Designer Cloud FAQs

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

 

Overview

 
Who is the target audience for Designer Cloud?

Designer Cloud caters to all modern data workers looking to accelerate the data preparation process – regardless of technical ability. It’s valuable for anyone who works with data, including data analysts, data engineers, data scientists, and even business users.

 
How do I get started with Designer Cloud?

You can get started with Designer Cloud for free as part of the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform trial by visiting our trial page.

 
How does Designer Cloud work with code?

Designer Cloud is currently a no-code solution, allowing users of any technical skill level to create data pipelines without writing a single line of code. Once built and executed, Designer Cloud workflows will be translated into SQL code and run on the engine of your choice.

 
Which cloud platforms are supported by Designer Cloud?

Designer Cloud currently supports AWS, Databricks, and Snowflake. Google Cloud is supported via our parallel offering, Google Cloud Dataprep, and Microsoft Azure support is planned to be added in the near future.

 
How does Designer Cloud fit into the modern data stack including ELT and ETL processes?

Designer Cloud can be used for either ELT or ETL. Its primary use case is to allow the building of self-service data transformations, after which users have flexibility to choose the execution order of extraction and loading depending on their architecture. This can be used to serve modern cloud data warehouses and unified data warehouse/data lake constructs.

 

Data Transformation

 
How does Designer Cloud deliver data transformation?

Designer Cloud makes it easy to apply data transformations using a low-code, drag-and-drop user interface. Advanced AI/ML technology powered by Alteryx AiDEN is employed to help users speed up the transformation process, including features like predictive transformation suggestions and data brushing.

 
Where can the transformed data from Designer Cloud be used?

The sky is the limit. In general, the output from Designer Cloud can be used wherever high-quality data is required – such as the various applications in the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform. This could also include various repositories and applications, such as cloud data warehouses, AI/ML systems, data pipelines, and applications related to smart analytics and reporting.

 
Which data sources can I connect to from Designer Cloud?

Designer Cloud offers Universal Data Connectivity to a wide range of data sources both on-premises and in the cloud. With a self-service architecture, Designer Cloud provides flexible and seamless access to data to support a range of use cases and applications with REST, XML, and JDBC frameworks. Learn more from our Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform integrations page.

 
Can I share my data transformations with my team?

Yes, Designer Cloud enables data democratization by allowing you to share and collaborate with your teams. Additionally, you can also share and leverage the larger Alteryx community where you can share, exchange, and learn best practices.

 
How does Designer Cloud integrate with data pipelines?

Designer Cloud helps you build automated data pipelines at any scale. Using the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform’s automation and orchestration capabilities, you can operationalize self-service data pipelines quickly and easily.

 

Data Profiling & Quality

 
What is data profiling?

Data profiling is the process of evaluating the content and quality of data, helping determine the accuracy, completeness, and validity of a given dataset.

 
How does Designer Cloud perform data profiling?

Designer Cloud’s visual, interactive interface is built-in with powerful data profiling capabilities. The interface provides visually compelling representations of the dataset, where Designer Cloud automatically identifies dataset formats, schemas, and specific attributes and relationships, along with associated metadata for each dataset.

 
What are the benefits of data profiling capabilities provided by Designer Cloud?

Designer Cloud’s data profiling capabilities enable quick identification of problems in your dataset, as well as providing actionable insights throughout the lifecycle of your data project. When needed, Designer Cloud will also provide transformation suggestions to rectify irregular or incongruent data.

 

Pricing

 
How does pricing work with Designer Cloud?

For more information on Designer Cloud pricing, please visit our pricing page.