Troubleshooting Business Insights

Business Insights is an Excel plugin that allows GoCanvas users to connect Excel directly with their GoCanvas account. 

Business Insights

Business Insights gives users the ability to download Submissions and upload both Reference Data and Dispatches. Learn more about Business Insights.

Limitations & Specifications

• Windows desktop 2007 and above;
• 32-bit versions of Excel/Office only;
• Requires a full Excel installation (see Installation troubleshooting below);
• Can function in a hosted environment (i.e. VPN) – but needs to be installed on host machine;
• Can function on Mac running a virtual Windows environment with a full version of Exce.

Troubleshooting Installation & Connecting

Business Insights requires downloading and installing an executable file provided by GoCanvas.

Installation is straightforward; simply follow the Windows prompts. If there are problems with this process, contact the person responsible for maintaining the device (typically your IT department).

BI Missing from Data Tab

1. Expand the File menu and select Options (at the very bottom).
2. Select Add-ins.
3. In the Manage field (at the very bottom) select COM Add-ins and Go.
4. Check the box next to CanvasXL and OK.

BI Missing from COM Add-ins Window

Generally, if you've installed Business Insights without error and are still not seeing the tool, one of two things could be happening, both with a similar root.

The tool is based on a specific framework that should be included with your version of Excel. Occasionally, that framework can get corrupted. The way to fix that is to repair your version of Excel (instructions via Microsoft here).

Sometimes, however, the version of Excel that comes pre-loaded on Windows machines does NOT include that framework. In that instance, you'll need to install a version of Excel that does (which can be accomplished by logging into your Windows 365 account and downloading the full version).

Error Message: Business Insights is Not Allowed

No big deal! We just need to activate it on our end. Please contact your Account Manager or put a ticket in with Support.

Error Message: Incorrect Proxy Messages

This message appears in two scenarios: your password is incorrect or you need to be setup correctly with your company’s proxy settings (in which case you should get in touch with whoever manages those settings, likely your IT department).

Troubleshooting using Business Insights

Only the Column Headers are Downloaded when I Try to Download Submissions

This could be related to the date format discrepancy between U.S. and international standards. In the U.S. we typically use the format MM/DD/YYYY. If the format in your account is DD/MM/YYYY, the "MM" section would be limited to "12" in the U.S. format, which may be causing an issue with days greater than the 12th of the month that are chosen in the submission download date range.

Please download the most recent version of Business Insights and attempt the submission download again.

Error Message: "Permission Denied to the Requested Resource"

When utilizing the submission download on BI, this error occurs if your password contains certain special characters (e.g. #, &, ^, etc.). Change your password and try again.

Business Insights does not Import 'Static Text' Field when Downloading Submission Data

This is by design. If you need your static text to appear in your download (for example, if it is working off of a condition and is therefore contextually relevant to the downloaded data), you’ll need to change the field type to something else (likely short or long text) and set it to be read only in the Form Builder.

I’m not getting any Data from a Specific Form OR a Form I’m looking for isn’t showing as an Option for Downloading Submissions

Do you, by chance, have an archived form with the same name as the form you’re trying to download submissions for? This is a known issue that is fixed in some versions of BI, so try updating your version. If that doesn’t work, unarchive the form, rename it, and archive it again. Going forward, make sure to update the name of the form before you archive it.

If you are in the habit of testing a form then making a copy of that form (so as to deploy Version 1 to your users), and then retiring the original form, you'll want to include the word TEST or TESTING in the name of the original form, and when copying the form simply remove the test wording.

I get an Error saying that I Need to Choose a Department but I am not seeing any Departments to choose from/I don’t have any Departments/I'm not seeing my Departments

This particular bug crops up in a few places. It happens because of special characters (e.g. #, &, etc.) in your password. Change your password and try again.

Error Message: No User Email Column

This can happen when uploading Dispatches. The work around is to create a new tab in Excel, copy your data into that new tab, and try again from that tab.