How to aggregate data across multiple Kintone apps
Kintone's graph and aggregation features work inside a single app. Sales live in the sales app, targets in the targets app — a completely normal way to model the business, and the moment you do it, a target-vs-actual chart becomes impossible with standard features. Here are the four real options, including where each one breaks.
Why standard features cannot do it
A Kintone graph is built against one app, and it aggregates only that app's records. A Related Records field can display records from another app, but those values are not available to the graph engine. You can reference across apps; you cannot aggregate across them.
The second problem is field types. Your sales app stores an order date as a date field. Your targets app stores the period as a dropdown containing "FY2025" and "Q1". Both are entirely reasonable modelling choices, and nothing in Kintone lines them up.
Option 1 — Related Records plus calculated fields
Put a Related Records field on the parent and carry the total in a calculated field. For a simple one-to-many sum — quotes belonging to a deal — this works.
Where it breaks: Related Records requires an exact key match, so matching by period or category is out. Every new aggregation axis means changing the app, and spanning three or more apps is not realistically buildable.
Option 2 — JavaScript customisation
Fetch records from several apps via REST, aggregate client-side, render a chart. Maximum flexibility; almost anything is achievable.
Where it breaks: offset is capped at 10,000 records, so growth forces a rewrite onto the cursor API. And the day the person who wrote it changes roles, you own code nobody can touch. The running cost usually exceeds the build cost.
Option 3 — export to CSV and aggregate in Excel
The most reliable option, the most commonly chosen, and the one that costs you manual work every month.
Thirty minutes a month is six hours a year. The bigger cost is that the numbers stop being current. Once every meeting starts with "how recent is this?", it has stopped working as a dashboard.
Option 4 — a dedicated aggregation plugin
A plugin built for cross-app aggregation matches records on a shared key without changing how your apps are built.
Three things to check before choosing one. (1) Does your data leave Kintone? If it does, IT review applies. (2) Does it handle your fiscal year? Some products hardcode a January start, which is wrong for most Japanese companies. (3) Can it match a date field against a dropdown? Target-vs-actual always needs this.
Which to choose
For a simple one-to-many total, option 1 is enough. If the aggregation axis changes often, or you span three or more apps, options 1 and 2 tend to collapse under maintenance. For a once-a-month report, option 3 is the honest answer. For something people look at continuously, option 4 has the lowest total cost.
Common questions
Can Related Records values be used in a graph?
No. Related Records displays records from another app for reference, but those displayed values are not available to Kintone's built-in graph and aggregation features. You would need to carry the value in a calculated field, or use another approach.
Can a date field be matched against a dropdown like "FY2025"?
Not with standard features. Something has to derive year, quarter and month from the date and align them. Kinplug Dashboard does this automatically, with the fiscal year starting in April by default and configurable.
What happens past 10,000 records?
The REST API's offset parameter caps at 10,000. Going beyond it requires the cursor API, which means rewriting any JavaScript customisation built on offset paging.
Does an aggregation plugin send data outside Kintone?
It depends on the product. Some aggregate on an external server; others run entirely in the browser. Kinplug Dashboard is the latter — calculations run under the viewing user's own Kintone session, so no external server holds your records.
A dashboard built for cross-app aggregation
Kinplug Dashboard compares apps on a shared key and pools records from many apps into one number. Dates and period dropdowns are matched automatically, fiscal year starting April by default. Everything runs in the browser under the viewing user's own Kintone permissions.