ACAW study guide
ACAW · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ACAW (Alteryx Certified Advanced Workflow Specialist) is a vendor credential aimed at analysts who already build Alteryx workflows fluently and want to demonstrate deeper design skill rather than basic tool familiarity. It suits practitioners who regularly blend messy multi-source data, write non-trivial expressions, build macros and analytic apps, and tune workflows that other people depend on. The ACAW study guide has 8 sections and about 2,297 words.
01Data Preparation and Blending
Data preparation in Alteryx centers on the Input Data tool, the Data Cleansing tool, Select, and the Join family. Know the difference between a Join (inner by default, with Left/Right/Full options), a Join Multiple (two or more inputs, requires at least one common field per pair), and an Append Fields (cartesian, no key).
339 words, about 2 min02Workflow Design and Optimization
Workflow design questions test whether you understand execution order and data flow . Alteryx runs tools when all upstream inputs are satisfied; tools on independent branches can run in parallel, but a single tool with multiple inputs waits for all of them.
322 words, about 2 min03Advanced Formula and Expression Techniques
Advanced expression questions probe the Formula tool's function library and syntax. Core functions: IIF(condition, true, false) , IF...THEN...ELSE...ENDIF (multi-line), Switch , ToString , ToNumber , Trim , Left , Right , Substring , FindString , Replace , REGEX Replace , DateTimeParse , and DateTimeFormat .
265 words, about 1 min04Spatial and Predictive Analytics
Spatial tools operate on spatial objects carried in a field of type SpatialObj. Key tools: Create Points (from lat/long), Spatial Match (point-in-polygon, distance), Trade Area (drive-time or radius), Buffer , Poly-Build , and Find Nearest .
273 words, about 1 min05Parsing, Transformation, and Advanced Tool Configuration
Parsing questions test Text to Columns , RegEx , JSON Parse , XML Parse , and the Dynamic Rename / Dynamic Select tools. Text to Columns splits on a delimiter or fixed width; a trap is that it drops the original field unless "Output original field" is checked, and empty splits create nulls.
281 words, about 1 min06Macros and Application Building
Macros extend workflows. Three types: Standard (a reusable tool with input/output anchors), Batch (iterates over grouped records, one group per run), and Iterative (loops until a condition is met).
283 words, about 1 min07Analytic Apps and Interface Design
Analytic Apps wrap a workflow behind an interface. The Interface Designer configures questions (Text Box, Drop Down, List Box, Check Box, Radio Button, File Browse, Date), and Action tools connect each question to a tool property (e.g., update a Filter value, a Select field, or a file path).
269 words, about 1 min08Performance Tuning and Error Handling
Performance questions focus on reducing data volume early and avoiding unnecessary passes. Techniques: filter and select fields as early as possible, avoid Append Fields on large inputs (cartesian explosion), prefer Join over repeated Find Replace , and use Sample to prototype on a subset.
265 words, about 1 min