How do I import from Excel?

In 2c8 Modeling Tool you can import data from Excel. This data can be a set of objects, for example an Excel document with all employees within your organization. Here is how you proceed to import from Excel to 2c8 Modeling Tool.

Preparation

Version 2024.1 or earlier

First of all, you need to install the “Import from Excel” plugin. You do this by clicking on “Tools” – “Settings” and then the “Plug-in” tab. If you have not installed the plugin, you will find it under “Available”. Select the “Import from Excel” plugin and click the “Install” button.

If you have fields that should also be imported from Excel into the 2c8 Modeling Tool, you should first create these in the 2c8 Modeling Tool before performing the import. If fields/descriptions are not linked to the object type, the value entered in Excel will be ignored during the import.

Version 2025.1 or later

Ask your 2c8 administrator to add the "Import from Excel" plug-in to your repo. To check that the plug-in is available, you can:
1. Open the repo

2. Click File-->Export

If the "Import from Excel" option is available, the plug-in is installed.

Preparation in Excel for Importing Objects

The file must be saved in .xls format. Does not work with .csv or .xlsx.

The columns you can specify in your Excel file are “Title”, “Type”, “UUID”, “Prefix”, “Field name”, “Prefix”, and “Do not include”.

1. Start by adding the columns “Type” and “Title”. In the “Type” column, define the object type that the data in Excel should be imported as in the 2c8 Modeling Tool. In the “Title” column, enter the titles of the objects—that is, what the objects should be titled in the 2c8 Modeling Tool. Below is an example where we have chosen to import multiple objects of the object type “unisex” (individual object) with the individuals’ names as their titles.

The object types you can enter in the “Type” column are the following:

     Object type - Type column in Excel

• Business object – business object
• Activity – activity
• Adaptation – adaptation
• Note – note
• Application – application
• Archive – archive
• Position – figure torso
• Document – core document
• Entity (information model) – info entity
• Forum – forum
• Function – application function
• Connect – join
• Capability – capability
• Group – bpmn group
• Interface – application interface
• Indicator – gauge
• Individual – unisex
• Stakeholder – interested party
• Interaction – application interaction
• Component – application component
• Requirement – requirement
• Message – message
• Model area (information model) – info area
• Goal – target
• Opportunity – possibility
• Object frame (information model) – info frame
• Object group (information model) – info group
• Organization – organisation
• Location – location
• Problem – problem
• Process – process
• Project – project
• Rule (OR) – or
• Rule (AND) – and
• Risk – risk
• Role – role
• Collaboration – application collaboration
• Service – application service
• Strength – strength
• Weakness – weakness
• Text – text
• Time – time
• Tool – tool
• Web component – web component

2. If you want to add fields, descriptions, or prefixes to your objects, you can also do this in your Excel file. As mentioned earlier, the fields and descriptions must already exist in the 2c8 Modeling Tool and be linked to the types; otherwise, these values will be ignored during the import.

In the example below, we have added the columns “Description”, “Department”, and “Prefix”. In the 2c8 Modeling Tool, “Description” corresponds to a formatted text field, and “Department” is in the form of a checklist with different values (e.g., HR, Production, and Finance)—that is, the names of fields that exist in the 2c8 Modeling Tool.

If you want to specify several different values for the same object, you can separate them with commas (see row 3 in the image below). The “Prefix” column sets the prefix I have specified in the cells for each object (row).

If you want to edit information in objects that already exist in the 2c8 Modeling Tool via Excel, you can add the “UUID” column. This will define which object you want to make the change in.

For example, if you want to change the title of multiple objects, you can enter the objects’ IDs in the row under “UUID” to specify the object. The information you have entered in Excel will then overwrite the existing information for the specified objects.

You can also add a column called “Do not include”. This column will be ignored during the import. For example, the column can contain cells with notes or similar information.

Once you have entered all the columns and the values that the objects should have in the 2c8 Modeling Tool, save the file in Excel as a .csv (CSV – comma-separated values). The actual import process is explained further down in this help article.

Preparing Excel for document import

The columns you can specify in your Excel file are "Title", "Content", "Type" and "Do not include".

1. Start by adding the columns "Title" and "Content". In the "Title" column, you will specify what the title of the document should be in the 2c8 Modeling Tool. In the "Content" column, you specify the URL that the document should link to, i.e. the location where the document is located.
   
    
2. If you want to add document types to the documents you import, add the "Type" column where you specify document types. You can only add one document type. If the document type you add does not exist in 2c8 Modeling Tool, it will be created during import.
   
    
3. You can also add a column called "Do not include". This column will be ignored during the import. For example, the column can contain cells with notes or similar.
    
4. Once you have entered all the columns and the data that the documents should receive in 2c8 Modeling Tool, save the file in Excel as a .csv (CSV - comma-separated values). The import itself is explained further down in this help article. If you have problems with åäö in the import, you can try saving the file as a .xls instead.

Import into 2c8 Modeling Tool

To import the files you have created, open a repository and then choose “File” – “Import”. If you want to import documents from Excel, select “Import documents from Excel…”, and if you want to import objects from Excel, select “Import objects from Excel…”.

Navigate to the file you want to import, select it, and choose “Open”.

The import dialog shown below will then appear. In this example, we have chosen to import objects from the first example mentioned earlier in this article.

Check “Remove first line” and then click on the column headers to choose how they should be imported. In the example below, we select the column we named “Prefix” in Excel to be imported as “Prefix” in the 2c8 Modeling Tool.

We then click “Import…” to import the material.