Sigma Basics
Core Components
A Sigma project has the following components:
- Data stores and connections to them
- The data store, the source of the data used to drive analysis, is usually a data warehouse such as Snowflake or BigQuery. Sigma does not store the data itself; it accesses the data through a connection. Sigma can connect to a variety of data stores and also supports uploaded .csv files. Sigma Admins create and manage connections, among other tasks, in the Admin Portal.
- Datasets
- Raw data from a data store may need some manipulation, pruning, additional calculations, etc. in order to be most useful in analysis. In Sigma, you create a dataset from your data store and use it to drive the data in one or more workbooks. It's more efficient to create and reuse the same dataset for different workbooks, than to always use the raw data and re-do any modifications. See Data Modeling In Sigma.
- Workbooks
- Workbooks display the tables and visualizations used to communicate your analysis. Workbooks contain pages, much like tabs in a spreadsheet. Pages contain the tables, charts, controls (filters), free-form text, and images used to relay information to people who view the workbook. If you've worked with other BI products, a workbook page is like a dashboard. See Workbooks: An Overview.
- API
- Use the Sigma REST API to programmatically access a broad range of Sigma features.
Users
Access to functionality in Sigma occurs across different groupings of people:
- Organization
- An organization is the highest level grouping and normally correlates to a business entity.
- Team
- Teams are sets of users. Teams make it easy to share connections, datasets, and workbooks with a group of people.
- User
- Users are individuals with accounts in Sigma. There are different types of uses who have different permissions in the system:
- Admin
- Manages the system, including data connections, user permissions, and more.
- Creator
- Creates datasets and workbooks.
- Viewer
- Views the workbooks, navigates through pages, clicks to change control filters, drill downs, and more.
Exports and Reports
Viewers, given permission, can see workbooks directly in Sigma. In addition, Admins and Creators can schedule emails that contain attachment versions of a workbook in relevant formats such as .pdf or .csv. Slack notifications are also supported.
Related Resources