Nave provides integration with some of the most popular management tools on the market, including big names like Jira, Trello, Asana, and Azure DevOps. However, our customers often track their data manually or just want to control the data that they upload to the cloud for security reasons.
That is why we have introduced manual data uploads at Nave through CSV and JSON files to enable you to integrate with our platform regardless of the system that you use to manage your workflow. This is designed to give users the flexibility to anonymize their data, and so keep their privacy.
CSV File Format
Our manual data upload tool accepts comma separated .csv files. You can download our sample file and modify it for your own data. The file size limit for uploads to Nave is 32MB.
There are a few formatting rules that your .csv file should follow:
- The first row of your file should be reserved for the column names in each of your data fields. Column names can’t contain newlines, unclosed quotes, or any special characters.
- The first column should contain the identifiers of your items. It should be called Id. That column is mandatory. The values in it are also mandatory and should be unique.
- The second column should be called Name; it is mandatory and should contain the names of your items. The values, however, are optional and could stay empty if you’d like to anonymize your data.
- The next set of columns represent the sequential steps of your workflow. Each column should contain the date your item entered the corresponding workflow step. The dates on your file must use a dd/MM/yyyy format.
- The column following your workflow steps is dedicated to storing the date range that your items spent blocked in the workflow. This column is mandatory and should be named Blocked Date Range. It should contain the date range your item has been blocked. The date range should look like this [dd/MM/yyyy-dd/MM/yyyy]. You can specify multiple date ranges, separated with vertical bars [dd/MM/yyyy-dd/MM/yyyy | dd/MM/yyyy-dd/MM/yyyy].
- If you’d like to assess your due date performance by comparing the time between the start date and due date of a task with the actual time it took to deliver your work, add a new column right after Blocked Date Range. This column is optional and should be named Due Date. It should contain the item’s due date, and it must use a dd/MM/yyyy format.
- After the Blocked Date Range column is the Task URL column, which will let you have the URL of each task clickable on your charts. This column is optional.
- You can have any number of custom fields after the Blocked Date Range column, which could include data such as work item type, assignee, label, priority, etc. If included, each of these columns will be treated as a filter to enable a more granular analysis of your data. If you’d like to assign multiple values per custom field, the values should be placed in square brackets, separated with vertical bars [value 1|value 2|value 3]
JSON File Format
We also provide the option to import your data uploading a .json file. Please make sure your file conforms to the correct file format. The file size limit is again 32MB.
If you are using Jira Server to manage your process, and your instance is not exposed publicly, you can use this URL to directly extract your data in a .json file format
https://JIRA_INSTANCE/rest/agile/1.0/board/BOARD_ID/issue?expand=changelog&startAt=0&maxResults=1000
- JIRA_INSTANCE is your instance URL, (e.g. nave.atlassian.net)
- BOARD_ID is the ID of your board. It is listed in the rapidView parameter of your board URL, (e.g. https://nave.atlassian.net/secure/RapidBoard.jspa?rapidView=4)
For .json support in Azure DevOps Server, please contact us.
We provide a public-facing API to enable the automatic upload of your files to Nave. Please contact us for more details.
May you enjoy a smoother, more efficient workflow.
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Meet the Author

Sonya Siderova is a passionate product manager and a driving force behind Nave, a Kanban analytics suite that helps teams improve their delivery speed through data-driven decision making. When she's not catering to her two little ones, you might find Sonya absorbed in a good heavyweight boxing match or behind a screen crafting a new blog post.