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Insightful Data Source

The Insightful connector enables you to ingest workforce analytics data — including employee activity, productivity metrics, time tracking records, and computer usage data — directly into Nexla data flows. Follow the instructions below to create a new data flow that ingests data from an Insightful source in Nexla.
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Insightful

Create a New Data Flow

  1. To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Then, select the desired flow type from the list, and click the Create button.

  2. Select the Insightful connector tile from the list of available connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to the Insightful account, and click Next; or, create a new Insightful credential for use in this flow.

  3. In Nexla, Insightful data sources can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite source setup for common Insightful endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Insightful endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.
    • To configure this source using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.

    Insightful sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from Insightful endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
    • To configure this source manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.

Configure Using a Template

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Insightful endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Insightful endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.

Endpoint Settings

  • Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.

    List Employees

    Returns a list of all employees in the account with their ID, name, email, and timestamps. Use this endpoint to synchronize employee records with HR systems or build employee-level workforce analytics.

    • Sends a GET request to /employee and returns employee records with selected fields: ID, name, email, createdAt, and updatedAt.
    • Response data is nested under $.employees[*]; each element represents a single employee record.

    Employee IDs returned by this endpoint are required as parameters for other Insightful endpoints such as Employee - get, activity analytics, and time tracking queries.

    List Teams

    Returns a list of all teams in the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve team structure data for organizational reporting or to obtain team IDs for use in other Insightful endpoints.

    • Sends a GET request to /team and returns all team records.
    • Response data is nested under $.teams[*]; each element represents a single team record including team name and member information.

    Team IDs can be used as parameters in analytics endpoints to filter productivity and activity data by team.

    Get Shared Settings

    Returns the shared settings configuration for the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve account-wide configuration values that affect data interpretation for other Insightful endpoints.

    • Sends a GET request to /shared-settings and returns the account's shared settings as a single object.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. No additional parameters are required.

    Shared settings include values such as work schedule definitions and productivity thresholds that may affect how activity and productivity analytics data is interpreted.

    List Projects

    Returns a list of all projects in the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve project data for project-level time tracking or productivity analysis.

    • Sends a GET request to /project and returns all project records.
    • Response data is returned as a top-level JSON array at $[*]; each element represents a single project record.

    Project IDs can be used with the Project time analytics endpoint to retrieve time-on-project breakdowns for employees.

    List App Tags

    Returns a list of all application tags configured in the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve app tag definitions for productivity classification and reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /app-tag and returns all app tag records.
    • Response data is nested under $.tags[*]; each element represents a single app tag definition.

    App tags are used in Insightful to classify applications as productive, unproductive, or neutral. Tag definitions are important for correctly interpreting productivity analytics data.

    List App Categories

    Returns a list of all application categories available in the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve category definitions for application usage reporting and productivity classification.

    • Sends a GET request to /app-category and returns all app category records.
    • Response data is nested under $.categories[*]; each element represents a single application category.

    Application categories group related apps together for productivity reporting. Category data is useful for building aggregated app usage reports by category.

    Get Directory

    Returns the directory information containing employee and organizational structure data. Use this endpoint to retrieve the full employee directory for HR synchronization or org chart generation.

    • Sends a GET request to /directory and returns directory records.
    • Response data is returned as a top-level JSON array at $[*]; each element represents a directory entry with employee and organizational data.

    The directory endpoint includes organizational hierarchy information that is not available in the basic employee list endpoint. Use this endpoint when org structure is required for downstream reporting.

    Get Scheduled Shift Settings

    Returns the scheduled shift settings configuration for the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve work schedule definitions that affect time tracking and productivity calculations.

    • Sends a GET request to /scheduled-shift-settings and returns shift settings as a single object.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. No additional parameters are required.

    Shift settings define expected working hours for employees. This data is relevant when interpreting time tracking and productivity reports generated by other Insightful endpoints.

    List Tasks

    Returns a list of tasks tracked within the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve task-level time tracking data for project management or productivity analysis.

    • Sends a GET request to /tasks and returns all task records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element represents a single tracked task record.

    Task records include time spent and employee associations. This data can be joined with project records to build comprehensive project-level time reporting.

    List Time Entries

    Returns a list of tracked time entries for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve manual or automatic time tracking records for payroll, billing, or compliance reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /time-entries and returns all time entry records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element represents a single time entry including employee, start time, end time, and duration.

    For incremental data loads, use date/time macros in the API URL to filter time entries by date range and retrieve only recently added records on each flow run.

    List Fragments

    Returns a paginated list of activity and time fragments tracked for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve granular activity data for detailed workforce analytics or compliance monitoring.

    • Sends a GET request to /v2/fragments and returns paginated fragment records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element represents a single activity fragment with employee, application, and time information.

    Fragment data is high-volume. Use pagination parameters and date range filters to manage response size and retrieve data incrementally across multiple runs.

    List Screen Recordings

    Returns a paginated list of screen recording metadata for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve recording metadata for audit, compliance, or workforce monitoring workflows.

    • Sends a GET request to /v2/screen-recordings and returns paginated screen recording metadata records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element includes recording metadata such as employee, timestamp, and storage reference. Actual recording content is not included in the API response.

    Screen recording availability depends on your Insightful plan and the monitoring settings configured for each employee. Verify that screen recording is enabled for the employees you intend to query.

    Manager - list

    Returns a list of all managers in the account. Use this endpoint to retrieve manager records for organizational hierarchy reporting or approval workflow configurations.

    • Sends a GET request to /manager and returns all manager records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. No additional parameters are required.

    Manager data can be joined with employee records to build organizational hierarchy views or filter analytics by reporting line.

    Activity - find

    Returns activity analytics data for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve application usage and active/inactive time breakdowns for workforce productivity analysis.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/activity and returns activity analytics records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use date range query parameters to filter results by time period.

    Activity analytics data is time-sensitive. Use date/time macros in the API URL to retrieve activity data for rolling time windows to support incremental reporting.

    Productivity

    Returns productivity analytics data for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve productive vs. unproductive time breakdowns for individual or team-level performance reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/productivity and returns productivity analytics records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use date range and employee/team filter parameters to scope results.

    Productivity classifications are based on app tag settings configured in your Insightful account. Review app tag definitions using the List App Tags endpoint to ensure productivity calculations align with your reporting needs.

    Shift - find

    Returns shift analytics data for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve scheduled vs. actual worked shift data for attendance and scheduling compliance reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/shift and returns shift analytics records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use date range parameters to filter results by shift period.

    Shift data requires scheduled shifts to be configured in Insightful for affected employees. Employees without configured schedules will not appear in shift analytics results.

    Activity - detail

    Returns detailed activity data for employees, including per-application usage breakdowns. Use this endpoint when granular application-level activity detail is needed beyond the summary provided by the Activity - find endpoint.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/activity/detail and returns detailed activity records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use employee, team, and date range parameters to filter results.

    Detailed activity data can be high-volume for large teams. Use narrow date ranges and employee or team filters to manage response size and flow performance.

    Project time

    Returns project time analytics data, showing time spent by employees on specific projects. Use this endpoint to build project-level time allocation and billable hours reports.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/project-time and returns project time analytics records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use date range and project filter parameters to scope results.

    Project time data requires employees to have logged time against specific projects in Insightful. Verify that project tracking is enabled for the relevant employees before querying this endpoint.

    Timesheets per Day - find

    Returns timesheet data aggregated per day for employees. Use this endpoint to build daily timesheet reports for payroll processing or client billing.

    Daily timesheet data is useful for payroll runs and daily attendance tracking. Schedule this flow to run daily or weekly to maintain a current timesheet record in your target system.

    Timesheets per Shift - find

    Returns timesheet data aggregated per shift for employees. Use this endpoint to build shift-level timesheet reports for shift-based workforce management or billing.

    Shift-based timesheets require scheduled shifts to be configured in Insightful for the relevant employees. Employees without shift schedules will not appear in shift timesheet reports.

    Fragment

    Returns activity fragment analytics data for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve aggregated fragment-level activity data for detailed workforce monitoring and compliance analysis.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/fragment and returns fragment analytics records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element represents a single activity fragment record with employee and application details.

    Fragment analytics data can be high-volume. Use date range filters and employee or team scoping to limit response size and improve flow performance.

    Break - find

    Returns break analytics data for employees. Use this endpoint to retrieve break frequency and duration data for workforce schedule compliance or fatigue management reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /analytics/break and returns break analytics records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Use date range and employee filter parameters to scope results.

    Break data is subject to the monitoring settings configured for each employee in Insightful. Verify that break tracking is enabled for the relevant employees before querying this endpoint.

    Employee - get

    Returns the full profile for a single employee. Use this endpoint when detailed information for a specific employee is needed rather than retrieving all employees.

    • Sends a GET request to /employee/{id} and returns the full employee record.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Configure the following parameters: Id — the Insightful employee ID to retrieve. Employee IDs can be obtained from the List Employees endpoint.

    This endpoint returns a single employee object rather than an array. Use $ as the path to data when configuring this endpoint.

    Team - get

    Returns the full details for a single team. Use this endpoint when complete metadata for a specific team is needed rather than retrieving all teams.

    • Sends a GET request to /team/{id} and returns the full team record.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. Configure the following parameters: Id — the Insightful team ID to retrieve. Team IDs can be obtained from the List Teams endpoint.

    This endpoint returns a single team object rather than an array. Use $ as the path to data when configuring this endpoint.

    Directory - get active

    Returns the active directory entries — employees currently active in the Insightful account. Use this endpoint to retrieve a filtered view of only active employees for current-state workforce reporting.

    • Sends a GET request to /directory/active and returns active directory records.
    • Response data is returned at the root path $. No additional parameters are required.

    This endpoint excludes inactive or deactivated employees, making it useful for current headcount reporting where historical employees should not be included.

    Sync - find paginate

    Returns paginated directory sync records. Use this endpoint to retrieve incremental directory synchronization data for integrations that need to track employee directory changes over time.

    • Sends a GET request to /directory-sync/find-paginate and returns paginated sync records.
    • Response data is nested under $.data[*]; each element represents a single directory sync record. Use pagination parameters to retrieve complete result sets.

    Directory sync records track changes to the employee directory over time. This endpoint is particularly useful for maintaining up-to-date employee records in downstream systems without performing full directory reloads.

Endpoint Testing

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current settings. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Configure Manually

Insightful sources can also be configured to ingest data from any valid Insightful API endpoint. Configuration options available for Insightful sources allow them to be fully customized to suit any use case — including using chained API calls to fetch data from multiple endpoints or applying custom request parameters for fine-grained data filtering.

First, select the method that will be used for calls to the Insightful API from the Method pulldown menu. The most common methods are:

  • GET: For retrieving workforce analytics data, employee records, productivity reports, and time tracking data from the API.

  • POST: For sending data to the API or triggering specific actions, such as initiating a report or querying data with a request body.

Most Insightful API endpoints use the GET method. The Insightful API is organized around REST principles, and most data retrieval operations are performed with GET requests. For the complete list of available endpoints and their supported methods, refer to the Insightful Developer Portal.

API Endpoint URL

  1. Enter the URL of the Insightful API endpoint from which this source will fetch data in the Set API URL field. This should be the complete URL including the protocol (https://) and any required path parameters.

    The Insightful API base URL is https://api.insightful.io. Append the specific endpoint path to this base URL to form the complete endpoint URL. For example:

    • https://api.insightful.io/v1/employees — retrieves employee records
    • https://api.insightful.io/v1/time-tracking/sessions — retrieves time tracking session data
    • https://api.insightful.io/v1/productivity/reports — retrieves productivity report data

    For the full list of available API endpoints, endpoint paths, required parameters, and response formats, refer to the Insightful Developer Portal or the Insightful Postman collection.

Date/Time Macros (API URL)

Optional

Optionally, the API URL can be customized using macros — all macros added to the API URL will be converted into values when Nexla executes the API call. Macros are dynamic placeholders that allow you to create flexible API endpoints that can adapt to different time periods or data requirements.

This is especially valuable for Insightful data flows, as many Insightful API endpoints accept date range parameters (such as start_date and end_date) to filter the data returned. Using date/time macros allows Nexla to automatically calculate and apply the appropriate date range on each run.

Macros are particularly useful for Insightful endpoints that return time-series data such as employee activity logs, productivity reports, and time tracking sessions, where you typically want to retrieve data for a rolling time window (such as the past day or past week).

  1. To add a macro, type { at the appropriate position in the API URL (within the Set API URL field), and select the desired macro from the dropdown list.

    • {now} – The current datetime
    • {now-1} – The datetime one time unit before the current datetime
    • {now+1} – The datetime one time unit after the current datetime
    • custom – Datetime macros can reference any number of time units before or after the current datetime — for example, enter (now-7) to indicate the datetime seven time units before the current datetime
  2. Select the format that will be applied to datetime macros from the Date Format for Date/Time Macro pulldown menu. This format will be applied to the base datetime value of the macro — i.e., the value of {now} in {now-1}.

  3. Select the datetime unit that will be used to perform mathematical operations in the included macro(s) from the Time Unit for Operations pulldown menu — for example, for the macro {now-1}, when Day is selected, {now-1} will be converted to the datetime one day before the current datetime.

Lookup-Based Macros (API URL)

Optional

Column values from existing lookups can also be included as macros in the API URL. Lookup-based macros allow you to reference data from previously configured data sources or lookups, enabling dynamic API endpoints that can adapt based on existing data.

Lookup-based macros are useful when you need to create Insightful API endpoints that reference specific employee IDs, team IDs, or project identifiers from other data sources in your Nexla environment.

  1. To include a lookup column value macro, select the relevant lookup from the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

  2. Type { at the appropriate position in the API URL, and select the lookup column-based macro from the dropdown list. Lookup-based macros are automatically populated into the macro list when a lookup is selected in the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

Path to Data

Optional

If only a subset of the data that will be returned by the API endpoint is needed, you can designate the part(s) of the response that should be included in the Nexset(s) produced from this source by specifying the path to the relevant data within the response. This is particularly useful when Insightful API responses contain metadata, pagination information, or wrapper objects alongside the actual data records.

For example, when querying an Insightful endpoint that returns a list of employee activity records, the API response typically wraps the records in a top-level object along with pagination metadata. By entering the path to the records array, you can configure Nexla to treat each element of that array as an individual record.

Path to Data is essential for Insightful API responses that have nested structures. Without specifying the correct path, Nexla might not be able to properly parse and organize your workforce analytics data into usable records.

  • To specify which data should be treated as relevant in responses from this source, enter the path to the relevant data in the Set Path to Data in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. JSON paths use dot notation (e.g., $.data.items[*] to access an array of items within a data object).

    • For responses in XML format, enter the XPath that points to the object/array containing relevant data. XPath uses slash notation (e.g., /response/data/item to access item elements within a data element).

    Path to Data Example:

    If the Insightful API response is in JSON format and includes a top-level array named data that contains the relevant records, the path to the response would be entered as $.data[*].

Autogenerate Path Suggestions

Nexla can also autogenerate data path suggestions based on the response from the API endpoint. These suggested paths can be used as-is or modified to exactly suit your needs.

  • To use this feature, click the Test button next to the Set API URL field to fetch a sample response from the API endpoint. Suggested data paths generated based on the content & format of the response will be displayed in the Suggestions box below the Set Path to Data in Response field.

  • Click on a suggestion to automatically populate the Set Path to Data in Response field with the corresponding path. The populated path can be modified directly within the field if further customization is needed.

    PathSuggestions.png

Metadata

If metadata is included in the response but is located outside of the defined path to relevant data, you can configure Nexla to include this data as common metadata in each record. This is useful when you want to preserve important contextual information that applies to all records but isn't part of the main data array.

For example, when querying an Insightful endpoint that returns a list of time tracking sessions, the API response may include pagination metadata (such as total record count or page number) alongside the sessions array. If you have specified the path to the sessions array, you can specify a separate path to the pagination metadata to include it with each record in the generated Nexset(s).

Metadata paths are particularly useful for preserving Insightful API response context like request timestamps, total record counts, or pagination identifiers that apply to all records in the response.

  • To specify the location of metadata that should be included with each record, enter the path to the relevant metadata in the Path to Metadata in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path to the object or array that contains the metadata, and for responses in XML format, enter the XPath.

Request Headers

Optional
  • If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this source, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (e.g., header1:value1,header2:value2). Additional headers may be required for API versioning or custom content type specifications.

    You do not need to include the Authorization header here — it is automatically applied by Nexla using your Insightful credential. Common headers like Authorization and Content-Type are handled automatically based on your credential configuration.

Endpoint Testing

After configuring all settings for the selected endpoint, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current configuration. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Save & Activate the Source

  1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Insightful data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.