Item: Sigma Computing
Rating: 10
Author: John Nham, CPA, CFE

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our entire organization uses Sigma, which sits on top of the Snowflake database. Sigma allows me to pull raw data from Snowflake without having to know SQL. I use Sigma to pull down raw data for sales transactional data, payer mix data, and financial data. Sigma allows me to pull data from several tables and join them together to make reports without having to use Excel.

Pros and Cons

Allows user to move columns around to fit their report format.
Allows for pre-filters in the report.
Allows for user to join several data tables together to make a report.

Data can be slow to refresh at times.
Sigma isn't build to be a BI tool, so visualization is limited.
The user guide/help button is limited.

Return on Investment

Sigma requires little training effort for the entire organization, which can save time and money.
Sigma is easily navigable, making it user-friendly.
Sigma doesn't allow me to save my custom report without having the premium version.

Usability

I use Sigma in my daily finance and accounting functions. I find that Sigma is pretty easy to use. There are certain reports that I used to email out to the Executives on a weekly basis. Since we have onboarded Sigma, the standard reports are auto emailed out on a weekly basis at a prescheduled time.

Support Rating

Even though Sigma is a pretty easy online application to use, I think that the user-guide is not very friendly and does not always have the solution. I often resort to searching for help from the various online Sigma communities. Maybe Sigma should create an online Sigma community like what Alteryx has done.

Sigma Computing SQL Knowledge

Yes - Since I do not know SQL, Sigma has been an amazing tool to help me pull down raw data. I believe that I'm not the only person in the organization that doesn't know SQL, and because of that, we have implemented Sigma across the organization. Every department has the need for data, and the ability to retrieve those data, and Sigma has helped with that.

Dashboards

The version that my organization subscribed to does not have much data visualization. I think Sigma can allow for the more advanced data visualization for the lower version. Currently right now, we have to use PowerBI on top of Sigma data download to build out our visualization.

Sigma Collaboration

The great thing about Sigma is that it allows us to publish our reports across the organization. Team members can also create their own workspace or work in the group's workspace to add and edit reports. Prior to Sigma, we used to share Excel reports back and forth and it was difficult to maintain version control.

Sigma Access Speed

For our organization, Sigma sits on top of Snowflake. Sigma is designed to enable fast connection to Snowflake and allows me to refresh the data whenever I need to. Typically refreshing data and reports do not take very long, but I have noticed that since we have started working from home, the data refresh can be slower.

Alternatives Considered

Sigma is the first software that I have used that allows me to easily access data tables. I do not have other experience with similar software, but I do like the fact that Sigma doesn't require extensive SQL knowledge. I am not sure if other similar software will have that capability and ease of use.

Likelihood to Recommend

As a finance and accounting professional, I do not have great knowledge of SQL. The advantage of Sigma is that it allows the user without knowledge of SQL to pull raw data, join tables, and build any custom report that they would need. Because it's good for creating reports, Sigma may not be well suited for data visualization.

Review of Sigma Computing

Overall Satisfaction with Sigma Computing