Trailhead Baby

My best friends! Cousin and little brother. I am thrilled to announce that my best friend / cousin has just started his own Trailblazer journey!  He took his first Superbadge challenge a few weeks ago, and I am excited to share his thoughts.  If you are thinking about starting your first Superbadge, this is a must read: My cousin has garnered quite a reputation for himself in recent months. His groupies call him the Trailhead Baby. I'm not impressed. He keeps talking about his love for Trailhead. Ohana this, superbadge that, sheesh! I decided to do a little investigating and create my very own Trailhead account. It wasn't so bad at the beginning. CRMs are actually pretty cool, Community Cloud is interesting, and I have a knack for analytics! Then I tried my first super badge: Reports and Dashboards Specialist. What was I thinking?!? I had a great life: playing with dump trucks, picking on my little brother, and access to string cheese 24/7. Now I have this beauti...

 It was a bit too chilly for a swim this morning, so I took a quick dip in the bathroom sink instead.  I can climb into the sink on my own!  I just climbed on top of the toilet, stretched across the gap, and lifted myself onto the counter.  Who knew that there would be so many interesting things in the bathroom that are usually out of reach?  Mom caught me, however, and sent me to my room.     Since I'm in my room with plenty of extra time....Welcome to dataflow transformations - round 2!

I debated naming this post "dataflow for dummies", but mom says that "dummies" is a naughty word.  Adults seem to say a lot of words that are taboo for a baby like me.  I would share some of them, but my mom might find out and put me in time out. Let's start with definitions- What is a dataflow and why would you need one?  A dataflow is: A way to bring data from Salesforce into an analytics project A place to combine data from multiple datasets A simple way to manipulate data without code. Here's an example of a dataflow from the Einstein Analytics Data Preparation Specialist Superbadge. HINT:  If you are having trouble with this superbadge,  click here  to link to a thread on the Salesforce developer community that should help.  Also, peruse these articles from help.Salesforce.com:  Create Datasets with Dataflow .  You are always welcome to ask me for help by leaving a comment! One more quick definition before w...

Swimming with my daddy! (The water was cold!) The water was a bit chilly, so I decided to take this afternoon and learn more about Salesforce Analytics instead of swimming: The Trailhead Baby's standard approach to a superbadge is to blog about each step, with tips and tricks surrounding the challenges.  The Einstein Analytics Data Preparation superbadge has additional complexity since the Analytics app has very different "look and feel" than Salesforce.  Consider this a more "concept"  based approach.  If you have questions or get stuck on the superbadge, I'm happy to help!  Just leave a comment! Let's switch gears from the Analytics Studio and peer into the Data Manager. The data manager is the place to...*pause for a dramatic effect*... manage data! 1) Monitor - Keep an eye on data flow jobs- If a job does not complete, the monitor area will say why.  What is a "data flow job?"  Great question! A data flow is ...

Preparation! The newest Superbadge title is: Einstein Analytics Data Preparation Specialist. Take a hint from the Trailhead Baby, and spend time preparing before you tackle this badge.  (Also take time to prepare before going for a swim.  Do you like my hat?)  I completed the prerequisite modules, started the superbadge, and after two days of head scratching and excessive milk drinking... I went back to the basics.  What foundations of analytics are critical to understand before becoming an Einstein Analytics Data Preparation Specialist?  Let's take a look! Note- Hopefully you have a better background in analytics than I.  The first time that I opened the Analytics Studio was to prepare for this superbadge! The goal here is to explain analytics in "baby terms," or, as my mom likes to say: "If you can't explain something to a Kindergartner, then you don't really understand it." 1. The Analytics Studio is an app.  Just like any other app, y...