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Excel Smartsheet Format

Smartsheets are a specialized Excel format with the ability to validate products before being imported into STEP. Typically, this format is used when maintaining product data or when initiating new products into STEP via the Supplier Web UI. If used to maintain product data, users can download a Smartsheet from the Supplier Web UI, and once the desired changes have been made, the data can be automatically validated in Excel. The Excel file can then be uploaded back into the Supplier Web UI. New products can also be initiated into STEP via predefined Smartsheet templates.

The data export and template configurations are created in the Export Manager, then added to the relevant template widgets and the export action in the Supplier Web UI. An import configuration should also be created and defined on the 'SmartSheetImportAction' in the Supplier Web UI (in case an import configuration is not specified in the export configuration).

Using Smartsheet format and Supplier Web UI may require special licenses. Ask your Stibo Systems account manager for more information.

Format Availability

Smartsheets are designed to be used from the Supplier Web UI only and using them outside of this context will diminish their capabilities. Furthermore, future Smartsheet enhancements will most likely also depend on Web UI.

Important: Objects should not be exported to Excel Smartsheets from STEP Workbench. Smartsheet templates exported from STEP Workbench will not be able to correct supplier linking of products created during import and will also provide different browsing capabilities. A maintenance Smartsheet exported from STEP Workbench will not contain any information about workflow and state, so it will not be able to supply information about workflow mandatory columns. In addition, any business rules regarding the current workflow will be unavailable during import. It will also supply a different set of possible targets when maintaining product cross-references.

Setup Requirements

Before Smartsheets can be downloaded from the Supplier Web UI and/or imported into STEP, some initial configuration steps are required.

  1. In Export Manager, create a Smartsheet data export and/or template configuration as described in Smartsheet Data and Template Configurations here.
  2. In Import Manager, create an import configuration as described in Smartsheet Import Configurations here.
  3. In the Supplier Web UI, configure the Smartsheet Import Action as described in the Smartsheet Import Action section of the Web User Interfaces documentation here.
  4. In the Supplier Web UI, configure the Smartsheet Export Action as described in the Smartsheet Export Action section of the Web User Interfaces documentation here.
  5. In the Supplier Web UI, configure the Smartsheet Export Widget as described in the Smartsheet Export Widget section of the Web User Interfaces documentation here.

Additional Information

  1. Review the available system configuration properties, the Smartsheet cover sheet tab, and Smartsheet special attribute handling, as described in the Additional Information About Smartsheets topic in this guide here.
  2. Review the available Web UI components for use with Smartsheets as described in the Smartsheets in Web UI topic of the Web User Interfaces documentation here.
  3. Understand the background processes and queues used with Smartsheets, see the Smartsheet Background Processes and Queues topic in this guide here.
  4. Alter the behavior of Smartsheets using configuration properties as described in the Smartsheet System Properties topic of this guide here.
  5. Review the available types of Smartsheet and the required handling as defined in Using a Smartsheet topic of this guide here.
  6. Understand how to initiate a product with a Smartsheet as defined in the Initiating Products Using a Smartsheet topic of this guide here.
  7. Understand how to maintain products with a Smartsheet as defined in the Maintaining Products Using a Smartsheet topic of this guide here.

 

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