Need someone to explain to me the difference between 'DurationMinutes' and 'minutesUsed'

[Adfc_NZ]

Hi,

As I posted in the subject, I need someone to explain to me the difference between 'DurationMinutes' and 'minutesUsed'.

I understand that 'minutesUsed' is the metric that should be used to analyse the usage of minutes by Qlik users that are in a Analyzer Capacity "mode" (i.e. they do not have a "Analyzer" license). Or did I get that wrong? 

Further context: knowing the difference will enable me to better build an analysis of the consumption and recommendation of giving or removing an Analyze licenser to a user based on their usage.

Thank you in advance.

[rubenmarin · Accepted solution]

Hi, based on the API documentation: https://qlik.dev/apis/rest/licenses/

duration: Engine session duration. (From session start to session close)

minutesUsed: Analyzer capacity minutes consumed. (6-minute blocks with user activity https://help.qlik.com/en-US/sense-admin/May2026/Subsystems/DeployAdministerQSE/Content/Sense_Deploy...)

So, if a user starts the session to see some data and uses it for 5 minutes, the it's idle for another 25, and dedicates 3 minutes to check data before closing the session.

duration: 5+25+3 = 33 minutes.

minutesUsed: 12 minutes (first and last 6-minute blocks)

On the other hand, a user that opens a session to check a KPI and closes it in less than a minute, and makes this 3 times at different hours:

duration: < 3 minutes

minutesUsed: 18 minutes (3 different 6-minute blocks)

Also note that duration counts any type of license, not only capacity licenses.

[Adfc_NZ]

Hi rubenmarin,

Thank you very much for your very detailed and clarifying explanation, makes perfect sense what you said! 🙂

One final question, just to confirm: we have a 15m timeout on our sessions. I am then guessing that, if a user logs in, uses an app for 3 minutes, leaves the session open for another 26, the "Duration" will still be 29 because the session hasn't been terminated yet (as far as my experience is with Qlik "timeouts" they only occur when we the users try to re-engage with the app, which then prompts the user to re-login).

Am I correct in this assumption?

[rubenmarin]

Hi, I made some test, with inactivity timeout at 15 and 45 minutes, open an app and left it open for an hour or so, the nclose it or do some clicks (the app refreshed because of timeout). I see that the duration counts around 32 minutes, so maybe there is something else closing the session at 30 minutes of inactivity, maybe the IdP, or something on the browser

[Adfc_NZ]

Thank you for testing it, your information is very helpful. 🙂

Have a great rest of your week.