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Build Plans

A Plan is a sequence of tasks that are executed manually or based on a schedule. Use Plans to orchestrate the execution of multiple related tasks in Alteryx One.

When a Plan runs:

  • Alteryx One captures a snapshot of the objects in the Plan. This snapshot defines the set of tasks that are executed as part of a Plan run.

    Note

    A snapshot does not capture the assets underlying the tasks. After a snapshot is taken, subsequent changes to the underlying assets could impact the outcome of the tasks when they are later executed during the Plan run.

  • The set of tasks in the Plan is triggered in the order listed in the Plan.

  • All of the dependencies for any task are also executed.

Before You Begin

Before you begin, please verify the following:

  • You have access to all of the assets that you wish to use in your Plan.

Create Plan

To begin, you must create a Plan object.

  1. From the Alteryx One landing page, select Plans from the App Switcher.

  2. On the Plans page, select New. A new Plan with the name Plan - X is created, where X is a number.

  3. Select the Plan - X to enter a Plan name and description.

  4. Your Plan is saved and displayed in Plan Canvas View.

Add Task

Create Task

  1. Identify the tasks that you wish to execute.

    Note

    You must have access to any assets that you wish to execute as tasks.

  2. In the Plan Canvas view page, drag and drop the task type to the Plan canvas. The task details and configuration options are displayed on the right side.

  3. Select the task, and configure it as needed.

  4. Add additional tasks as needed.

  5. To test your Plan, select Run. The Plan is immediately queued for execution.

  6. Edit the Plan and repeat the above steps until the Plan is ready for production runs.

    Tip

    While a Plan is in development, you may wish to disable its schedule, which prevents execution according to the schedule. You can still run test executions using the Run button.

  7. To create the schedule, select Schedule.

    1. Specify one or more triggers for the schedule. When a trigger occurs, the Plan is queued for execution.

  8. When ready, the Plan runs at the time scheduled in the trigger.

Task Types

  • Workflow Task: A workflow task allows you to execute one of your Designer Cloud workflows as part of a Plan that you create in Alteryx One. For more information, go to Workflow Tasks.

  • Desktop Workflow Task: Orchestrate the execution of your Designer Desktop workflows that were uploaded to Alteryx One. For more information, go to Desktop Workflow Tasks.

  • Flow Task: Orchestrate your Trifacta Flows. For more information, go to Flow Tasks.

  • ML Prediction Task: Make predictions on new data with your Machine Learning project.

  • ML Upload Task: Upload new training data to your Machine Learning project.

  • HTTP Task: A request submitted to a third-party server as part of a Plan run. Also, use it to generate a dataset with API call response that can be used in Designer Cloud workflow. For more information, go to HTTP Tasks.

  • Slack Task: Send a message with information about the Plan run to a specified Slack channel. For more information, go to Slack Tasks.

  • Auto Insights Task: Refresh data in one of your Auto Insights Datasets. For more information, go to Auto Insights Tasks.

  • Email Task: Send emails and email attachments from the outputs of upstream tasks. For more information, go to Email Tasks.

  • Delay Task: Set an artificial delay before the execution of the next task. For more information, go to Delay Tasks.

  • Approval Task: Designate an approver(s) who can decide on whether the Plan should continue to execute downstream tasks. For more information, go to Approval Tasks.

For a complete overview of the Task types and their specific details, visit Plan Tasks.

Connect Tasks

Create Plan Branches

In some scenarios, you may need to branch Plan execution steps based on the results of a task in the Plan. For example, you may need to send separate messages using an HTTP task depending on whether a previous task succeeds or fails in execution. You can create branches in the Plan graph by adding task execution rules and parallel nodes, which run based on the success and failure states of your Plan runs.

To begin this simple example:

  1. Create your first task.

  2. Complete the following sections.

Define conditional execution

On the right side of the task that you have created, you can see the following icons. These icons indicate the pathways out of the task based on success, failure, or both. See the table below.

Note

You can add new tasks to your Plan and connect them to the first task at one of these pathways.

Icon

Description

Success_task_icon.png

Tasks that are connected to this pathway are executed upon Success of the upstream task.

Failure_task_icon.png

Tasks that are connected to this pathway are executed upon Failure of the upstream task.

Any_status_task_icon.png

Tasks that are connected to this pathway are executed upon any execution status of the upstream task.

Merging Tasks

To create additional task execution logic, connect the output of multiple upstream tasks to the input of a single task. The resulting task of a merge waits until all upstream connected tasks complete before executing. The merge also passes relevant workflow outputs or task metadata from all merged upstream tasks. For example, if you connect 2 Workflow tasks to a Slack task, you can use the metadata (for example, workflow duration or end time) from both workflows in your Slack message.

For more information on how to create and manage your plans, go to Plan Tasks.

Data Exchange Between Tasks

You can interact with tasks in Plans by directly using the output of an upstream workflow task as the input for a downstream task, enabling seamless overrides.

Supported Exchanges:

  • Designer Cloud → Machine Learning Predict

  • HTTP → Workflow task

  • Workflow task → HTTP

  • Workflow task → Workflow task

The schema of the override output should be the same as the input you are overriding.

Note

Limitation

For the Workflow task to Workflow task exchange, the upstream output must be in CSV format, while the downstream input can be in any format.

Apply Parameter Overrides

If your Plan tasks include assets where parameters have been defined, you can review and override these parameter values. Overrides are applied when the task is triggered as part of a Plan run.

Limited Parameterization Support

Plans only support parameterization for Trifacta Classic Flows at this time.

  1. From the Plan Canvas View context menu, select Parameters.

  2. Review the names, sources, and current values for all of the parameters in your Plan.

  3. To apply an override, select the pencil icon and enter a new value. Select Save.

Subsequent runs of the Plan use this new value as the override for the parameter.

In this section: