Spreadsheet Template Design

Creating a spreadsheet template is a five-step process. You:

1. Define general information for the template.

2. Design the template's contents and layout.

3. Specify instruction text, if required.

4. Identify the roles that can perform data set operations, such as create and upload, and the roles that can maintain the template

5. Review the design and generate a test spreadsheet from the template.

This topic describes the design step of this process.

Available Attributes Panel

The Available Attributes panel lists all attributes of the selected component of the object. You can:

• Set the Show field to filter the attributes.

• Select a different component or all components.

• Switch to a tree view to see the component hierarchy. For each component of the object, you see separate entries in the hierarchy for attributes, flexfield attributes, and child components.

• Click an attribute name to view the attribute details.

• Move attributes from the Available Attributes panel to the Selected Attributes panel. When you move the first attribute, any required attributes for the component move automatically to the Selected Attributes panel. Attributes that are required conditionally don't move. You must add them explicitly to include them.

Note: On occasion, you may see two attributes with the same name in the Available Attributes panel. Typically, this duplication occurs for foreign object references. It enables you to choose between entering free text and selecting a value from an LOV. The icons that precede each name show the attribute type.

Selected Attributes Panel

In the Selected Attributes panel, attributes appear in the order in which you added them. You can:

• Edit the details of an attribute. For example, you can:

  • Change the column heading.

  • Make an optional value required.

  • Specify a default value. You can also make attributes, such as those with default values, read-only.

  • Specify whether the attribute is visible in the generated spreadsheet.

  • Disable optional attributes. These attributes appear but can't be updated.

  • Enter a description to appear as help text in the generated spreadsheet.

  • Configure a list of values to validate the attribute.

• Create Note attributes. Use Note attributes to return values from a list of values for information only. For example, you may have a list of values for the PersonNumber attribute that returns the person number to this attribute. It can also return the person's last and first names in the Note column. You can make the Note column read-only, and multiple Note columns can have values returned from the same list of values. Data in Note columns isn't passed to the application but can be used in the data set for information purposes or coordination of multiple contributors.

  You can also use Note attributes to communicate information that doesn't need to be uploaded. For example, the Human Resources Specialist may have submitted overtime information in a spreadsheet for the Payroll Administrator to action.

• Change the attribute order. After you determine if any attributes are hidden, click the Reorder icon to open the Reorder Attributes dialog box.

• Duplicate a component. This option exists for components that can appear more than once in an object, such as Person Phone or Location Legislative Extra Information.

  Tip: Edit the selected attributes of the component before creating additional instances.
  Note: You can only duplicate components present at the bottom of the object hierarchy with no child components.

When you add an attribute to the Selected Attribute panel, some of the following attributes are automatically added for you:

• Attributes that are used to uniquely identify the record you've selected an attribute from.

• Attributes that uniquely identify the parent record when you select an attribute from a child object.

• Attributes from the parent record if you duplicate the selected attributes for a child object or include attributes from a different child object.

Note: It's important to include attributes from the parent object when supplying data to different child objects, or duplicated child objects. The parent record groups all the related data and ensures the spreadsheet row is loaded together.

Advanced Settings

To manage all attributes at once, click the Advanced Options for Attribute Definition icon. On the Advanced Options for Attribute Definition page, you can manage:

• Basic information, flexfield attributes, and lists of values.

• Attribute keys. When you import data to a spreadsheet from a file, you can include a header. The attribute names used in the import file can be different from those in the spreadsheet. In this case, the Attribute Key fields must include the names from the import file. For example, you can import a location code to a spreadsheet from a file where it's known as the location ID. To ensure that the data imports successfully, you must set the Attribute Key value to Location ID for the Location Code attribute.