The Data slices functionality allows you to focus your Views and Boards on the data that matters. You can display various Dimensions side by side, such as Actual and Budget versions, and pivot and transform them to make built-out reports.
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See also the Pigment Feature Spotlight video on Data slices.
Before you begin
⚠️ Important
You need the following permissions to manage Data slices:
-ConfigureApplicationto access the Data slices settings page-
ConfigureBlocksto create, update and delete Data slices
Use cases
Data slices are a way to select Items from multiple Dimensions and map them to a single entity. Use Data slices when you want to:
Standardize recurring comparisons.
Budget vs Actual
Actual vs Forecast—see example below
Forecast vs Last Forecast
Reduce pivot complexity.
When comparisons span multiple Dimensions. For example, Version × Year
Calculate or report a “combined Item” across two Dimensions.
Calculated Items can only be defined on a single Dimension
Data slices provide a solution by mapping multiple Dimensions into one slice Item.
Focus end users on approved comparisons instead of letting every View become an N-dimensional pivot exercise.
Avoid Data slices:
When the View needs heavy exploration and the comparison set changes constantly.
To solve underlying model structure issues. Data slices are a reporting convenience, not a modeling substitute.
Example
We want to compare "Actuals 2025" to "Forecast 2026".
Assume you have a Metric defined on a Dimension “Version” (Actuals, Forecast) and on “Year” (2024, 2025, 2026).
This creates six combinations:
Actuals 2024
Actuals 2025
Actuals 2026
Forecast 2024
Forecast 2025
Forecast 2026
If you want to compare Actuals 2025 to Forecast 2026, by pivoting to change your View, you pivot both the “Year” and “Version” Dimensions, creating four combinations.
With Data slices, you have the ability to create a slice per combination of interest. This way you create half the number of combinations.
Compatibility with existing Pigment tools
Data slices can be used with the following existing Pigment tools:
Snapshots (see below)
Test & Deploy (see below)
Data slices is not compatible with Break down by.
Set up Data slices
Find Data slices and configure it as follows:
In your Application, create a new Dimension and choose a name related to the business concept involved, such as “Financials versions” or “Comparison set”.
The new Dimension’s Items are the names of the slices you want to create, such as “Actuals 2025”, “Budget 2026 Optimistic”, “Forecast 1+11”.
Select Application Settings, the three-dot menu in the sidebar, then Data Slices.
Select + Set up slices.
In Step 1, for Slicing Dimension, select the Dimension you created in (1) above from the drop-down.
For the Dimensions of the data to slice field, select what you want Data slices to show. Only include Dimensions you truly need in the mapping. In the Finance use case, this might be “Version”, “Year” and “Scenario”.
Select Next: Define slices.
In Step 2, the Items from the slicing Dimension you chose in Step 1 are presented for configuration. Note the following:
Use Data Source to define whether your data comes from the live version of your Application or a Snapshot. Snapshots are useful to provide baselines such as “Last year forecast”.
Complete all mappings, selecting one or multiple Items or using a Variable. Under Year, you can pick a dynamic Variable such as “Current Year” or “Last FY”.
Add a descriptor under Description. This must explain what the Data slices are to someone building a View. It also distinguishes these Data slices from others built from this slicing Dimension. See the next section for more information.
Select Save when you’re done.
(Optional) Set up Permissions to limit who can create or edit slices (see Before you begin section above).
ℹ️ Note
Two Data slices cannot share the same configuration. For instance, if a slice has Version and Year, there can’t be two slices with Version=Actuals and Year=2025.
Best practices
Keep the slice catalog small and intentional
Start with a minimal set—five is often sufficient.
Add new slices only when there is a clear repeated use.
Prefer dynamic variables for time-aware slices
When appropriate, map Year (or similar) to dynamic variables:
“Current Year”
“Last FY”
This keeps slices relevant without constant maintenance.
Check downstream usage
Changing slice definitions can silently change reporting outputs. Treat edits as a controlled change.
Limitations
Slice names are effectively “hardcoded”
Data slices rely on the items of the slicing Dimension as the slice identifiers. This means slice names are not editable during use and Members can only select from the predefined slice Items rather than dynamically composing a comparison.
To mitigate this, spend time on naming conventions and governance at set-up, because renaming or multiplying slice Items can create work steps in reporting.
Example convention:
Prefix by domain:
FIN – Actuals 2025,FIN – Forecast 2026Or by purpose:
Baseline – LY Forecast,Plan – Budget Base
Reducing the Calendar can create unexpected behavior
While slices can help you avoid carrying changing historical data in the live app, you should not shrink the live Calendar. If you reduce the live Calendar size, month and year display and order may not behave as expected.
Manage Data slices
Reconfigure mappings and change the description by opening the Data slice configuration flow. Choose one of the below methods:
Select Application Settings, the three-dot menu in the sidebar, then Data Slices. Select the Edit pencil by the set of Data slices you want to manage.
In the Block where you are displaying a Data slice you want to manage, select Pivot from the top toolbar. Hover your pointer over the Data slice in the CONFIGURE DATA panel and select the Edit pencil from the dialog that pops up.
The Data slice configuration flow opens. You can reuse the slicing Dimension you created in step 1 of the set-up process to make new Data slices using a different choice of Dimensions. Just follow from step 4 onwards.
Report with Data slices
You can add Data slices to a Metric or Table for use in Views, with a maximum of one Data slice per View.
Open the Metric or Table you want Data slices to be added to.
Select Pivot from the top toolbar.
Select + by Pages, Columns or Rows. Eligible Data slices appear available for selection.
Use Data slices with Pigment features
Snapshots
Data slices can pull data from Snapshots. This is particularly useful for baselines such as “Last year forecast” without turning on or managing Scenarios. For this:
In Step 1, fill out Slicing Dimension, but leave Dimensions of the data to slice blank.
Attribute a specific Snapshot to each Item of the slicing Dimension:
Common patterns:
Past validated versions: display baselines such as last year’s budget or the last validated forecast.
Freeze historical data: keep historical data that does not change out of the live application, reducing the amount of ‘live’ history you carry day-to-day.
Practical examples:
Baseline comparisons: each slice points to a different snapshot (for example “Forecast@Jan”, “Forecast@Feb”).
Locked reference: keep a fixed baseline Snapshot for variance reporting.
Test & Deploy
Data slices are supported in Test & Deploy environments. See Understand Test & Deploy for Pigment features for information on how the features interact.
Drill down
You can use the Drill down functionality to explore data provided from a Data slice. Right-select a value from a Data slice in your Metric and select Drill down from the dialog that opens. Drill down shows the slice’s Dimensions, providing selectors for each.
For more information, see Drill down into your data.
ℹ️ Note
If the Data slice references a Snapshot, Drill down may not reflect the exact configuration and may show additional data.