Sigma on Sigma: Empower Your Stakeholders With Timely Data Projections

Are your decision-makers familiar with cohorts and triangles? Are you finding yourself iterating on projections when new assumptions or hypotheses are shared? Many analytics teams struggle to tie hypotheses from their stakeholders into their projections consistently. Oftentimes, teams find themselves constantly iterating spreadsheets and having to manage multiple sources of siloed spreadsheets. Read on to learn how we empower and enable our decision-makers to free up analysts time.  

At Sigma, data constantly drives us. We love to ask ourselves, “What if…?” When it comes to planning for the future, it’s critical for our team members to be able to understand what percentage of leads we can expect to reach stage “X” (where X is a specific part of a lead’s lifecycle) Why? It is important to keep a pulse on lead flow so we can understand what percentage of leads can be expected to reach a specific stage during the lead lifecycle. Having a clear understanding of lead flow allows stakeholders to identify areas where improvements can be made to increase lead conversion rates.

If you're used to analyzing data in spreadsheets or other traditional methods, you know that transforming data in spreadsheets (e.g., using index(match(), match())... IFYKYK), iterating based on feedback, and making continuous revisions can be both time-consuming and daunting. But what if there's a better way?

Wouldn’t it be nice to build a structure enabling the key stakeholder to iterate with their hypothesis? We all know “final” products aren’t final products; as time goes by, final products require additional iterations, and before you realize, a new quarter begins. For your next quarter, let me share how we eliminate the data export and transformation piece of this process using Sigma and Input Tables. Our goal is to build reports that enable self-service data analytics where it makes sense to.

What are Input Tables and What Can They Do?

Input Tables is a Sigma feature that gives the users the ability to create and manage their own tables directly in a cloud data  warehouse and leverage all the power that comes with it. They are useful to help people add in their own data or assumptions against existing data. In this example, we’re going to use an Input Table to allow our end-user to override historical averages across cohorts and input their expected Stage X values to forecast Stage Y.

Enabling Your Stakeholders

Let’s take a peek at how we can let our end-user take advantage of forecasting based on historical data, once the initial groundwork is completed

Cohort Analysis and Projections

With these types of analysis, we want to enable our users to:

• Self-serve drill-downs into specific cohorts
• Add in their assumptions on seasonality or lift
• Project future metrics for consumption or movement from Point A to Point B (Think inventory management from warehouse to point-of-sale, go-to-market funnels, speed of ticket sales from issuance, etc.)

Ultimately, with this analysis, you can help your stakeholders get visibility and control over these types of tables:

Historical Month-over-Month Cohorted Conversion Rates

Month-over-Month Actuals with Forecasted Numbers in the Same Table

In addition to the views above, we want to understand how this looks for different audiences and groups while adding in additional assumptions.

User Controls Example

Empowering Your Stakeholders

Let’s dive into how to enable your stakeholders with this information and help them augment and leverage it through page controls and Input Tables.

Check out this short video to see how it works:

By using Sigma, we’re able to save our stakeholders constant iterations and enable everyone to effectively guide their strategy and planning. No more files with the name “V467, V468… etc.” appended to the end. 

In conclusion, with Sigma and Input Tables, you can empower your stakeholders by enabling them to iterate their hypotheses. This allows you to free up your analysts’ time and guide effective decision-making and planning. So what are you waiting for? Give Input Tables a try and start saving time while empowering your team! 

Interested in saving yourself iterations on your future quarterly planning? Schedule a demo today.