Data Refresh

Problem

Dashboards need updating when new data arrives. Re-importing from scratch loses all the cleaning work you’ve done.

Solution

flexStats preserves the original imported file inside the .flexstats bundle. “Refresh from original” re-runs the import pipeline and surfaces any schema changes (renamed columns, new columns, missing columns) so you can resolve them before the dashboard updates.

User Stories

• As a manager with a monthly report, I can replace the source Excel file and refresh my dashboard without rebuilding it.
• As someone updating data, I can see exactly what changed in the data structure before committing the refresh.

UI Flow

1. Open a dashboard with a data source that has a refreshFrom reference
2. Click the refresh button (or replace the original file)
3. flexStats re-runs the import pipeline
4. A diff view shows schema changes (renamed columns, type changes, etc.)
5. Confirm to update the cleaned data — charts rebuild automatically

Platforms

• macOS: Full refresh experience with schema diffing

Known Limitations

• Refresh requires the original file format to be unchanged (CSV stays CSV, XLSX stays XLSX)
• Major structural changes (completely different columns) may require re-importing from scratch

Marketing One-Liner

Update your data with a click — flexStats shows you what changed.