Translates business questions into validated SQL against the semantic model.
Activation complexity
Medium
Time to activate
10-14 days
Volume share
35-45% of role volume
Impact range
Sub-minute on routine; under an hour on multi-source
Inherited pricing
€0.80 – €3.50 per query or report handled
This capability inherits the Data Analyst's pricing model. The role's launch fee + monthly retainer + role-level usage cover every capability under the role. Adding this capability to an active deployment does not change the price.
What this capability handles
NL-to-SQL reads the business question, resolves metrics through the semantic layer, drafts SQL against the governed warehouse, validates with a sanity-check pass, and returns the answer with lineage — with analyst review on novel metrics and sensitive breakdowns.
Workflow summary
Reads question, resolves metric, drafts SQL, validates, returns with lineage.
Stages
Decision logic
Uses semantic-model matching and metric-dictionary rules to draft validated SQL and flag novel or ambiguous requests.
Systems and data
{warehouse,"semantic layer","BI tool",messaging}
{"metric dictionary","semantic model","prior queries","schema catalog"}
Exceptions & human handoff
Novel metrics, cross-domain joins, or PII-adjacent cuts route to the analyst for review.
Novel metric, cross-domain ambiguity, or PII-adjacent cut.
Readiness
Semantic model documented, metric dictionary approved, warehouse access wired.
Owner on client side · Head of Data
Impact contribution
35-45% of role impact is ad-hoc question throughput with query-lineage fidelity.
Primary KPI · Query turnaround · Sub-minute on routine; under an hour on multi-source
When this capability shows up
Patterns where nl-to-sql is part of the launch set, with volume and pricing anchored to each company profile.
Mid-market SaaS with a governed warehouse and BI adoption
SaaS · 300-800
500 / mo
A 500-person B2B SaaS company fields 500 questions and recurring reports a month. The analytics queue runs days long. Dashboards refresh late. Stakeholders ping analysts on the same metrics weekly.
Data Analyst activates NL-to-SQL and report distribution. Validated answers return in minutes; recurring dashboards ship on cadence; analysts shift to modelling and insight.
Expected outcomes at this volume: query turnaround sub-minute on routine, report distribution coverage above 98%, analyst hours recovered weekly.
Monthly cost
€400–€1.8k
vs human anchor
€3.5k–€12k
Savings
0–3%
Enterprise services firm with pipeline complexity and executive reporting
Services · 800-2000
1,200 / mo
A 1500-person services firm handles 1200 queries and reports a month across engagement-mix, utilization, and margin metrics. Pipeline breaks surface days late. Anomalies land in leadership decks before the data team sees them.
Data Analyst activates all four capabilities. Questions answer in minutes; recurring reports ship on cadence; pipeline breaks surface in hours; anomalies flag with contributing-factor context.
Expected outcomes: cycle-time reduction 50-70% on ad-hoc queue, pipeline-health detection lead time in hours, metric anomaly time-to-flag in minutes.
Monthly cost
€960–€4.2k
vs human anchor
€8.5k–€28k
Savings
0–3%
Small subscriptions business running a lean data function
Subscriptions · 40-100
200 / mo
A 70-person subscriptions business fields 200 questions and recurring reports a month with a two-analyst team. Stakeholders ping on the same cohort questions weekly. Board decks get assembled the night before.
Data Analyst activates NL-to-SQL and report distribution. Validated answers return in minutes against the governed warehouse; board and operating reports ship on cadence; analysts shift to modelling.
Expected outcomes at this volume: query turnaround sub-minute on routine, report distribution coverage above 98%, analyst hours recovered weekly.
Monthly cost
€160–€700
vs human anchor
€1.5k–€5.0k
Savings
0–3%
eCommerce brand with pipeline breaks and commercial anomaly risk
eCommerce · 250-800
2,200 / mo
A 450-person eCommerce brand handles 2200 queries and reports a month across merchandising, marketing-mix, and margin metrics. Pipeline breaks surface in dashboards before the data team sees them. Anomaly patterns reach leadership without context.
Data Analyst activates NL-to-SQL, data-quality monitoring and anomaly detection. Questions answer in minutes; pipeline breaks surface within hours of occurrence; anomalies flag with contributing-factor context before leadership sees them.
Expected outcomes: query turnaround sub-minute on routine, pipeline-health detection lead time in hours, metric anomaly time-to-flag in minutes.
Monthly cost
€1.8k–€7.7k
vs human anchor
€16k–€52k
Savings
0–3%
All scenarios and cost ranges come from the Data Analyst role page.
Capability-specific integrations
Beyond the Data Analyst's base stack, this capability plugs into:
The chat opens with Data Analyst and NL-to-SQL pre-selected. You can add other capabilities during the conversation.