Who can use this feature
Roles: Owner, Admin, Staff and optional on custom roles
Plans: Available on Standard, Plus, Advanced and Scale
About connections
Success is not purely predicated on financial metrics, but also on the effective measurement and management of intangible resources that make up the intellectual capital of your entity. This is why it helps to also analyze non-financial data that you have connected from different sources.
Navigate to "Connections" where you will land on the "Overview" top tab page, as shown in the image below. Here, you will be able to add different data sources that house your non-financial data such as payroll information.
Once these data sources have been added as a connection, you can switch between this data by clicking on the top tabs.
How to add a connection
To add a new connection:
Click on "Add connection" within the "Overview" top tab
You will then have a number of different options for source data to choose from, listed under the following categories:
General: Upload data from Excel/Google Sheets or add data manually where you can select a data template to use for this
Payroll: Upload payroll data from Gusto or SimplePay
After choosing a data source, follow the prompts to connect your data source to Syft
Navigate to the new top tab within "Connections" to view your data
Add Connections with Google Sheets or Excel
To save time, you can use Syft's Spreadsheet Link to import connection data that doesn't have a direct integration with Syt. To do this, you first need to get Spreadsheet Link from the MS App Store or Google Workspace Marketplace, install It, and log in with your Syft Analytics account.
We will now walk through the steps of getting and installing Spreadsheet Link for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Let's get started.
Install Spreadsheet Link for Google Sheets
To install Spreadsheet Link for Google Sheets, first click on Extensions
Click on Add ons and select Get Add ons
Once you are at the Google Workspace Marketplace, search for Syft Analytics and install Spreadsheet Link.
Once you have installed Spreadsheet Link for Google Sheets, to access Spreadsheet Link Select extensions, then select Syft Analytics
To sign, in select "My account"
Enter your Syt Analytics login details and sign in.
Install Spreadsheet Link for Excel
To install the spreadsheet link for Microsoft Excel, follow these steps:
Select insert
Select "Get add-in"
In the Microsoft App Store, search for Syft Analytics
Install Spreadsheet Link
Once you have installed the spreadsheet link to it, simply click on Syft and then "My account"
From there, sign into your Syft Analytics account.
Once you have installed the Spreadsheet Link and signed into your Syft account on either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, create a connection source on Syft. You must use an existing connection in Syft and upload data to it.
📓 Note
This will override any existing data for the period selected.
Now that you have created a connection source in Syft, head over to the spreadsheet link in either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. In the spreadsheet link:
Select "Upload Data to Syft," then select Connections Data
Select the appropriate entity and connection and then generate a template
For your template, choose the interval, start date and end date, as well as the sheet to put the template.
Then select "Generate Template"
Once the template has been created, enter the correct information and select "Validate" to make sure that you have followed the appropriate formatting needs
Once your validation is successful, select "Upload." This will send the matching data to Syft for you to use in connections.
If you'd like to learn more about the Spreadsheet Link, we have a dedicated course you can take. You can find it here.
Customize your data
There are many different ways to analyze your non-financial data in Syft by changing the following drop downs or buttons:
Daily or monthly tab (however, you can only edit data in the monthly view)
Unit drop down: choose to attribute a certain type of unit to your data
Aggregation drop down: choose how you would like to aggregate your data
📓 Note
Aggregation determines how data rolls-up and is calculated for longer time periods
Increase/decrease arrows: choose whether an increase in a metric is favorable or unfavorable
Values: click any value in the table to edit it
Add field: manually add a new metric row where you can specify the name, unit and aggregation
💡 Pro tip
It is important to consider this when you are inputting data. Ask yourself how you plan to input the data and what matters to you. If you want to just input the movement each month, then go for summative. If you get the data at the cumulative or latest total, then choose balance.
You may also want to consider how you get the data and what you are most interested in. Do you want to know the average so that you can get a sense of what is happening overall or do you want to see the best or the worst? All of this can have a big impact on the insights you gain.
Bulk data upload
If you would like to upload a lot of data, we recommend uploading data from Spreadsheet Link on Excel or Google Sheets. Simply click "Upload data to Syft" and choose to upload Non-Fin data or Connection data. You can then generate a template and populate all the cells.
Once you are happy with your template, click on "Validate". Syft will check that your information is correctly formatted. After your validation is successful, click "Upload" to upload this data to Syft.
Use connection data in other features
Once your data is in Syft, you can use it within other Syft features to enhance your reports and analysis.
Forecasts and Budgets
Navigate to the "Connections" top tab within a forecast or a budget to view all the non-financial data you have connected to Syft.
📓 Note
If your Connection data is pulling directly into your forecast then you cannot make adjustments to it unless you break the link. To break the link, click on the chain link icon.
KPIs
By incorporating intangible, non-financial KPIs into your analysis and forecasting, you can gain greater insight into your business, its challenges and its true potential. Add connection data as a KPI by clicking "Add KPI" within "Financial" > "KPIs" and then click "Connection Data".
You can then visualize this KPI on your dashboard by adding a new card or within take a look at your connection data in graphical form by navigating to "Visualize" > "KPIs & Accounts" > "KPIs".
Three advantages of considering non-financial KPIs
Financial evaluation systems tend to focus on annual or short-term performance measured against accounting standards. They don't consider progress in terms of customer requirements or competitors. Nor do they consider it in terms of other non-financial objectives that may be important for profitability, competitive strength, or longer-term goals. However, non-financial KPIs consider long-term organizational strategies.
Non-financial data can provide indirect, quantitative indicators of a firm's intangible assets, such as intellectual capital or customer loyalty, which are key drivers of success.
Many non-financial measures are less susceptible to external noise than accounting measures. Consequently, the use of non-financial KPIs can improve managers' performance by providing more precise evaluations of their actions.
Ledgers
Add connection data to a ledger by clicking "Add source" within "Layouts" > "Ledgers" and then click on "Connections".
Upvote
There are a lot of other sources that will be connected to Syft in the upcoming months. If there is a particular connection that you would like us to prioritize, please upvote it by clicking on the heart icon (as shown below) when you are adding a connection.
