targeting efforts

Repeatable Workflow Simplified processes to create a way to run through multiple cause-and-effect scenarios with many variables

“In today’s fast-paced data-driven world, we could no longer rely on spreadsheets and limited business intelligence tools. We needed to put flexibility and power into the hands of our key business users.”

– Margy Campion, Senior Vice President of Business Operations, Novus



No current tool can replace Excel for financial calculations. But, there are areas that Excel struggles with such as advanced data manipulations and transformations. Tasks like fuzzy matching, address hygiene, missing data, and more all require plugins, formulas or are impossible to do in Excel. Alteryx can augment and alleviate some of the challenges organizations face when relying on Excel for analytics.

Alteryx can work hand in hand with Excel to:

• Deliver output from Alteryx back to Excel for further reporting or analysis

• Format the output to deliver data into multiple tabs in a spreadsheet

• Feed output to a specific table where it can append or replace records in the table

Conclusion“Our analysts are doing less low-value work and more high-value, satisfying work, which keeps them energized and produces a greater return on investment of time for the company.”

– Tom Sturgeon, Director of Business Analytics, IT Business, Schneider Electric US



Transitioning from a spreadsheet environment to a workflow environment really comes down to changing the mindset. To help with this transition and adapt to a workflow environment please check out the following resources to get started:

Next Steps

Visit the Guide to Alteryx for Excel Users: www.alteryx.com/alteryx-for-excel »

Download a FREE trial of Alteryx: alteryx.com/trial »

“I downloaded a trial and within 5 minutes a process that would’ve taken me 25 minutes under our old architecture took less than 5 seconds.”

– Michael Barone, Predictive Modeling Analyst, Paychex


http://www.alteryx.com/alteryx-for-excel


5 ways to improve excel processes

Technology