ETL Tools — Alteryx

Alteryx is best suited for Excel-savvy power users who need to handle data in 5 steps or fewer. Alteryx may be used to import dirty excel files, then construct clean tables in an Azure SQL database, and then use the database to allow analysts to use Power Bi. The raw excel files are severely disorganised; for example, the information we want from one file may be strewn across thirty or fifty tabs.

Alteryx is extremely simple to understand and recruit for, with a minimal barrier to entry. It works well with file systems.

If you are using an ETL tool, it should be capable of the following tasks:

1. Does it support ingest from all of your systems?
2. Does it support export to all of your destinations?
3. Does it have an SDK to create your own connectors?
4. Does it have parsers/formatters for all of your data formats?

For perspective, I work for a large global manufacturing firm, where I design and maintain a data mart for one of our entities’ analytics, and Alteryx is my ETL tool of choice. Here’s what I’ve learned over the last few years.

Pros —

• Data profiling is really very simple. Given that you appear to be in spreadsheet hell (as we were/are), this might be a tremendous help in understanding the data and…