Flow Efficiency measures the actual time spent working on a work item, calculated as the ratio of Work Time to the Total Cycle Time (Work Time + Wait Time). A higher Flow Efficiency percentage indicates a smoother process where ideas or requests are turned into workable features efficiently.
In SwiftKanban, Flow Efficiency Analytics allows you to analyze the productivity of cards, excluding Wait Time and Blocked Time.
Example:
You can measure the percentage of time spent on cards that are typically in the In-Progress column type against the total time those cards spend on the board.
Flow Efficiency Calculation Formula
The Flow Efficiency is calculated as follows:
Flow Efficiency (%) = Work Time / (Work Time + Wait Time)
Where:
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Work Time = Time spent by a card in the ‘In-Progress’ column types (excluding blocked time).
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Wait Time = Blocked Time + Time spent by a card in the ‘Ready’, ‘Completed’, and ‘Done’ column types + Backlog Time (if selected in the filter).
Flow Efficiency Filter
To filter Flow Efficiency data, follow these steps:
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Click the Filter icon on the side toolbar of the Flow Efficiency page.
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Select the following options in the filter pop-up and click Apply:
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Start and End Date: Choose the date range for the analysis.
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Time Period: Select the snapshot frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, etc.).
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Note: For weekly views, the week is considered from Sunday to Saturday.
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Card Type, Size, Priority, and Class of Service: Choose the required attributes to filter the chart.
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Lane: Select lanes for which you want to generate the chart.
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Start and End Column: Define the start and end columns for your analysis.
Notes: If the “Select the days that you want to consider as holiday(s)” Board policy is enabled under Board Behavior.
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Only cards that have moved through the selected columns during the date range are considered.
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Past card movements are considered, even if they don’t fall within the given time range. Future movements are not included.
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Cards archived from Backlog Time are not included in Flow Efficiency calculations.
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If all or multiple lanes are selected, Backlog Time will also be considered for the analysis.
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Flow Efficiency Chart Behavior
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The flow efficiency is represented by a smooth curve joining non-zero data points. Hover over a data point on the vertical grid to see the percentage of time spent on work at that moment.
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Example: If the Flow Efficiency for the week from April 8th to April 14th is 44%, this means that for the total cycle time of cards exited that week, 44% of the time was spent working on them, and 56% was spent idle or waiting.
