Great collaboration with intuitive interface and dynamic visualization capabilities
What is our primary use case?
The project I worked on with Sigma involved creating a migration assessment tracker. We fetch all the data from the Tableau server and the cloud through the metadata API or the REST API. Then our data engineering team puts that particular data through the Alteryx workflow, refines all the components, and pushes the data into Snowflake. We then connect Snowflake with Sigma. With that report, you can compute how much time it will take to migrate a particular site, how many workbooks exist, how many tabs are in Tableau, the duration required, and the complexity of the workbook based on the calculations.
The report also shows if any workbook is associated with upstream workflows or how many published data sources exist. We brought this information onto Sigma and created our report accordingly to estimate the migration time.
It serves the marketing team by ensuring that when receiving a project involving migration from Tableau to Sigma, they can estimate the time required. It estimates all efforts based on these complexities, the size of the Tableau server, and the number of users involved.
What is most valuable?
Compared to other BI tools, each tool has its own capabilities. Sigma has excellent features, such as lookup tables where you can easily bring data that are not interrelated or at different granularity. Because in Tableau, you can see various LODs. To create those same functionalities in Sigma, we generally use lookup tables and replicate that functionality there. It has multiple good controls such as segmented controls. It also provides tab options with the inbuilt feature in the interface itself. If you need to create a similar thing in Tableau, you need to create separate sheets or buttons. Sigma provides several cool features. You can create multiple visuals, and the maps functionality is very good in Sigma. We explored all the charts that Sigma has provided in its interface. Although Sigma is introducing some AI capabilities, that has yet to be explored from our side. We have explored the interface part, creating dashboards, and managing data sources with joins and relationships.
What needs improvement?
As we are exploring multiple features in Sigma, I think Sigma can add more functionality. As Power BI gives multiple modeling options in its interface with the query editor, those features can be added in Sigma for intuitiveness or for making the data very clean. From the dashboarding perspective, it performs well. However, from the modeling perspective, it requires more capabilities that can be added in Sigma.
The main improvement needed is in data modeling capabilities. If they add those features in the near future, it would be very helpful for us to implement the same or do the data cleansing part in the Sigma tool itself.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have almost eight years of experience working with Tableau and Power BI. For Sigma, I have been working for the past two years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
I am not sure if my company purchased Sigma through the AWS Marketplace.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We did not face typical errors during our project with Sigma. In the near future, if we receive support from Sigma, that would be more helpful. There are multiple teams in my organization working on Sigma projects. We have not connected with Sigma support yet. In the future, I can provide more detailed reviews.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If data is substantial, in Sigma's case, the data is always live. It is not a kind of extract, whereas Tableau provides both live and extract functionality.
How are customer service and support?
On the scale of 1 to 10, I rate Sigma an 8.5 because there are multiple tools whose setup needs to be done, and the servers are also on physical machines such as Tableau server for maintaining all those components. As Sigma is a cloud platform, you do not need to do all that maintenance work. Regarding visualization and data modeling, as mentioned earlier, they can improve on those aspects. The functionality and interface have improved significantly with their latest versions. Previously, all options were on the left-hand side, and now there are floating themes at the bottom where you can easily select all options and create a good dashboard.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In Tableau, you have filter actions where you can select any particular sheet, click on that particular button, and the data is filtered accordingly. You can do a similar thing with the help of actions in Sigma. You can even change the dynamic axis. If you want to change the X-axis and Y-axis, you can do it with the help of controls, the segmented controls, and with the help of actions.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Sigma is not complex. If you know all the components through their documentation, you can easily implement it as the documentation they created is comprehensive and contains all the necessary information.
What about the implementation team?
As we are a hybrid team, operating from India as well as the US side, we do the development part and our US team connects with the clients and deploys all components in the environment. We are primarily developers, but we can also manage the publishing and other tasks.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Regarding the differences between Sigma and Tableau, for visualization, Tableau is the best tool I have worked with because you can change the visualization accordingly by creating different calculated fields. Sigma could add more visualizations. In Tableau, you can do forecasting with the help of the analytics tab. If Sigma also adds these features, it would be beneficial. In Tableau, there is a smoothing model you can select to do forecasting, create good trend lines, and add effective reference lines while creating trends.
What other advice do I have?
I prefer to remain anonymous. Based on my experience with Sigma, I would rate it 8.5 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Collaboration improves workflow but versioning features are lacking
What is our primary use case?
I use Figma for UX wireframes. My UX team creates the actual UI and prototypes to demonstrate UI behavior. Afterward, we collaborate with the PO and PMs to refine further. Once finalized, the UI wireframes are used as a base for developing the actual UI, leveraging CSS provided by Figma for consistency. During testing, Figma serves as a reference for checking alignment, font sizing, color, and behaviors.
What is most valuable?
Figma offers the ability to extract CSS to ensure consistency between the design and the actual UI. Overall, Figma facilitates many collaborative uses along the project pipeline, enhancing teamwork efficiency. The top two features are collaboration and commenting. Multiple users can view and interact with designs simultaneously, much like Miro. The CSS extraction feature ensures that the rendered page matches the design, reducing discrepancies.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in Figma's versioning capabilities. I feel there is a lack of change tracking, which affects clarity in collaborative environments. Implementing version history similar to code repositories would aid in tracking design evolution. Additionally, Figma lacks adequate structure for organizing designs. Implementing features for better grouping, labeling, and categorizing would enhance usability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Figma within the last few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Figma is a stable product without notable breakdowns or bugs.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I used InfinityForm or a similar tool, and I find Figma much better than that.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in the initial setup as it was managed by a different team.
What other advice do I have?
If I were to add a feature to Figma, it would be versioning to aid collaborative teams in tracking design changes over time. I rate Figma a six out of ten due to the need for better structuring and labeling of diagrams and the absence of versioning.
