The Spreadsheet

User’s Guide to
Modern Analytics

Level up your analytics game with automated insights

 According to research,
analysts such as yourself
spend 90% of the work week
on data-related activities,
chasing the dream of
actionable insight.

120
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ode to Spreadsheets — Thank You, Next 04

Night and Day Difference In Your Day Job 07

Data Deconstruction, a Process Reimagined 12

From Worksheets to Workflows 32

A New Day For the Analyst 43

3
 Ode to
Spreadsheets —
Thank You, Next

4
 Why working within According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace
report1, 87% of us are disengaged at work. Let’s think about

workbooks causes that for a minute. Many are disengaged in jobs where they

87%
spend most of their waking hours.

job fatigue and

Now let’s talk about your job. According to research, an

career dissatisfaction. analyst such as yourself likely spends 90% of the work week
on data-related activities2, chasing the dream of actionable

that don’t add up. insight. What’s worse, most of this time is zapped from
only the first step in the analytics process — gathering and
preparing your data. of us are disengaged
at work.
1
State of the Global Workforce, Gallup

“The State of Data Science and Analytics”

State of the Global Workforce, Gallup
2

5 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Spreadsheets are one way to calculate and manipulate numeric
data into insight to make decisions. Fifty-four million analysts and
data workers all over the world have built up their expertise to use
spreadsheets for complex analytical tasks, too. It’s exciting upon
first click.

But you’ve probably pushed a tool that’s perfect for calculating

and manipulating data past its limit. Heavy data cleansing and
processing, blending multiple data sources, and joining multiple
datasets is a lot to ask of your spreadsheets.

SPREADSHEETS HAVE THEIR LIMITS

Spreadsheets are one way to calculate and manipulate

numeric data into insight to make decisions. Simply
put, spreadsheets have their limits, and they’re probably
testing yours.

6 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Night and Day
Difference In
Your Day Job

7
 Five symptoms that While spreadsheets readily solve many ad hoc needs, they simply can’t fulfill the data blending and
advanced analytic needs that you require today. Here are five signs you might be overusing spreadsheets:

signal you might have

an overdependence checkmark Multiple Data Source Insomna
on spreadsheets.
checkmark Manual Data Processing + Calculation Fixation
checkmark Dirty-Data Phobia
checkmark Repetition Malaise
checkmark Analysis Paralysis

8 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 #1 Multiple Data Source Insomnia

More data means more sources of data. In spreadsheets, blending multiple data sources,
such as Access, SQL, cloudbased data, social media data, and other spreadsheets, can be
complex or even impossible without the help of a crew of data specialists or other tools.
Scripting, lookups, and SQL queries are not for the faint of heart — especially at 2 a.m.

#2 Manual Data Processing + Calculation Fixation

If you juggle cross-updating spreadsheets and tabs within spreadsheets linked by

VLOOKUPs and other functions, this is likely speaking to you. What happens when the
perfect spreadsheet call goes wrong, leaving only vague errors like #NAME, #REF, and #NA?

#3 Dirty-Data Phobia

Data can be dirty, fraught with errors, and often missing parts altogether. Spreadsheets
limit your ability to cleanse, restructure, and reformat data, leading you to rely on IT to
deliver the datasets you need.

9 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 #4 Repetition Malaise

If you’re faced with the tedious chore of repeatedly producing the same
reports and tasks, we sympathize. Although some automation is doable,
it often requires creating macros (or Visual Basic scripting) and manual
intervention (or fragile hacks) to succeed if you are using spreadsheets.

#5 Analysis Paralysis

Most organizations expect their business analysts to use predictive analytic

tools. You may be asked to provide actionable, timely insight through a
combination of geospatial data, predictive models, and visualizations. Can
you pull this off in a spreadsheet?

10 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Warning Signs of
Overdependence
on Spreadsheets

checkDo you feel

Unfulfilled b y your existing spreadsheet reports, learning curve, or lost productivity?

checkDo you wish

You could tap into all of your unrealized data analyst potential?

checkDo you aspire

To analyses you believe could never be accomplished with your exist ng tools?

11 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Data
Deconstruction,
A Process
Reimagined

12
 Explore six new ways to From pain points to possibilities, moving from worksheets to
workflows not only raises the quality of your day, but the trajectory of

think beyond rows and your career, and the way you orient yourself to the data movement.
Will it seem daunting with every advancement or will you see your

columns and improve unique position in this digital transformation?

spreadsheet myopia. We’ve listed some of the most common datarelated tasks performed
in spreadsheets that can be transformed with modern analytics.

13 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Input Can’t all data sources just get along?
Life as a data analyst ought to be pretty sweet. After all, you’re paid to find the golden
nuggets of insight buried deep in a mountain of data — and you love to roll up your
sleeves and start digging. You start by opening data sets. And more data sets. Each
set might be from a different source or program, especially if the data comes from
different departments (if you can even get past the gatekeepers to get hold of it).

This is where the mess starts piling up. Accepting data in multiple formats isn’t
particularly easy in spreadsheets, to say the least. To build a data set you can work
with, you’ve got some wrangling to do. Maybe this situation isn’t so sweet after all.

14 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Also, as you work to incorporate data, you’ve got nagging worries in the back of your At one of America’s leading healthcare
mind: Am I adding duplicate or unnecessary information? Will I lose something providers, Thomas Hall works closely with
across files in different formats? Will I have to leave out important info altogether several teams to analyze trends, performance,
because it isn’t compatible with my data set? and create automated reports. Read their
worksheets to workflows story.
Analysts everywhere must contend with data silos, where information is trapped
in unusable formats and insulated departments. And they dream of data Read Now

nirvana: smooth, seamless data normalization, where all data is organized logically
and consistently.

15 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Watch a quick demo of how to work with
Data Sets Really Can Play Nicely Together.
data on a canvas so you can focus on game-
There is an easier way to build and normalize a data set, even if you’re working with
changing insight, not mundane data prep.
incompatible file formats, database connections, or cloud data stores. In fact, the
possibilities for data types you can include in your work are nearly endless. You simply
Watch Now
need a starting point where all formats are welcome and no data is left behind.

In Alteryx, that starting point is called your canvas. It’s visual, it’s simple, and it can
change your life. Just drag and drop an Input Data Tool onto your canvas, locate the
In Alteryx, that starting point is called
data set you’re trying to import, and select.
your canvas. It’s visual, it’s simple, and it
can change your life. Just drag and drop
If you’ve ever wasted most of a sunny day trying to get your spreadsheets solution to
an Input Data Tool onto your canvas,
accept a data source, you’re going to love the Alteryx way of doing things. Different file
locate the data set you’re trying to import,
formats or structures? Alteryx won’t even blink. You can access data locally from Excel,
and select.
Access, XML, SAS, SPSS, or MapInfo, as well as data stored in databases or HDFS.

Alteryx also has direct connectors to cloud systems such as Amazon S3, Twitter,
Foursquare, Marketo, Salesforce, and Microsoft SharePoint, as well as other Big Data
environments such as Amazon Redshift, Impala, and Spark.

16 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Alteryx also has direct
connectors to cloud systems
such as Amazon S3, Twitter,
Foursquare, Marketo, Salesforce,
and Microsoft SharePoint, as well
as other Big Data environments
such as Amazon Redshift,
Impala, and Spark.

1107
 Cleanse Data Cleaning: Where Joy Goes to Die.
The secret is out: The mundane job of data cleaning is where you spend most of
your time as an analyst. By the time you get to the good part — you know, the
“analyzing” — you’re out of gas and out of time. You still need to deliver the analysis,
of course. (Hope you didn’t make any mistakes.) Is this lack of balance really the
nature of cleaning data? Or is it simply the nature of spreadsheets?

In spreadsheets, cleaning is a highly manual process. Parsing, creating columns,

deleting rows, removing white space, and so on can take eons and suck the life right
out of you. Believe us, we know.

18 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 But there’s a bigger issue to consider. All that cutting and pasting and renaming Exercise your own workbook to workflow skills.
doesn’t just take a crazy amount of time — it’s also an invitation to make mistakes. Take Challenge #19: Excel Record Locator
Miscalculations, mental errors, and duplicate records in these early stages can send your
analysis careening in the wrong direction or even force you to start over. Exercise Now

Data integrity should be your biggest concern in the cleaning stage. You want to be
confident in the accuracy and consistency of data, no matter where you move it or how
you change its format, and make sure its meaning isn’t unintentionally altered as you
tidy it up.

19 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 It’s Time to Rethink the Manual Approach.
Instead of a mind-numbing, soul-crushing series of clicks, what if data cleansing
was one broad function accomplished by higher order tools? What if instead of a
thousand actions, you took just one or two?

Switching to Alteryx will dramatically change how much time you spend cleaning
data. We won’t lie — it’s a big deal.

You can create new columns, remove rows and columns, and change data types
with a single step in Alteryx — a step that applies instantly across your entire data set.
You can also let Alteryx take control and automatically interpret your data, assigning
types and sizes appropriate for the content. Either way, no more remembering and
repeating changes manually in multiple files. And the history of what you did is always
there, so you never again have to start over if you mess up. (Seriously.)
You can create new columns, remove rows and
columns, and change data types with a single This sophisticated approach to data cleaning virtually eliminates manual processes
step in Alteryx — a step that applies instantly and human error, freeing up your time for more important things.
across your entire data set.

20 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Join Making Music From the Mundane.
Here’s where things start getting interesting — or scary, depending on how
confident you feel in blending and appending data from separate worksheets.
Joining data sets always means altering your source material. If you’re lucky, you get
through this stage without accidentally damaging your data set. If not, it’s back to
square one.

As with most of the steps for processing data in spreadsheets, the required actions
for joining data sets are incredibly tedious. Is it just us, or is repeating “VLOOKUP” a
recipe for madness?

The trouble with blending data the old-fashioned way is that spreadsheets aren’t
agnostic. Spreadsheet programs recognize only their preferred format, and they
can’t step outside that format without direct input from you via manual tools like
VLOOKUP or INDEX MATCH. Once you start layering in multiple fields and multiple
sheets, the odds for error skyrocket.

21 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 There’s a Better Way to Blend. Ready to test out self-service analytics? Don’t
go it alone. Check out this super cool data
What if your program could simply blend the data for you so you didn’t have to waste
analytics mastery starter kit.
time worrying about format? And what if it could keep track of everything it did so you
could always go back and undo?
See Now

One profoundly simple set of tools in Alteryx (Union, Find and Replace, and Join) gives
you all the blending functionality of your old spreadsheet program but with a shiny new
set of creative capabilities you didn’t even know you needed. You can trace and retrace
your steps to any point in your workflow at any time — and follow them right back to your
starting point if you need to.

One profoundly simple set of tools

Combine multiple worksheets based on field name while maintaining the position in Alteryx (Union, Find and Replace,
of each column. Or change the column order if you like. Join two data streams with a and Join) gives you all the blending
common field by performing an inner or an outer Join. functionality of your old spreadsheet
program but with a shiny new set of
In fact, bring data together any way you like. By letting Alteryx do most of the work, you creative capabilities you didn’t even
can get right to the business of exploring your data set more deeply. know you needed.

22 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Transform Ever forgotten a filter? We get it.
To discover data’s deeper meaning, you need to view it through your own carefully-
chosen parameters. To do this in spreadsheets, you filter, sort, and pivot to transpose
and rearrange the data exactly the way you want it. Those aren’t necessarily difficult
tasks, but they must still be done manually.

Also, once you start slicing and dicing, it can be difficult to remember exactly what
you did. You can use the trace dependents function to track your actions, but again,
that tool is manual and error-prone.

The data transformation process in spreadsheets can be frustrating and time-

consuming for you personally, but the larger concern is that hidden data fields and
forgotten filters can wind up costing your company a lot of money. When you finish
an analysis, how confident are you that nothing got lost along the way? Would you
stake your job on it?

23 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 A major fast food chain is entering the next
The 21st Century Is Calling.
chapter of data-driven success. Read more
By performing common data transformation functions with highly intelligent tools,
about their analytics maturity journey.
you can reduce errors — and risk — as you move through the most exciting part of
your work.
Read Now

The Sort, Transpose, and Cross Tab Tools in Alteryx allow you to organize and pivot
your data in many different directions automatically — allowing you to see the big
picture quickly. And by using these tools in workflows, you can always get back to your
starting point and account for your steps. Being able to explain your methodology
The Sort, Transpose, and Cross Tab
and change views on the fly is priceless.
Tools in Alteryx allow you to organize
and pivot your data in many different
How would we compare transforming data in spreadsheets to transforming data in
directions automatically — allowing
workflows? We wouldn’t. It’s like comparing a 1950s rotary phone with one function
you to see the big picture quickly.
to a brand new smartphone that can do a thousand different things. When it comes
to establishing a forwardthinking strategy for data methodology, workflows are the
difference between a siloed organization and one with a true culture of analytics.

24 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Calculate Frustrated with formulas? It’s only logical.
Let’s crunch some numbers, shall we? Spreadsheets are built to calculate logical
formulas using IF statements, which are pretty painless to set up. But applying those
formulas everywhere you want them is something else entirely.

When you apply formulas, you hold a lot of information in your memory about what
you’re doing and how you got there. Cutting and pasting formulas starts to feel
a little sketchy. Where did you put that set of rows you thought you didn’t want,
again? Did you apply that formula everywhere it was supposed to go? Wait — did
you hide some cells? What happened to all the stuff on your clipboard? Was it
important?

Yikes.

25 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 The Magic of Self-Service Analytics
Better to Set It and Forget It.
Setting a formula once, with a single tool, and applying it exactly where you want it, is Manual cross tabs? No way.
a far superior solution to manually applying formulas all over the place and trying to Manual formulas? Gone.
remember what you did. Manual summarization?
Get out of here.
The Formula Tool in Alteryx is a powerful processor — with a single action, you can add
a field to an input table or create or update data fields based on an expression or a data Get to the good part of analyzing right away.
relationship. If anything is added, subtracted, or altered, your workflow shows what, when,
and where so there’s always an option to rewind and rethink.

In Alteryx, data, logic, and execution exist in separate layers. That means you can take time
The Formula Tool in Alteryx is a
to plan out your logic before you execute it, and no data will be harmed once you do. If
powerful processor — with a single
something changes or new records are added, your logic will automatically apply, so you
action, you can add a field to an
can be confident in your results.
input table or create or update data
fields based on an expression or a
Another worry crossed off the list. It’s incredibly freeing.
data relationship.

26 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Aggregate Do you type as fast as you think?
The descriptive and predictive power of data lies in aggregation — it’s where the
secrets are revealed. But summarizing data in spreadsheets requires the use of pivot
tables, so you’re still in single-focus mode as you discover key insights and deliver
your results. Viewing data through a single lens compromises your agility and
accuracy in the final phase of analysis and prevents you from being able to answer
every tough question your boss dreams up.

And then there’s the technical difficulty of working with extremely large data sets.
Sometimes your system can’t handle the load when you need to change your
parameters, shift positions, or rethink your assumptions — and that’s when the
spinning wheel of spreadsheet death hits the screen.

27 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Manual data summarization will always be
limited by the speed of your fingers, the Excel Al ter yx

capabilities of your spreadsheet solution, and A3

the power of your computer system. And your

AC B DE FG H
Fields
output lets you see only a single slice of results
Row Labels Sum of Sales RowV _String
at once — not the whole pie.
PivotTable Fields Customer ID Int16

Product_Name V_String
If you’re impatient with these limitations once
Sales Double
you get to the pinnacle of your analysis, who
can blame you? When the manual steps of data
Actions
processing move slower than your brain waves, Customer ID GroupBy Customer ID

you can lose a lot of valuable ideas. Sales Sum Total Spend

28 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Unleash Your Big, Beautiful Mind.
What you need is a powerful summary tool that can deliver multiple results and views
automatically — allowing you to explore outliers, find patterns, and ask deeper questions as
fast as you can think of them.

The Summarize Tool in Alteryx processes data instantaneously at every step along your data
journey so that you can see many views at once, speeding your time to impact. No more
building pivot tables! Group your data and then perform any number of calculations on
any fields you like, including more advanced functions not found in spreadsheets such as
financial, numeric, spatial, and behavioral analysis.

Finally, you’re able to deliver deep, nuanced insights — insights you trust, on time and on
target. Now do you see the big picture?

29 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Finally, you’re able to deliver
deep, nuanced insights —
insights you trust, on time
and on target. Now do you
see the big picture?

1300
 Is It Time to Think Beyond Columns and Rows?

checkmark Data Cleansing checkmark Troubleshooting checkmark Auditability

You are manually removing unwanted Your logic is embedded in each cell and no You painstakingly audit in complex
characters and trailing spaces. one can follow your trail. spreadsheets with nested formulas.

checkmark Combining Multiple Datasets checkmark Handling Big Datasets checkmark Advanced Analytics

You perform error-prone cut and paste You wonder if your system has frozen You use Python and R to code functions
operations or a lengthy Power Query completely — and maybe that’s what beyond the reach of spreadsheets.
process. happens.

checkmark Filtering Data checkmark Repetitive Analyses

If you’ve answered yes to
You use filters to select data, but you can Error-prone steps are needed to apply logic
one or more, it’s time to
only apply a single operation to the results. even if it’s in the same format, yikes.
explore other options.
checkmark Complex Data Prep Operations checkmark Scheduling And Automating Jobs
Involve a Variety of Steps
You run each analysis or write complex
You use complex nested formulas, which procedures and batch scripts to schedule
can become hard to understand and adapt. jobs.

31 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 From Worksheets
to Workflows

32
 Learn From Sages Across Data Roles and Build on Signs you are becoming a modern analyst:

Your Existing Skills. checkmark Predictable predictive analysis

Imagine how your workday could change if you invested in yourself and built upon checkmark Enhanced productivity
your existing spreadsheet skills. Instead of spending time on manual operations —
checkmark Feelings of euphoria
including repetitive copy-andpaste tasks that are ripe for automation — you can let
self-service analytics automate and simplify many operations and free your time for checkmark Newfound office popularity

those advanced analytics we mentioned earlier. checkmark Improved self-esteem from data empowerment

checkmark Enviable geospatial awareness

33 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 It’s Logical if You Think About It. See your data changes in motion. Alteryx
Visualytics enables analysts to visualize the
With spreadsheets, logic is embedded into the data and expressed as formulas applied to
data not just at the end of the analytics
each cell. In contrast, modern self-service analytics separates logic from data. You build
process but throughout the entire problem-
the logic in visual workflows that make it easy to see the exact sequence of steps applied
solving journey.
to each dataset. That makes it much easier to perform repeating analyses, adapt logic for
new purposes, apply complex prep and blend operations, and troubleshoot problems.
See More

The beauty of a workflow is it allows you 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 you to understand where issues or errors might be in the data and the process.

The beauty of a workflow is it allows

you 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.

34 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 I feel like a lumberjack that just
discovered a chainsaw. I’ve been
an Excel power user for 25 years
and I look at it and go, ‘Excel just
got lapped ... bad.’

Mark Thompson, Director of Data Services, The General

1305
 Five Ways to Improve Spreadsheet
Processes
Alteryx alleviates five major challenges you face when using
spreadsheets for data preparation, blending, and analytics:

#1 Transparency

#2 Repeatability

#3 Operationalize

#4 Scalability

#5 Advanced analytics

36 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Transparency
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 without starting over. And you don’t need
to comment and document your thought process — because it’s all right there for
everyone to see.

That means if you ever need to go back and demonstrate how you came to an
answer, you can do it with ease.

37 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 I can 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 .... 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

1308
 Repeatability
Free yourself from the tedious task of producing the same reports over and over.
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 canvas that requires no coding.

39 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Stratasys increases efficiencies
and generates big-time savings by
automating repetitive weekly and
quarterly reports. Reports that once
took five hours now run in 30 minutes.

Read More

1400
 Operationalize
You should be able 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.

41 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Scalability
Without any limitations on either data size or format, a modern analytics solution
allows your analysis to grow with your data and reporting needs.

Advanced Analytics
Self-service analytics makes it easy to incorporate statistical, predictive, and spatial
analysis in the same workflow environment — and you don’t have to write a single
line of code.

42 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 A New Day For
the Analyst

43
 Delivering a whole lot more The evolution of self-service analytics is upon us. What started
out as a means to an end for a data analyst who dealt with a

with a whole lot less. single source of data, has now led to the necessity of combining
multiple sources of data. Throughout this evolution, data
blending has empowered those analysts in the line of business
with the ability to access and combine data from multiple
sources to reveal deeper intelligence that drives better business
decision-making.

44 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Modern, self-service analytics platforms are designed specifically
to handle that heavy lifting for complex analysis — and to make
it simple, fast, and fun. Self-service analytics platforms work in
ways that are fundamentally different than spreadsheets. Those
differences have big implications for what you can do, how easily
you work, how long each step takes, and ultimately, your outputs
and outcomes.

Because self-service analytics platforms liberate you from the time-

consuming manual steps that spreadsheets require, you have more
time for creative, higher-level work.

With self-service analytics like the Alteryx Platform, you can do

advanced analysis that’s simply beyond the reach of spreadsheets.
Alteryx can work hand in hand with spreadsheets to deliver
output from Alteryx back to spreadsheets for further reporting
or analysis, format the output to deliver data into multiple tabs
in a spreadsheet, and feed output to a specific table where it can
append or replace records in the table.

45 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
 Some days at work I don’t
even feel like I’m working.
I’m just solving puzzles,
and when they click
together, BAM!

Frits Kosovsky, Business Analyst, Helloprint

1406
 The benefits of switching from worksheets
to workflows are far-reaching. You get
repeatability, transparency, drag-and-drop
flexibility, and so much more.

We get it: You’ve invested hours, probably years, perfecting your spreadsheet game. But this isn’t like
telling a baseball player to switch to football. It’s giving you a commercial mixer to process 20 cakes
instead of a large spoon. A Ferrari for a road trip instead of an Astro van. The latest HDTV to watch your
favorite team instead of an old black-and-white.

Ultimately, the power to accelerate your analytics and take back your career comes down to your own
mindset. You’ve already got the skills and background knowledge to get started. Are you up for the
challenge? When the stakes are as high as loving or hating your job, what do you have to lose? Check
out the following resources and reengage with your career. You’re on your way to data analytics mastery.

47 T H E S P R E A D S H E E T U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O M O D E R N A N A LY T I C S
Next Steps

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in Alteryx training designed for analysts who embrace upcoming live training
spreadsheet users self-service analytics

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