Connecting Looker Studio to analytics data

Connect Looker Studio to Tallyfy data

Looker Studio connects to Tallyfy Analytics through a third-party connector in about 10-15 minutes. You get free, shareable dashboards from your workflow data - no enterprise BI license needed.

Looker Studio vs Looker

This guide covers Looker Studio (the free visualization tool). For Looker (Google Cloud’s enterprise BI platform), see the Looker connection guide instead.

Requirements

Before you start, you’ll need:

• Tallyfy Analytics subscription activated for your organization
• Free Looker Studio account (sign up at lookerstudio.google.com ↗)
• AWS Access Key credentials from Tallyfy Support
• A third-party connector subscription (CData or OWOX)

No native Athena support

Looker Studio lacks built-in Amazon Athena connectivity, unlike enterprise Looker. A third-party connector bridges the gap. Setup is still quick.

Authentication overview

Tallyfy Analytics data lives in Amazon Athena, which supports two authentication methods:

Method	Description	Use for
IAM Username/Password	Web console access credentials	AWS Console only
Access Key/Secret	Token-based authentication	Connector authentication (recommended)

Two separate credential sets

Tallyfy provisions two distinct credential sets:

• AWS IAM login - for the AWS web console only
• Access Key + Secret Access Key - for connecting Looker Studio connectors

Connector options

Two connectors work well for Athena-to-Looker Studio integration:

Option 1: CData Connect Cloud

• Pricing: Subscription-based (check CData pricing ↗)
• Setup time: 10-15 minutes
• Highlights: Cloud-to-cloud connectivity, automatic query optimization, no data replication

Option 2: OWOX BI connector

• Pricing: Free (check OWOX connector page ↗)
• Setup time: 10-15 minutes
• Highlights: Direct AWS integration, no intermediate processing

Choosing a connector

Both work well with Tallyfy Analytics. Pick CData if you need broader data connectivity beyond Athena. Pick OWOX if you’re already in their platform.

Setup with CData Connect Cloud

Step 1: Configure the CData connection

1. Sign up for a CData Connect Cloud account ↗
2. Log into your CData Connect dashboard
3. Click Add Connection and select Amazon Athena
4. Configure the connection parameters:
   • Connection Name: A descriptive name (e.g., “Tallyfy Analytics”)
   • AWS Region: Use the region provided by Tallyfy Support
   • S3 Staging Directory: Your staging bucket path from Tallyfy (e.g., s3://tallyfy-athena-results/)
   • Database: Your assigned database name (typically your organization name)
5. Enter authentication credentials:
   • Access Key ID: Your Tallyfy-provided Access Key
   • Secret Access Key: Your Tallyfy-provided Secret Access Key
6. Click Test Connection to verify
7. Save the connection

Step 2: Connect Looker Studio to CData

1. Open Looker Studio ↗
2. Click Create > Data Source
3. Search for and select CData Connect Cloud
4. Sign in to your CData account when prompted
5. Select your Athena connection from the list
6. Choose the database and tables you want to visualize
7. Click Connect

Step 3: Build your first report

1. In Looker Studio, click Create > Report
2. Select your CData Athena data source
3. Click Add to Report
4. Drag dimensions and metrics to build visualizations
5. Customize charts, add filters, and configure date ranges
6. Share the report URL with your team

Setup with OWOX connector

Step 1: Configure the OWOX connection

1. Sign up for an OWOX BI account ↗
2. Navigate to Connectors > Amazon Athena
3. Click Create New Connection
4. Configure the connection:
   • Connection Name: Descriptive name (e.g., “Tallyfy Workflows”)
   • AWS Region: Use the region provided by Tallyfy Support
   • Database: Your assigned database name
   • Workgroup: Use default or specify if Tallyfy provided one
5. Enter credentials:
   • Access Key ID: Your Access Key from Tallyfy
   • Secret Access Key: Your Secret Access Key from Tallyfy
6. Specify the S3 bucket for query results
7. Test and save the connection

Step 2: Connect Looker Studio to OWOX

1. Open Looker Studio ↗
2. Click Create > Data Source
3. Search for and select OWOX BI Amazon Athena
4. Authorize OWOX to access your Looker Studio account
5. Select your configured Athena connection
6. Choose tables to include in your data source
7. Click Connect

Working with Tallyfy data in Looker Studio

Available data

Tallyfy Analytics exports your workflow data as Parquet files¹ to Amazon S3, which Athena then makes queryable. The data covers:

• Process data - Workflow instances with status, owner, template name/version, tags, and completion timestamps
• Task data - Individual tasks within processes including assignments, due dates, and completion status
• Form field data - Questions and answers collected during workflow tasks
• Member data - User profiles, roles, activity timestamps, and team assignments

Visualization ideas

Here are popular dashboards Tallyfy customers build:

1. Process volume trends - Line charts showing processes launched over time
2. Completion rate scorecards - Percentage of on-time completions at a glance
3. Task duration heatmaps - Spot bottlenecks by visualizing average task durations
4. User activity tables - Leaderboards by completion rate
5. Form response analysis - Pivot tables exploring form field data patterns

Interpreting time metrics

Duration metrics show elapsed calendar time between task assignment and completion - including weekends, holidays, and waiting periods. For actual effort tracking, see how to track time spent on tasks.

Performance tips

Speed up your Looker Studio reports:

• Use date range controls - Don’t pull all historical data every time
• Filter at the source - Apply filters at the data source level, not in individual charts
• Limit table rows - Show top 10 or 20, not thousands of rows
• Enable caching - Set data freshness to 12-24 hours (daily updates work fine for most workflow analytics)
• Pre-aggregate in Athena - Create Athena views to reduce query complexity

Sharing and collaboration

Sharing Looker Studio reports is straightforward:

• View access - Share report URLs with anyone who needs to see the data
• Edit access - Let team members modify reports and create new visualizations
• Embed reports - Add reports to websites or internal portals with iframe embeds
• Schedule emails - Auto-send report snapshots on a set schedule

Troubleshooting connection issues

If the connection fails, check these in order:

• Verify credentials - Double-check your Access Key and Secret Access Key (one wrong character breaks everything)
• Check permissions - Your credentials need AmazonAthenaFullAccess and AmazonS3FullAccess policies attached
• Validate S3 path - Confirm your S3 staging directory path matches exactly what Tallyfy provided
• Test in AWS Console - Run a query in the Athena web console to rule out credential issues
• Check connector status - Make sure your CData or OWOX subscription is active
• Review region - Confirm you’re using the correct AWS region from Tallyfy Support

Still stuck? Contact your connector provider’s support team first for connection diagnostics, then reach out to Tallyfy Support if the issue is with your Analytics account.

Cost considerations

Component	Cost	Notes
Looker Studio	Free	Unlimited reports and dashboards
Tallyfy Analytics	Subscription	Contact Tallyfy for pricing
CData Connect Cloud	Subscription	Check CData for current pricing
OWOX Connector	Free	Free Athena connector
AWS Query Costs	Pay-per-query	Varies based on data scanned

Reducing AWS query costs

Athena charges based on data scanned. Keep costs down by using date range filters, caching report data in Looker Studio, and limiting the columns you query. Tallyfy stores analytics data in Parquet format with Snappy compression, which already reduces the volume of data scanned per query.

Looker Studio vs enterprise Looker

Feature	Looker Studio	Enterprise Looker
Cost	Free + connector fee	Subscription-based
Setup	10-15 min	15-20 min
Data modeling	Basic	Advanced (LookML)
Embedded analytics	iframe embeds	Full API
Collaboration	Share links	Role-based access
Best for	Small teams, basic dashboards	Large teams, complex analytics

Related articles

Looker > Connecting Looker to analytics data

This guide demonstrates how to connect Looker to Tallyfy workflow data through Amazon Athena in 15-20 minutes using Access Key authentication driver installation connection configuration and LookML modeling to create interactive dashboards and visualizations from processes steps form fields and user data.

Analytics > Looker

Looker integrates with Tallyfy Analytics through Amazon Athena to transform workflow data into interactive dashboards and embedded analytics that enable teams to explore process insights answer business questions and monitor performance in real-time without requiring technical expertise.

Tableau > Connecting Tableau to analytics data

You can connect Tableau to Tallyfy Analytics data in about 15 minutes by installing Java and the Amazon Athena JDBC driver then configuring Tableau with your Access Key credentials to access workflow data tables for building dashboards that visualize process durations and user performance metrics.

Powerbi > Connect Power BI

Power BI connects to Tallyfy Analytics through Amazon Athena using ODBC drivers and Access Key authentication to create interactive dashboards and visualizations from workflow data with proper configuration taking about 15 minutes to complete.

Footnotes

1. Columnar storage format built for analytics - queries run faster and storage costs less than CSV ↩

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