Use Sigma Assistant to explore and analyze workbook data

Sigma Assistant lets you ask natural language questions about workbook data and content. When viewing the published version of a workbook, you can use Assistant to explore the workbook data and iterate on analysis. If you open a workbook for editing, you can also analyze data from build mode or plan mode.

When you use Assistant in the published version of a workbook, you can do any of the following:

• Ask questions about data in the workbook, including follow-up questions to further explore the data.
• Review the step-by-step decision logic that Assistant used to answer your question.

This document describes the capabilities of Assistant when viewing the published version of a workbook. For information about using Assistant in plan or build mode when editing a workbook draft, see Use Sigma Assistant to build dashboards and apps.

Requirements

When viewing the published version of a workbook, using Sigma Assistant requires the following:

• A supported AI provider must be configured for your organization. See Configure an AI provider.

• You must be assigned an account type with the Use Assistant permission enabled. See Account types.

• You must be granted access to the workbook.

Interact with Sigma Assistant in a published workbook

When viewing the published version of a workbook, you can use Sigma Assistant to ask about the entire workbook or specific elements, or you can ask it to reason about the workbook data. If you switch from the published version or the draft of the workbook, Sigma Assistant maintains context of the current conversation.

Ask questions of the workbook with Sigma Assistant

To ask questions about all pages in your workbook:

1. In the workbook header, select () Assistant panel.

2. Where prompted to Ask about this workbook or type @ to reference elements and pages, enter a question about the workbook. Enter @ to reference an element or page by name.

   Sigma Assistant responds.

3. (Optional) Ask follow-up questions about the data.

Ask questions of an element with Sigma Assistant

To ask questions about a specific data element in your workbook:

1. In any supported element menu, select Analyze with Assistant.

2. In the input field, enter a prompt.

   The Assistant panel opens and responds to the prompt in the context of the selected element.

3. (Optional) Ask follow-up questions.

Add a chart from Sigma Assistant’s response

When Sigma Assistant includes a chart in its response, you can click Add to workbook to add it directly to the workbook canvas.

• If any filter controls elsewhere in the workbook already target the chart’s underlying data, Assistant also adds those controls with the chart.
• If you add the chart while interacting with Assistant in the published version, Assistant automatically opens a custom view.

Access and manage recent chats

If chat history is enabled for your organization, you can view, resume, rename, and delete your own recent chats with Sigma Assistant. The retention period depends on your organization’s chat history settings.

Sigma retains one chat history for Assistant in the workbook, so the Recent chats list in the following steps includes chats with Assistant in the workbook draft (plan and build mode) and Assistant in the published version. For information about accessing recent chats with Assistant on the homepage, see Ask natural language queries with Sigma Assistant.

1. In the workbook, open the Assistant panel.

2. In the panel header, select Recent chats, then complete any of the following tasks in the popover:

   • To view or resume a chat, select it from the list. Sigma reopens it where you left off.
   • To rename a chat, click More next to the current chat name, then select Rename. Edit the name inline and press Enter.
   • To delete a chat, click More next to the chat name, then select Delete. The chat is immediately deleted from your recent chats, but admins can still review it in the AI usage dashboard.
   • To start a new chat, select New chat. Sigma closes the current chat and opens a new one.

Example use cases and prompts

For example, given a large workbook that contains product sales data for PLUGS ELECTRONICS, you can interact with Sigma Assistant in any of the following ways:

• Explore the workbook and its contents. Discover which pages contain relevant information for your question. Sample questions:

  • What does this dashboard cover?
  • What page has sales totals for each region?
  • Is there a chart showing the trend line of sales per region?

• Get answers based on data in the workbook, and interact with Assistant to review data summaries instead of creating your own. Sample questions:

  • What were the total units sold?
  • What were the sales in the first quarter?
  • Which products are the top drivers of revenue?
  • What’s the average number of products sold by month over the last 6 months?

• Ask questions about a specific chart or data element, including different aggregation levels or filters. Sample questions:

  • What was the monthly sales trend in the West region over the last 6 months?
  • For a chart that shows average products sold by region: What were the average products sold by state?

• Ask complex questions that involve reasoning on the data. Sample questions:

  • How is the business doing?
  • Which store is underperforming compared to the others?
  • Why was there a dip in sales in October?

Embed Assistant in the workbook

If you want to securely embed a workbook and give users access to Assistant in the workbook, add :show_assistant=true to your embed URL as a query string parameter. Only users with the Use Assistant permission enabled on their account type can access Assistant in the workbook.

Embedding Assistant in the workbook is only supported for secure embeds. You cannot embed Assistant in a public embed. For more details, see Embed URL parameters.

Related resources

• Ask natural language queries with Sigma Assistant
• Get started with AI in Sigma
• Configure AI features for your organization
• Use Sigma Assistant to build dashboards and apps