One column per stage. One date per item.
Flow Lens reads a stage-date CSV — the format where each workflow stage is its own column, and the value is the date the item first entered that stage. Blank means the item skipped or hasn't yet reached that stage. This is the format produced by ServiceNow flow reporting and compatible tools.
The column structure
Your CSV needs at minimum an ID column, a Title column, and one column for each workflow stage. Everything else is detected automatically.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| ID | A unique identifier for the item (e.g. TICK-1234). Used to deduplicate and label items in charts. |
| Title | Short description of the item. Shown in the Aging WIP view. |
| To do | Date the item entered this stage. Blank if it was skipped or hasn't arrived yet. |
| Doing | Date the item entered active work. This anchors the cycle time calculation. |
| … your stages … | One column per intermediate stage. Same rule: date if entered, blank if not. |
| Done | Date the item completed. Blank for anything still in progress. |
| Not done | Date the item was cancelled or removed. This is a terminal state — not a completion. Flow Lens treats it as closed but excludes it from cycle time. |
A minimal example
Columns match your actual stage names. Column order sets the workflow order. A blank cell means the item skipped that stage.
ID,Title,To do,Doing,Ready for validation,Validation,Done,Not done TICK-001,Fix login timeout,2026-03-01,2026-03-04,2026-03-08,2026-03-10,2026-03-11, TICK-002,Update dashboard styles,2026-03-02,2026-03-06,,,,2026-03-09 TICK-003,Add export button,2026-03-02,2026-03-07,2026-03-12,,,
- TICK-001 — completed normally, passed through every stage.
- TICK-002 — cancelled (Not done), skipped validation entirely.
- TICK-003 — still in progress, no Done date yet.
Date formats
ISO 8601 is preferred: 2026-05-19 or 2026-05-19T14:30:00Z. Flow Lens uses strict date detection — columns are identified by scanning every row for recognisable date values, not by column name. This means sparse columns (like Not done, which is mostly blank) are still detected correctly.
Configuring stage types
Once your CSV is loaded, Flow Lens asks you to classify each stage. There are three types:
| Process | Active work is happening — a person is doing something. Counts toward cycle time. e.g. Doing, Validation |
| Queue | Waiting for the next step. Work is done but not started downstream. e.g. Ready for validation |
| Done / Terminal | The item has left the system — either completed or cancelled. Cycle time is measured to the Done stage. e.g. Done, Not done |
You set this once per file. Flow Lens remembers your choices while the tab is open.
Where to get this CSV
ServiceNow flow reporting produces this format natively — export from the board or reporting area and the resulting CSV will have the date-per-stage layout Flow Lens expects.
If you're working from a spreadsheet, you can build the same structure manually: one row per item, one column per stage, dates where the item entered each stage.