In this post, we’ll examine some of our favorite features that in the newest release of Alteryx – let’s get into it!
Power to the Process in 2021.1
We have our first NEW release of Alteryx in 2021, and everyone at phData (ok, mostly us in Data Processing capability) have been waiting for this.
So what do we care about most? Glad you asked!
AMP. IT. UP! — as DEFAULT
“…but Nick, wasn’t this your highlight for the previous release?
Good catch. It was!
But this isn’t my favorite feature of this release – I’m just stoked it’s not Designer’s Runtime default setting and wanted to call that early! OK, on to the other highlights.
Alteryx Server
Analytics Hub
Analytics Hub now offers the functionality to run or schedule any specific version of a workflow or analytic app.
The ability to run selected versions of analytic assets means that it’s possible for analysts to quickly roll-back to historical copies of their business logic to check the impact of changes – a powerful governance and control mechanism!
Here’s what Aidan Bramel, everyone’s first call about (any) Server, likes about 2021.1:
I love seeing all of the innovation in the Analytics Hub in this release! Specifically, I'm loving the credential improvements. Not only are users now able to securely create Run As credentials other than the original service account, they can also set credentials directly in Alteryx Designer rather than making those adjustments after being published to the hub.
We ♡ You Too, Current Alteryx Server
Ok, here’s my favorite thing about 2021.1: Alteryx Server has Schedule Forecasting.
A well-scheduled Alteryx Server ensures that all workflows have the best resources to complete in the fastest time possible. Doing so frees up time for us all to concentrate on that higher-value work! But, a bunch of us have experience times in the day when Alteryx Server can become congested, and users who want to run workflows are impacted. Solutions for this ranged from scaling the environment or having admins prioritize jobs to avoid scheduling issues.
This new capability empowers our beloved admins the ability to visually understand the workload throughout the day and make the necessary adjustments to ensure a balance of demand and performance.
Alteryx Designer
Feature Engineering
Automated Feature Engineering builds a wide range of new dataset features using a variety of pre-defined ‘primitives’ (functions) that can be processed and selected for their analytical power/relevance in the resulting model.
Here’s what John Emery, Weekly Challenge extraordinaire, likes about this new feature in 2021.1:
I like automated feature engineering. On a large healthcare provider project, I did a great deal of transposing/cross-tabbing, writing calculations, etc. to generate new predictive fields for the model. Having a simpler, automated process to rapidly create many new predictor fields could be a major time saver.
For more info on how you can use this new functionality, hit us up or check out the community!
Data Health Tool
The Data Health tool offers a complete no-code solution to understand a dataset’s qualities and readiness for data science/machine learning.
What does Jacob Kahn, Alteryx Excellence Award winner, digs about one feature in 2021.1:
My vote is for the Data Health Tool - a lot of times folks have a hard time understanding why quality data is important in the data processing "process." For beginners, the Data Health Tool sounds like a fantastic feature in understanding the need for a simple use case - cleaning up your data!
But wait, there's more!
Make sure to also check out Derek’s recap of the latest features on the community. For every detail and technical update, make sure to refer to the release notes located at Alteryx’s documentation page.
Next up for Alteryx? 2021.2! Join me as a BETA program participant where we can explore the “What’s Next” of the Alteryx Platform.
Do you have more questions about Alteryx? Talk to our expert consultants today and have all your questions answered!
