Flow Engine Production Reporting Guidance - what to consider when set the flow reporting level (Off/Basic/Full) <!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } This article explains the impact of flow designer execution reporting levels (OFF / BASIC / FULL) on flow execution time and data storage, and provides guidance on which level to use based on flow complexity and execution volume.BackgroundFlow execution reporting can be set to one of three levels: OFF — No reporting data is generated or written for the flow runBASIC — Flow, action, and flow-logic state + timing only. No step-level detail; no input/output data capturedFULL —Everything BASIC captures, plus step-level execution detail and full input/output data for actions Why this matters Reporting writes are saving the data into sys_flow tables (sys_flow_execution_history, sys_flow_report_value, sys_flow_report_value_chunk). It will increase the database storage, and they execute synchronously on the flow's own execution thread. Higher write volume (more records, larger payloads) directly extends flow execution time. This impact is most significant at FULL, where write volume is highest. What drives the BASIC → FULL time impact Number of actions/flow logic — not the differentiator. Both BASIC and FULL record one entry per action.Number of steps inside actions — a real driver. Step-level detail is only captured at FULL.Volume of data flowing through the flow — the dominant driver. Only FULL captures actual input/output data; large payloads are split into extra writes. In short: the BASIC → FULL time impact scales with step count and data volume, not with the number of actions or flow-logic elements. Guidance Matrix Volume = how often the flow executes (runs/day). Step count and payload size are captured by the Flow Profile row, not by Volume.Recommendation: Use OFF or BASIC as the default for production at medium/high volume across all profiles. Reserve FULL for low-volume diagnostics or short, targeted troubleshooting windows. Benchmark DataSynthetic benchmark results (1000 executions × 5 iterations per test): This was validated against a real customer production flow (66 actions/logic elements across 3 subflows), where FULL ran 20.7% slower than BASIC — consistent with the synthetic benchmark range. Best Practices 1. Keep reporting level at OFF or BASIC for production flows, especially medium/high-volume and step- or data-heavy flows. 2. Use FULL only for short, targeted troubleshooting on a specific flow/action under investigation — not as an ongoing setting.