Analytics FAQs

General

Can I bring in data from external sources into Kissflow Analytics?

No. Kissflow Analytics is built to report on data that already exists in your Kissflow account — processes, boards, datasets, and dataforms. It isn't a general-purpose BI tool for importing outside data.

Can I connect BI tools like Power BI or Tableau to Kissflow Analytics?

Not directly. Use the Kissflow connector for BI to connect Kissflow data to external BI tools. See Enabling Kissflow connector for BI to set it up, or contact Kissflow support for help.

How often does my data sync into Analytics?

Kissflow syncs your processes, boards, datasets, and dataforms into Analytics once every hour. If a report looks out of date, open the data source in Data explorer and check its Last synced time.

How does data sync work with third-party middleware like Snowflake?

There's no direct database access to your Kissflow data. Instead, integrations like the Kissflow connector for BI go through middleware such as Snowflake, which reads from the same hourly-synced Analytics data. See Configuring Snowflake for Kissflow connector for BI for setup steps.

Do I need a specific Kissflow plan to access Analytics?

It depends on the capability. Some Analytics features — like creating dataviews with SQL — are only available on higher-tier plans. Check your account's plan details, or contact your Kissflow admin or our support team to confirm what's included for your account.

What are some common use cases for Kissflow Analytics?

See our Analytics documentation for common report examples, including a process item completion time report, a process step performance report, and a user workload report.

What are the different roles for data sources and reports in Analytics?

Data sources have two roles: Report admin, who gets full control of the data source, and Report creator, who gets view access to the data source so they can build dataviews and reports from it. Neither role can share a data source directly, or create, edit, or delete data sources — process tables, board tables, system tables, and so on are generated automatically.

Report roles work differently: Admins have full control over a report, while Members can view and share it by default, and can be granted edit access.

Why can't other users edit the reports I've shared with them?

Report members can only view reports by default. To let them edit, grant them edit access on the report.

How will child tables in a process or board appear in Analytics?

Each child table is created as its own table in Analytics, named after the parent process or board followed by the child table's name. For example, a Purchase Order process with a child table called Item Details appears in Analytics as Purchase Order Item Details.

Can I edit or modify a query once it's published?

Yes. The dataview's owner can edit a published dataview from Data explorer > My dataviews > More options > Edit.

If I add or remove fields in a dataview, will the changes show up in existing reports?

No. Reports created from a dataview don't pick up field changes automatically. If you add or remove fields in the dataview, create a new report to see the updated data.

What are system tables in Kissflow Analytics?

System tables are system-generated tables that hold activity and history data for items in your processes and boards, and you can build any report type on top of them. There are three kinds: Process Instance and Activity Instance for processes, Board Workflow Instance for boards, and User and Group tables for account-wide user and group data.

How can I open a Kissflow process from a Power BI report or dashboard?

Add a dynamic URL to your Power BI report that links to the specific Kissflow web page. See Microsoft's guides on adding a dynamic URL and Power BI hyperlinks in tables for the steps.

What's the table naming convention in Analytics, and how do I relate it to the flow name?

Analytics displays table names with underscores in place of spaces. For example, a process named Purchase Request appears as the Purchase_Request table. You can also match a process to its table using the process name in the process's URL. See the entity relationship diagram for how tables relate to each other.

Reporting features

Can I create a report based on a child table within a process?

Yes. Find child tables under Data explorer > My tables, then create a report from them the same way you would from any other table.

Can I create a report based on a dataset?

Yes. Datasets appear under Data explorer > My tables.

Can I create a report based on a board?

Yes — from a single board or by combining data across several boards. Board tables are listed under Data explorer for every board in your account.

How can I create reports based on subitems in a board?

Filter the board table by the Parent ID column to isolate subitems, then click Create report. See Board table in Analytics for the filter steps.

Can I join multiple tables to create reports in Analytics?

Yes. Use SQL JOIN statements in a dataview to combine rows from two or more tables on a common field. For example, a procurement spend analysis report joins a Purchase Order table with a Vendors table to show which vendors received the most spend.

How do I create metrics reports in Kissflow Analytics?

Join the process table with the activity instance table, matching _instance_id on the activity instance side with _id on the process side. See Process table in Analytics and System tables in Analytics for the columns and schema involved, and Creating process item completion time report with Analytics for a worked example.

How can I create a summary report of my board data in Analytics?

Build a customizable status summary report using dataviews to pull insights from one or more boards. This gives you more flexibility than a board's built-in Summary report, which only covers that one board.

How can I use Analytics to track my team's performance?

Try a step performance report to see how long items spend in each workflow step, or an item completion time report to track time from creation to completion. Both can be customized — see our Analytics documentation for more report ideas.

What report types does Kissflow Analytics support?

Three: tabular, chart, and pivot. Chart reports offer ten chart types, including area, bar, doughnut, line, pie, and scatter — see Chart reports for the full list.

Can I export a report in Analytics?

Only tabular reports support data export. Click More options on the reports page, select Export, then choose CSV or JSON. You'll get an email with a link to download the file.

Can colleagues in the same department view reports together?

Yes — create a report (in Process or Analytics) and share it with the team so everyone who needs it has access.

How do I filter Step Performance and User Performance reports by division or department?

Create a dataview that joins the ActivityInstance table with the relevant process table, then build a Step Performance or User Performance report from it. See Creating process step performance report with Analytics for the walkthrough. You can also do this in Power BI using the same tables through your BI connector.

Solutions

How can I join two processes?

Join them on a common field. For example, if a Purchase Request process and a Purchase Order process both have a PR ID field, use that field to join the two in a dataview.

I'm getting "You don't have permission to access this resource" in a SQL query, even as a Super Admin. How do I fix it?

This happens when the querying user doesn't have access to the table or system table the dataview references. Super Admins don't get access to every table by default — add yourself to the relevant table or system table via Share first, then re-run the query. See Process table in Analytics, Board table in Analytics, Dataset table in Analytics, and System tables in Analytics for how sharing works on each.

How can I join a process table and a child table?

Match _id in the process table with _instance_id in the child table. See Process table in Analytics for the columns and schema involved.

I'm getting "purchase_Request does not exist" in my SQL query. How do I fix it?

This usually means the datasource name in your query doesn't match exactly — dataview queries are case-sensitive, so double-check the datasource name's capitalization.

What do I do if I lose my BI connector credentials?

You receive the credentials by email when you provision the Kissflow connector for BI for your account. If you lose access to that email, ask your current Account Owner to transfer ownership to you, or contact Kissflow support to have the credentials resent.