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Smart layers & advanced cuts
Smart Data Layers, immersive crosstabs with banners, scale summaries (T2B/B2B, mean, SD), weighting overlays, realtime operational dashboards, and retarget-ready health signals.
What this guide helps you do
Use Smart Data Layers, advanced crosstabs, operational dashboards, and field-health views without duplicating surveys.
Before you start
- Understand your canonical response set vs. analytical overlays.
- Know which weighting or segment definitions are approved.
- Have enough volume for multi-break cuts.
What you will do
- Define the canonical base
- Author or select a Smart Data Layer
- Build the crosstab view
- Monitor operational KPIs
- Export or automate
You are done when
- The active layer matches the story you are telling.
- Crosstab and weighting choices are documented.
- Drop-off, retargeting, and quality signals are interpreted with sample context.
Overview
Beyond standard charts, Sentink exposes Smart Data Layers: curated analytical views that stack cleaning routines, QA overlays, weighting schemes, reusable segments, and governance notes on canonical responses—switch layers in results instead of cloning surveys. Advanced cross-tabulation supports multi-row and multi-column banners, scale summaries including top-two/bottom-two boxes, means and standard deviations, counts and percentages with decimal control, immersive fullscreen storytelling, weighted cuts tuned for stakeholder decks, and Excel-friendly layouts. Pair these with realtime dashboards measuring completion velocity, engagement curves, daily trends, funnel drop-offs, partial-vs-complete contrasts, demographic filters, declared response-quality signals, and retarget-ready insights for unfinished respondents—all feeding the exports and integrations covered elsewhere.
When to use this feature
Step-by-step guide
Define the canonical base
Lock the respondent universe inside the canonical survey results before cloning logic across layers.
Author or select a Smart Data Layer
Layer cleaning masks, quotas adjustments, rake weights, or derived segments documented for compliance reviewers.
Build the crosstab view
Place multiple questions across rows/columns, add scale summaries, weighting indicators, fullscreen presentation layouts, decimals for Excel parity.
Monitor operational KPIs
Combine dashboards covering velocity curves, funnel leaks, labelled sources from Distribution, demographics, QA scores, cohorts earmarked for retargeting reminders.
Export or automate
Send Excel-ready outputs to Power BI, consultant partners, statutory filings, archive PDFs referencing the layer metadata.
Insight governance
Layers document what changed between raw collection and trusted reporting numbers.
Screens / UI explanation
Layer switching should mirror how your insights team verbally explains filters.
Weighted vs unweighted totals should appear side-by-side for clarity.
Fullscreen crosstab mode aids war-room reviews.
Best practices
Version-layer documentation whenever definitions change.
Never reuse old weights blindly after quotas shift.
Tie overlays to quotas and labelled sources referenced in Responses.
Tips
Duplicate a banner setup as starter templates inside the workspace playbook library.
Use decimal precision mandated by regulators when exporting official tables.
Common issues
Crosstab cells differ vs legacy SPSS.
Confirm weighting formulas, exclusions, DK/NA coding, decimals, hierarchical banners.
Layer toggle hides responses.
Check whether overlays mark records as suppressed vs missing.
FAQ
Do Smart Data Layers replace exports?
No—they provide governed views; Excel, PDF, APIs, BI feeds still originate from whichever layer stakeholders approve.