Sigma’s Automated Reporting: How to Save Time, Cut Costs, and Deliver for Your Business

Data-driven organizations understand that timing is everything: delivering insights at the right moment empowers agile responses to market dynamics and maximizing business impact.

Data teams often find themselves overwhelmed with requests for new reports, ad hoc analyses, and data distribution. Without automation, these tasks can turn into repetitive manual work: rerunning queries, sending out the same reports, and copying links for various stakeholders. This busy work leaves little time for actual data analysis.

With Sigma, you can automate these processes, making workflows more efficient, data more accessible, and your business more data-driven. Learn how report automation can improve your operations, its benefits, and how to set it up in Sigma.

What is report automation?

Report automation means updating and delivering your business reports automatically according to a set schedule. This includes extracting data, updating visualizations, and sharing reports, all without manual intervention. Business excellence depends on consistently delivering timely and reliable insights across the organization.

This transforms how businesses operate, optimizing workflows, accelerating decisions, and leading to improved performance and growth.

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Benefits of report automation with Sigma

Save time and reduce effort: Manually sending the same report to multiple people is a drain on resources. Sigma’s report automation cuts down this redundant work, freeing up your data team to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Boost productivity: By automating repetitive tasks, your data teams can spend more time on meaningful analysis and less on manual report generation and distribution.

Cut costs: Time saved is money saved. Automation reduces the need for analysts to spend their day on tasks that can be handled by Sigma, thus lowering operational costs.

Enable real-time decision-making: Automatically refreshed data ensures that stakeholders always have the most current information, facilitating quicker and more informed decision-making.

Increase data accessibility: Regularly scheduled reports ensure consistent access to key metrics for all teams, supporting a data-centric organization.

Key considerations for setting up report automation

Ensure data accuracy: Accurate data is essential. Ensure the data in your automated reports is error-free and sourced properly to maintain workflow integrity.

Optimize database load and timing: Running reports can strain your database. Schedule report generation during off-peak hours to minimize impact and ensure availability for all users.

Choose the proper sharing channels: Automated reports are only useful if they reach the right people. Sigma allows you to deliver reports via platforms like Slack and Email, ensuring everyone’s information is up-to-date.

Automating reports with Sigma

Sigma simplifies the process of automating reports, offering a seamless experience compared to traditional BI tools. Here’s what makes Sigma stand out:

• Efficient data processing: Sigma’s data engine minimizes database load, making report automation smooth and efficient.
• Flexible scheduling options: Set up reports to be sent at various intervals, including daily (once or multiple times), weekly (once or multiple times), monthly, or custom.
• Condition-based triggers: Use APIs or webhooks to automate reports based on specific conditions or events.
• Detailed metadata: Automated reports include metadata like last edited and last run times, enhancing transparency and reliability.
• Direct sharing capabilities: Share reports directly from Sigma with internal and external stakeholders, with controlled access permissions.
• Multi-platform delivery: Deliver reports via download (as JSON, Excel, PDF, PNG, or CSV), email (as Excel, PDF, PNG, or CSV), Slack (as Excel, PDF, PNG, or CSV), Google Sheets, Webhook (as JSON or CSV), or Cloud storage (as CSV or gzipped CSV).

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