Best practices for working with PowerBuddy for Data Analysis
Data retrieval vs Analysis prompts
It is recommended to separate data retrieval prompts from analytical prompts. First retrieve the data on Data dashboard, then create a pivot table or chart on Analysis page.
When asking natural language questions about your data, ensure that the Question toggle is used. Only turn on the SQL toggle if you intend to enter your own SQL query.
Follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are supported for column displayed in the column explorer. Referencing data outside this scope in the same session is not supported.
Follow up questions to transform the returned data are supported. For instance,
Initial Question : Give me a list of currently enrolled 8th graders that have been sent to intervention center more than 3 times
Follow-up : Can you break down the intervention count into categories - like 3 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 or more for these students?
Follow-up questions work best when you try to maintain the context from previous question, using inclusive phrases. To refresh the session or begin a new data retrieval, click “Ask new question”.
Cross-domain questions
For cross-domain questions, click “Ask new question” to start a fresh query that includes the necessary data from each domain. Users can then ask follow-up queries from the column explorer to further drill down into the specific details.
Cross-domain Example: (Enrollment + Incident + Attendance)
Not supported | Recommended steps |
|---|---|
Initial question : Give me a list of currently enrolled students that have been suspended at least once Followed by Include their attendance rate |
|
Be specific
Providing specific information, helps PowerBuddy for Data Analysis to understand exactly what is needed, reducing ambiguity and improving the accuracy of results.
Instead of | Rephrase it as | Why |
|---|---|---|
Provide the list of students who failed in Algebra courses in the 2nd term | Provide the list of students who failed in Algebra courses in S2 term | Term names vary in PS SIS - use specific values |
If you are asking a question about a user by name, specify the type of user, such as the teacher named John Doe or the student named John Doe.