Introduction I previously wrote a blog post about strategies for reading flat-files (fixed-format, un-delimited ASCII files) to get the flat-file data ready for Tableau analysis. That post was written before I became an Alteryx user.
Introduction Starting in late 2012, Tableau began publishing their monthly blog post titled: “Best of the Tableau Web”.
Introduction In Part 4 of this new Alteryx-user series, I utilize the Alteryx/Tableau techniques shown in Parts 1 – 3 in a comprehensive example using data from the National Football League (NFL). I chose the NFL because the regular season begins in about a week and Americans love this sport (myself, included). Once I crunched the…
Introduction In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I showed how I use Tableau to help me understand Experian and Dunn and Bradstreet (D&B) data that can be strategically accessed via Alteryx. This extracted data can then be used in quantitative business studies or for personal usage. This post provides an example of personal usage…
Introduction This is the second of a six part series of using Tableau to help with Alteryx applications, especially for new Alteryx users. In this post, I discuss the usage of the business database that is maintained by Dunn and Bradstreet and is accessible via Alteryx. This database allows Alteryx users to access information on…
Introduction If you are an experienced Alteryx user that has the privilege to use the “complete package of Alteryx”, which includes mapping, demographic and business data, you may already have techniques to handle the issues that I discuss in this blog post series. This series will be focused on using Tableau to help with Alteryx usage, especially…
Introduction A few days ago, I wrote about feeling like I was in the Tableau “Data Zone” and the confidence this has given me when working with a wide array of data. I really didn’t think anyone would read the post, but for some reason I was wrong. Every time I write something that seems to me…
Background My brain has been assembling the thoughts discussed in this blog post for the past year and all these thoughts are mine. I completely own them and they are strictly my perspectives. No one has ever asked me to write this blog post or any other post, but I will readily admit that I have…
Introduction Rarely, if ever, does data arrive to me in the exact format that I need it to be in for efficient analysis in Tableau. This means something has to be done to the data before I can use it. In Part 1 of this series, I provide specific examples of real-world data format changes…
Introduction It does not happen often, but whenever I get a flat file (i.e., fixed-width ASCII file) to work with, I have to work some magic on the file to get it ready for Tableau. This post describes how some of that magic happens.
Introduction I guess you can say that I’ve been on a mission lately to understand and document the performance, capabilities, and limitations of Tableau Desktop software. Today I decided to answer the following question: When is it necessary to switch from a professional workstation to a “big-data platform” to analyze large structured data files with…