Creating a Table

Before you can import custom data, you need to create a table into which the data can be imported.

1. In the sidebar, click the Custom data icon.

2. Click the + New Table button to the top-right.

3. The Create table overlay opens.



Figure 1 - The Create table overlay

• Data Type - choose from Customer relationships, Operational data, Finances, Benchmarks or Other (Custom)

• Table Label - type in your description for the table.

• Table name - the name for the table. This will be referred to in scripting, so it cannot include spaces or special characters.

• Add to an existing dataset - select this if you want to append the custom table to an existing data set

• Create a new dataset - select this if you want to create a new data set with the custom table

Note: You can create one or more data sets, call them what you like, and assign tables to these data sets. You can chose an existing data set or create a new (the first time, in a new hub, you can only create a new data set).

4. Click the Create button.

The table is created and the Upload Data page opens. You can now upload the data file.

Figure 2 - The Upload Data page

5. Drop a file or click Browse.

A standard file selection dialog opens.

6. Browse to and select the data file you wish to upload. Note that the file must be of type .xlsx (File and Data Types).

The selected file is opened in the Upload page.

Figure 3 - The selected file open in the Upload page

• Note that a column has been automatically selected to be the key. One or more columns must be defined as the key(s), and the (combined) values for the key(s) must be unique. In the event it is not unique, an indication will be given. Click then on the row to show the "error", and correct the error in the .xlsx file before re-selecting and proceeding.

• Note also the field Type icons to the left of each label - these indicate which type of field the system has selected for that field. You can change both the key and the data type as necessary.

7. Click on a field to view details about the data in that field.

Figure 4 - The data for one of the rows

To change the type of data that is presented, click the Type drop-down and select the desired type. Note that the row numbers of the data reflect the row numbers from the original .xlsx file; the first row of data will be row 2 because row 1 is the header row in the .xlsx file.

For fields that contain categorical data, for example a list of countries, you can switch type to “Single choice”. The system will then automatically parse the data and find all distinct values, and automatically create an answer list based on those, with the original value as “Answer value” and the value stripped of special characters and blanks. The answer values and the codes used will be listed along with the total number of values.


Figure 5 - Example of the answer values for a single choice variable

If the system thinks that the selected variable type or one or more of the data values is wrong, an indication will be given.


Figure 6 - Example of the data where the system has registered an error

In this example a field is missing its data; you have the opportunity to check and correct the data in the .xlsx file before uploading. Note that while the data contains errors, the Publish button is grayed out and cannot be clicked. In the right pane, choose a filter option; you can choose to display the errors or the approved rows. So if for example you have a large file with a lot of rows, and one or two rows contain errors, then you can display only these rows. You can also download a report of the validation results.

8. When the data and variable types are correct click Publish.

   Note: Once you have imported the data, it cannot be changed. If you need to edit the data it must be edited in Excel and then re-imported (Uploading Data to the Table).

During the upload, the status of the task is displayed at the bottom of the window. On completion, the data records are presented in the table area.

Figure 7 - Example of the table with data loaded

Note that the table has two tabs:

• Records lists all the data in columns and rows, with the column headers at the top.

• Schema shows the columns with the variable types and the selected key. Click on a row in the schema tab to view the settings for that row.

There are five actions you can perform on the custom table:

• You can delete the table (Deleting a Custom Table).

• You can download the table as an .xlsx file (Downloading a Custom Table).

• You can upload data to the table (Uploading Data to the Table).

• You can edit the schema of the table (Editing the Schema of a Custom Table).

• You can schedule an FTP upload of data to the table (Automation through Importing from an FTP Server).