FAQ
Describe the whole architecture of Analytics, i.e. how are ingestion points, transformations, data storage, data processing handled?
Data is ingested into Flow in a flat-file format such as CSV files or Google Sheets. Additionally, data can be imported into Flow from various data sources using Flow's published integration API. Python libraries provide an easy mechanism to authenticate and move exactly the relevant data into Flow. Alterix and Power BI integrations are available as well. Data can be pushed to Flow from Data Lakes through the Flow API. Data files are stored within Flow in an encrypted CSV format. Various data transformations can be performed within Flow. Data can be exported from Flow, but the usual use case entails data being imported to Flow so that the Flow software can generate interesting and compelling visualizations and data stories.
Is there any built-in reporting tool available? If so what are the report types supported (Canned Report, Ad hoc Report, Data Extract)?
Flow is typically an end-user interactive experience, so is not a reporting tool as such, although it could be thought of as the reporting tool itself.
Is there any built-in visualization tool for Dashboards/Analytical Reports? What charts can be created from the data and how easily can the data be drilled down into?
Flow is a visualization tool, and the end result is a user experience for either data analysis or data communication. There is typically a series of steps, or slides, each of which has one or more visualizations. Flow provides an authoring tool for generating a vast range of data visualizations involving many types of charts that can be seen simultaneously, such as in a single step of its presentation, which is comparable to a 'dashboard.' Many examples of Flow Data Story Presentations can be found at https://a.flow.gl in the Featured Flows section of the website.
Predictive analytics
Flow does not offer predictive analytics algorithms, but Flow has been used to generate data story presentations that contain predictive analytics. Flow can visualize predictive analytics but relies on other software to compute the predictive analytics.
Anomaly/outlier detection
Flow provides many ways of identifying anomalies and outliers in the data. The anomalies and outliers are presented visually. As a visualization tool, we focus on the end experience and expect serious data scientist users to continue to use the extensive tools in their existing quiver, and Flow is the tool that provides a full 3D environment to dramatically display the outliers within the dataset.
Leverages AI/ML technology to drive insights
To date, Flow has not included any AI/ML functionality, as it has not tried to compete with the vast number of serious data science tools on the market or in open source; instead, it focuses on the core mission of communicating data to non-experts in a dramatic and meaningful way. As part of that mission, we are looking into the integration of large language models such as ChatGPT into the Flow experience, so that users will be able to query the data with a natural language interface and discuss context provided by expert documents. The experience of natural language communication resulting in dramatic 3D visuals within augmented reality will be like science fiction coming to life.
Calculation of deltas or changes
Flow's 3D line charts of categorized time-based datasets enable the user's eye to immediately see deltas and changes. Once seen, the user can drill down to isolate categories or ranges to gain greater insights. Algorithms to extract the deltas and outlines before presenting them to the user is left to the data scientist's quiver of other tools.
Word clouds
Flow has been used to generate word clouds as visualization objects. Because labels can be associated with any data point, for example, it can be dramatic to drill into a social media dataset and see a word cloud summarizing a topic animate out from a selected point.
Data superimposed on a map or globe
Flow has many ways of superimposing data on a variety of maps, including globes or a variety of map projections. Flow provides many standard maps, and customers can create their own maps using TopoJSON files.
Sticky notes or other forms of annotation
Flow does not have sticky-note or annotation functionality at this time.
Collaborative interaction with visuals or dashboards
Flow's Multiuser Collaborative Meetings functionality provides the ability of multiple persons to enter into a meeting environment. With laser pointers and shared real-time interactivity, even non-experts can, with a laser pointer, indicate interesting aspects of the data and ask about outliers without knowing technical jargon. "Tell me about THIS" becomes a precise, well-understood question when accompanied with 3D data and interactivity.
Non-VR users can join a collaborative session
Yes, Flow supports the use of collaborative sessions in which users may enter collaborative sessions from their screens or phones using browsers, or within headsets.
Audio functions for muting (all/self), Spatial audio
Flow multiuser meetings have optional simultaneous audio streaming for all participants, and each or all participants can be muted/unmuted by the host, and self-muted.
Emoji’s for expressing feelings
There is no chat-based interactions, so no emoji support (:-|)
Integration of 3rd party conference call platforms
Often, multiuser Flow meetings are the visual element of a conferencing platforms, where the audio remains with the Zoom call. But there is no explicit support for other conferencing systems within Flow.
Can turn on/off collaborative features
Collaborative interactions can be enabled or disabled for each user independently.
Other differentiated offerings not mentioned above:
In many ways, Flow feels like many SciFi movies: seeing your data floating in front of you, and interacting collaboratively. We might argue that much more innovation has gone into making a platform that is usable for an enterprise to use on a daily basis and fits into an enterprise workflow. Dramatic and cool are meaningless if you can't apply them quickly and effectively every day.
Limits on file size or formats
By default, the maximum file size supported by Flow is 10 MB, and the maximum number of data points displayed in a single visualization is 80,000 records. These limitations are merely designed to keep within the performance limitations of typical headsets and mobile phones and expectations of dataset download times over the Internet. Customized applications that target explicit playback devices can exceed these limitations.
Ability to move through a virtual environment (VE)*
Flow users can move through virtual environments using controller 'fly' navigation, as well as place content in specific locations with the users real environment when using augmented reality or mixed reality.
Avatars that are viewable to other users in VE*
Flow has simple Avatars for the web users in meetings, and our upcoming Unity implementation uses Meta Avatars within meetings.
Customizable avatars*
All web avatars merely denote a user in place and orientation, and the Meta Avatars in our Unity implementation rely on the user's avatar definition within their Meta account.
Supports Meta avatars or other 3rd party avatars
We support Meta Avatars within our upcoming Unity application.
Other differentiated offerings not mentioned above:
Multiuser co-presence in augmented/mixed reality is an exciting use case, and we have developed simple, reliable content alignment for multiple users in the same room, whether in headset or on phones.
Supported devices
Flow provides support for the following headsets: Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Microsoft HoloLens 2, Magic Leap 2, Pico, and any others that have a WebXR implementation. We expect to extend this as the Unity implementation is complete.
Compatibility with WebXR standards (i.e. browser compatibility)
Flow is implemented in browsers (including headset browsers) using WebXR.
Other hardware/accessory requirements
None
Desktop version compatibility
Flow is fully enabled for both PC and Mac users using all modern browsers.
Native browser support (Chrome/Edge/Firefox/Safari)
All modern browsers are supported, including Chrome/Edge/Firefox/Safari.
Overall solution architecture and Deployment Architecture
Flow is implemented in a robust multi-level architecture. AWS is our cloud provider. All systems are implemented with load balancing and developed with CI/CD to enable rapid scaling of resources and on-prem installations. For more detailed information, please refer to document #14.1a.
Frequency of the Release Cycle
Flow provides new major releases on approximately a 6-month cycle. Minor releases are provided on a frequent cycle, often multiple upgrades per month. The frequency of minor releases is dependent upon customer demand. All releases are provided with full backward compatibility and very infrequently require any planned system downtime.
Product uptime/downtime SLAs
Flow's availability has historically been greater than 99.9% of the time on a 24x7 basis.
Audit feature for or notice of product changes
Flow provides release notes and notifications when product changes are released. The release notes provide information regarding the product modifications.
Archiving of data or product state for retrieval
Flow does not have a formal program of archiving customer data for future retrieval, but Flow Immersive is willing to discuss needs in this area.
Backup and restore mechanisms
All data is backed up daily and maintained for 30 days.
Multifactor authentication (MFA)
At this time Flow does not offer MFA.
Meets rigorous security standards (please specify)
Flow meets rigorous security standards, due to Flow's own processes and AWS being Flow's hosting provider. Flow has passed massive security audits by well-known F500 companies.
Disabling “gameplay” screenshots and exports
Because Flow is delivered via the browser, it would be impossible to disable screenshots.
Features for GDPR compliance (e.g., PII masking)
By policy, Flow does not want PII entered into the Flow platform on our multi-tenant cloud. We are compliant with GDPR. Amazon Web Services is GDPR compliant.
Enabling session timeouts
Flow sessions currently timeout after 7 days.
Accessibility features implemented in the UI
As a highly visual product requiring visual faculties to experience Virtual Reality, it would be very difficult to enable accessibility.
Sit and stand modes
Both stationary and ambulatory VR/AR are supported and expected.
Ability to use hand controller (one or both) or hands to control menus, other visualizations, or avatar movement in the virtual environment
Hand controllers within AR/VR are the method to interact with the environment.
Ability to view real-world time
No real-world clock is visible within the Flow environment at this time. Please let us know if this is of interest.
Product accessibility to all geographic regions
Flow is accessible over the Internet in all geographic regions. Performance in China using AWS servers appears to be fine, and no blocking has been observed.
What is the commitment to sustainability?
As a company, Flow Immersive is very committed to sustainability, and this core value is an important component of our value system. We hope that if we can help humans communicate data more effectively with data stories, perhaps we can help humanity solve some of its great challenges.
What all can be branded in the UI? Describe the steps to reconfigure UI to enterprise branding?
Flow offers white-label branding when required by customers if the customer relationship meets certain financial minimums. Flow expects significant amounts of product usage to be contemplated for white-label implementations of Flow.
What is the level of customization in UI can be made?
Flow data story presentations are infinitely customizable by users of Flow. The UI used in the Flow Editor to generate Flows is not customizable at this time.
Describe the customization capabilities for the solution and describe how these customizations are delivered. How are these configurations carried over to upgraded versions of the base product?
The Flow Editor can be used to generate infinite numbers of customized solutions that can be viewed on 2D screens, on phones, and in a variety of VR headsets. Customizations of the authoring environment are not available. Data story presentations and dashboards (the result of authoring activities) are always backward compatible with prior release versions of the Flow software. Flow Immersive is always looking for ways to provide additional features and ways to make the authoring environment more user-friendly and flexible.
Do you offer any Desktop Edition of your Platform? If yes then provide details regarding the same.
The Flow Editor and Flow display can be installed onto Windows computers as a PWA. Functionality is identical to running within the Browser.
Does the Platform allow features of social networking (Like, Comments, etc)?
Flow is not its own social media environment other than the ability for Flows to be published for public discovery, without comment or like functionality. Flow AR Videos are commonly posted to a variety of social media platforms, and some postings have achieved numbers of views in the multi-millions.
Does the Platform require Master data to be stored locally?
At this time, all data processed within Flow is stored on Flow servers. We could offer consumption of data exposed within enterprise systems and customized integrations are available as part of an enterprise engagement. Local storage is not stored locally on user devices, but can be uploaded from user devices for use in Flow.
Can the platform be scaled on demand?
Flow is being provided on AWS with load balancing and uses massive scalability features provided by AWS. Flow's architecture has been designed for massive scalability. CI/CD is implemented for rapidly scaling up server resources. AWS alerting is used to when server performance drops below thresholds. We monitor CPU utilization as our primary metric of health.
Are there any information collected without a user’s explicit knowledge and/or consent?
No, Flow does not collect information without the user's knowledge and consent, and consent is required to use the system. We have performance monitoring including usage data to improve the system, and it is never and never will be shared outside of Flow.
How does the system protect sensitive config, data at rest? Can it be applied to custom fields, tables?
All data within Flow is stored in an encrypted state, both at rest and in transit. Individual fields are not encrypted beyond overall file encryption.
Is the Personally Identifiable Information(PII) encrypted?
By policy, Flow does not license the entry of PII into the Flow application. Our position is that PII should never appear in Flows.
What steps are taken to isolate individual client-related environment, data?
All Flow customers share a common processing environment with logical data separation. Data within a customer's accounts is not available to other customers. Authentication is secure and is isolated to access only the customer's accounts. On-prem or private cloud servers are available.
Describe the process to automate new user account creation?
Flow supports the entry of new user accounts via a well-defined new user account creation process. Flow is happy to discuss the details of validating new users to be synchronized with other user creation activities. We have in development a version of our admin functionality to be available for customers to manage their own organization's user accounts.
What is your Data Retention Policy?
At this time Flow retains all Flows indefinitely, unless the Flow customer requests the deletion of Flows within specified customer accounts.
How does API authentication work?
At this time API authentication is performed via a userid and password, which returns a token for subsequent calls.
If the platform offers APIs then are there any limits to API calls (Both inbound and outbound)?
Flow is not a transaction processing application. Several questions within this section may not be applicable to the Flow platform.
Are these APIs performance tested? What are the typical response times?
No outbound APIs at this time.
What percentage of business and administrative functionality can be executed through API's/services/messages?
The Dataset API is the only API at this time. No business or administrative functionality is accessible through APIs.
What types of near real-time integrations does the application support for messaging (i.e., data I/O as opposed to batch)?
Flow has first been developed with the goal of data story presentations, where live, continuous data feeds are not a requirement. We have designed the client-side data manager to update real-time datasets, but have not built real-time streaming data ingestion capabilities, such as for IOT monitoring data. As part of an enterprise engagement, we would love to extend this functionality to real-time data streaming within the platform.
Does the Platform support Batch based integration? If yes what options are supported for batch data input and output? How can the system handle frequent, large data exchanges and protect it?
The Dataset API expects a single dataset per call. Because of the negative performance implications of very large datasets within phones and headsets, we don't expect huge datasets to be sent to the client.
Can the application provide delta, daily, data changes since the last export?
No. Flow is not a data management and processing application with data exports, so this question does not apply. We focus on the data presentation layer, not data management.
What is the high-level architecture of the system?
Think of Flows like documents with links to source datasets and other media files.
The documents are created in the no-code web-based Flow Editor, where links to datasets are created, and all aspects of the data visualization is described, including interactions, media, steps, etc.
These documents are performed within a 3D environment, either using browser-based WebXR or Unity-based applications.
A cloud server farm (on AWS) serves up the web application, the flows, the datasets, as well s realtime multiuser services.