> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://conveo.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Waves

> How a Storyline re-analyzes itself on a schedule, and why that's different from a one-off study

A **reporting wave** is one analysis cycle in a Storyline. On the cadence you
choose, Conveo takes the interviews from that time window and runs a full
analysis over them — producing that wave's insights, updating your metrics, and
writing a report. Then it starts the next wave.

Waves are what make a Storyline *continuous*. A regular study is analyzed once
and then it's done. A Storyline instead keeps producing a fresh read on a
schedule, and — crucially — connects each wave to the ones before it, so you get
a moving picture rather than a series of disconnected snapshots.

## Why waves are different from re-running a study

You could imagine getting the same effect by duplicating a study every month and
analyzing each copy. Waves are better in two ways:

* **Nothing to re-launch.** Interviews keep flowing into the live program;
  Conveo cuts them into waves and analyzes each one automatically.
* **Findings are connected across waves.** Conveo recognizes when this wave's
  finding is the same story as a previous wave's and links them, so you can see
  how it emerged and changed. A pile of separate monthly studies can't tell you
  that. (See [Insights](/docs/storylines/insights) for how threading works.)

## The lifecycle of a wave

Each wave moves through three phases:

| Phase         | What's happening                                                                  |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Ongoing**   | The wave's time window is open and interviews are still arriving                  |
| **Analyzing** | The window has closed; Conveo is analyzing the interviews and writing up the wave |
| **Closed**    | Analysis is done — the wave's insights, metrics, and report are published         |

Once a wave closes, its results are fixed — it's a permanent record of what the
data said during that window. New interviews count toward the next wave, not a
past one, so history never shifts under you.

## Recruitment vs. reporting

A Storyline has two independent rhythms:

* **Recruitment** — how participants arrive. This can be continuous (a steady
  stream all the time) or batched on a cadence (a fresh group each period).
* **Reporting** — how often Conveo analyzes and publishes. This is the wave
  cadence, and it's what the timeline is built around.

The two don't have to match: you can recruit continuously but report monthly, for
example.

## Choosing a cadence

Pick a reporting cadence that matches how fast your topic actually moves and how
many interviews you gather:

* **Weekly / biweekly** — fast-moving topics with steady interview volume, where
  you want to catch shifts quickly.
* **Monthly** — the common default: enough interviews per wave for confident
  findings, frequent enough to stay current.
* **Quarterly** — slower-moving or lower-volume programs, or when you only need a
  periodic strategic read.

Each wave is labeled by its period so the timeline reads naturally — for example
"Apr 2026" for a monthly cadence, "Jan 1 – Jan 8, 2026" for a weekly one, or
"2026 Q1" for a quarterly one.

<Tip>
  A cadence that's too fast for your interview volume produces thin waves with
  noisy findings; too slow and you're late to notice change. When in doubt, start
  monthly and adjust once you see how much data each wave gathers.
</Tip>