How I Built A Budget Variance Data App That Finance Teams Actually Use

A Solutions Engineer at Sigma shares their experience developing a budget variance analysis app designed to streamline and modernize the traditionally manual and spreadsheet-heavy process of comparing expected financial spend to actual expenditures. The app was created by combining technical expertise with business insights from finance professionals, starting with a pivot table and adding dynamic elements like modals and forms. The main challenge was reimagining the process from scratch rather than simply digitizing existing methods, but Sigma's flexibility allowed for iterative development. The app connects directly to live data, eliminating the need for constant manual updates and enabling finance teams to perform real-time analysis, adjust numbers dynamically, and compare budget scenarios, significantly improving efficiency and reducing errors. The project underscores the importance of collaboration between technical and non-technical stakeholders to create solutions that are both functional and user-friendly. The success of the app has inspired similar transformations in other workflows, as teams move from static spreadsheets to dynamic, data-driven applications.