How to Use Business Insights

Business Insights is an Excel plugin that allows GoCanvas users to connect Excel directly with their GoCanvas account. It gives users the ability to download Submissions and upload both Reference Data and Dispatches. Learn more about Business Insights.

Please contact us to request having Business Insights turned on for your account.

Getting Started

After you have successfully downloaded Business Insights, launch Microsoft Excel. You will find the Business Insights options under the DATA tab. Select the Settings option on the right, and sign-in using your GoCanvas credentials.

Downloading your Submissions from GoCanvas

1. Select the Submission Download icon.
2. Select the Application, or form, on your account with submissions you would like to download.
3. Choose a date range for the submissions to be downloaded.
4. Download.

Refreshing your Data

If you have completed additional submissions since the initial download, the data in Excel will need to be updated.

1. Select the Submission Download icon.
2. Select the Application, or form, and new date range.
3. Check the Append Data option if you want the data to add to the end of your current file. If you want the data to replace the current information, leave this box unchecked.
   
   
   
   
4. Download.

Downloading Data using the Submission Mapping Feature

Submission Mapping will allow you to download data from your form for any specific fields that you choose.

Creating Your Submission Map

Before downloading your submissions, you will need to create a map of the fields that you want to download. The field map will contain the field labels across each version of your form that you are pulling data from.

1. Create a new sheet in Excel. You can name this sheet Mapping for easy reference.
2. The first column of any field mapping must be labeled Version. Enter this into Column A, Row 1.
3. In Row 1, enter in any additional field labels from the current version of your form that you would like to be included in the submission download.
4. Once you've labeled your columns, enter the version(s) of the form to be included under the Version heading. For example, if you only want to download data from versions 4-6 of your form, enter 4, 5, and 6 in a separate line item under the Version heading. 
5. Enter the field labels for the corresponding version for each line item.
   
   

If you would like information about each submission (submitter name, date, time) to download, enter Submission Info as one of your mapping columns.

Downloading your Mapped Data

1. Select the Submission Download icon.
2. Select Download Submissions with Column Map Provided.
3. In the Map Sheet drop-down, select the sheet in Excel that you used to create the submission map.
4. Select your Application, or form, and date range.
5. Download.
   
   

The data will download to or create a sheet in your Excel file with the same name as the form.

Creating a New Reference Data File

Using Business Insights to create reference data files is easy! This process replaces the need to manually upload reference data through the Manage Reference Data page on GoCanvas website.

Simply create your reference data in Microsoft Excel and click the Reference Data Upload button. Choose the sheet in your Excel file that contains the reference data and select Upload.

The file will upload with the same sheet name entered in Excel. If you need to change the sheet name in Excel, double click on the current sheet name and enter any revisions. Save the changes.

Updating Existing Reference Data

If you already have a reference data file created, you can use Business Insights to update the data in GoCanvas.

1. Open your existing reference data file. If you cannot find the file on your computer, you can download the file from GoCanvas. Navigate to Reference Data & Images. Select the Download icon next to the file you want to download. You will want to note the reference data name in GoCanvas. The sheet name in Excel must match the name in GoCanvas. 
2. After editing or adding data as needed, select the Reference Data Upload button.
3. Choose the sheet in your file that contains the reference data.
4. Upload.

Append Data

The Append reference data feature allows you to update reference data that is separated by User Group. This feature will only update existing reference data files. It will not create a new file.

1. Download the existing reference data file from GoCanvas (see above). You will want to note the reference data name in GoCanvas. The sheet name in Excel must match the name in GoCanvas.
2. After editing or adding data as needed, click the Reference Data Upload button.
   Note: The User Group must be defined in the first column of the file under a User Group column header.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose the sheet in your file that contains the updated reference data.
4. Check Append Data.
5. Select Upload.
   
   

Uploading Dispatches

1. Download the Sample Dispatch File for your form. You can find this in Work Hub.
   If you already have an existing dispatch file, you will need to ensure that Description, User e-mail, and Scheduled At are the first three columns in the file. App Name is not necessary as you will select the form when uploading.
2. Fill out all relevant dispatch information. 
3. Select the Dispatch Upload icon.
4. In the first drop-down, select the sheet to dispatch from.
5. In the second drop-down, choose the Application, or form, in your account to dispatch to.
6. Upload. 
   
   

In summary, Business Insights is a great tool for creating reports on the data that you have collected in GoCanvas, updating reference data, and automatically uploading dispatches to your users.