Release April 2021

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We are happy to deliver the brandnew April 2021 release with the new Multi-Workbook feature and new Enterprise Plan features. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly spreadsheet for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) New Multi-Workbook Mode: Collector User view

Until now, each application could have only one workbook (for data entry and/or reporting) …

… with this release we removed this limitation and you can offer as many workbooks to your collector users! The application (“blue”) moved from the tile title to a new segment header and the tile is now titled by the workflow name and the new workbook name (“green”):

From now on it is not necessary any more to put all relevant sheets in one single file and you have now one more tool to design the data entry workflow for your collector users.

(2) New Multi-Workbook Mode: Power User view

In the Web App you can now upload several Workbooks to your application and define the sort order. Please set proper names for your workbooks since this is the major information for your collector users:

You`ll find new dropdown menus in every section in order to select the right workbook to work with:

(3) Enterprise Plan: Multiple Dimensions

In the November 2020 release we introduced the possibility to activate further dimensions in your datamodel and in the March 2021 release we introduced the maintenance table for this additional dimensions. With this release we decided to fusion this table maintenance with the existing 1. Create your dimension(s) menu item. You`ll find there a new dropdown menu where you can select all activated dimension tables:

Please be aware that the dimension tree for the Collector Users is always generated from the Dimension 01. The further dimensions can be used for aggregations and for external reporting systems like Power BI.

(4) Enterprise Plan: Key Wizard

In the same section you`ll find now a new item called Key Wizard. This is a tool which shows you all the undefined keys from the fact table and makes it easy to generate the basic structure of the dimension table …

… by adding those items to the dimension table and make sorting quite easy:

After that you can switch to the regular dimension table and add the addtional attributes – or download as csv, fill the table in Excel and upload the readily prepared table into the Web App:

(5) Enterprise Plan: Customize your data model with the field definitions

With this very powerful new feature you can define which fields in each dimension table and also in the fact table are activated (= visible) and especially how this fields are called in your specific application! This is the field definition for the dimesion table “Scenarios” (= DIM002) seen above:

(6) Enterprise Plan: Always Encrypted info columns

We introduced the Always Encrypted feature with the January 2021 release, with this release we add the information, if Always Encrypted is activated in a specific application and if yes, which fields in which tables are encrypted:

Please note that at the moment is not possible to activate the Always Encrypted feature by your own. Please contact us if you want to activate it.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy!

Release March 2021

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We are happy to deliver the brandnew March 2021 release with the new hybrid Power Apps showcase and with many other new features. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly spreadsheet for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) New Power Apps Demo for hybrid scenarios

In the June 20202 release we introduced the “By Cell” definition mode and told you that this mode can be used for the parallel usage of Power Apps as another data entry client for your data1.io application for data collection. Now we want to show you, how this can be executed. Please be aware that (1) this is not a public showcase and (2) Power Apps is not a component of data1.io.

So we have created this data1.io application – it looks like the public showcase Weekly Project Status but we use a workbook in “By Cell” definition mode (read more about that later on) and enter some data:

Microsoft Power Apps is part of the so-called Microsoft Platform and can be used pretty well in combination with Power BI, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents:

Power Apps is a low code / no code tool from Microsoft to setup mobile data entry forms, we create a so-called “Canvas app”:

Our demo app is really very basic, so it is only a draft for a possible solution. Please be also aware that Power Apps are usually used on tablets and smartphone, for practical reasons we use the Power App here via the browser.

On the first screen you`ll find the so-called Gallery which can be used as a selector for the elements from the data1.io dimension tree:

After selecting an element you can see the existing data from the data1.io client …

… and of course you can change the data here and write it back to the application:

Switching back to the data1.io Web Client we can refresh the data (by double clicking the dimension tree element) and can see – of course – the updated data from the Power Apps client:

Please be aware that the Power Apps application is NOT part of data1.io system. It is only a demo which can help you setting up your own hybrid data entry scenario.

(2) Web Client: Mode “By Cell”

The major backbone of such hybrid data entry scenarios is the recordset granularity in the so-called fact table of the data1.io application. When using the default “By Column” mode in a workbook the data1.io application creates one record for each cell in the workbook. So the data from the above workbook would generate this default recordset structure:

But Power Apps can be used much easier if all the data from the Excel Workbook is stored on one single record like this:

This can be realized by using the so-called “By Cell” mode, we introduced this mode already in the June 2020 release. We recommend to use the Workbook Wizard to understand how it works …

… and then transfer this knowledge to your own Workbook (which is usally set up directly in Excel):

If you need some help in setting up your workbook please feel free to contact us.

(3) Web Client: New Parameter “data1_CELLS01_DIM001_Key”

There is a new parameter “data1_CELLS01_DIM001_Key” which brings the key of the selected element in the dimension tree into your workbook (additionally to the name of the selected element):

We recommend to use this parameter for the formula in the SysDELTA parameter (to avoid complications due to ambiguous dimension tree element names).

(4) Web Client: Warning when entering data on a sum level

As an end user you`ll get now a warning if you start typing in the workbook if the writback is not active – either because you have selected a sum level element or because the data collection workflow is already closed:

(5) Enterprise Plan: extend your datamodel with additional dimensions

In the March 2020 Release and in the November 2020 Release we introduced the datamodel, now we continue to show you all the functions.

After activating the additional dimension tables that are relevant for your data model …

… you can select the dimension in order to define all dimensions of your datamodel:

You can define the dimension tables manually or – of course – you can upload readily defined dimension tables from Excel:

Please note that at this stage the additional dimensions are primary relevant for external reporting systems like Power BI. In the data1.io system itself you can use the additional dimension for level-specific aggregations.

(6) Enterprise Plan: create and delete applications

A very important new feature is the possibility to create new applications within your enterprise tenant:

Simply select a valid subscription, define the application owner and set a name for your new application:

It takes about 1 minute until your new application is created and ready to use.

Existing applications now easily can be deleted with the new Delete button. Please be aware that all your data in this application will be deleted – so please download all your collected data from the fact table (and also from the dimension tables) before you delete an application.

(7) Further Improvements: ODATA Feed, User Domains

We have further improved the usage of the ODATA feed – especially the usage of several ODATA feeds from several applications.

Furthermore we have improved the validation of the e-Mail adresses in the user lists: until now domains with more than 3 characters have been rejected. We have improved this with a modern check of valid domains.

(8) Blogpost about the 4th March Live Webinar (in german)

In our first webinar on 4th March 2021 we demonstrated how to collect data with data1.io and how report those data with Power BI by using the ODATA feed. The Webinar was held in german language, so is the blogpost about this webinar:

https://linearis.at/blog/2021/03/15/infos-zum-webinar-daten-im-controlling-mit-data1-io-einsammeln-und-mit-power-bi-auswerten/

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy!

Release February 2021

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We are proud to deliver the brandnew February 2021 release with the new showcase “Cost & Invest Budgeting” and the new parallel dimension tree. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly spreadsheet for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) New Showcase “Cost & Invest Budgeting” (in German)

We have added a new “Invest Planning” module to our last month released showcase “Cost Budgeting”. This new showcase has got now two more very interesting features:

  1. The dimension tree has two parallel branches, one for the cost planning and another one for the invest planning
  2. Depending on the element selected (from the dimension tree) the data entry sheet changes dynamically

You`ll find in the next two items more about these special new features. Again, we want to thank one of our highly motivated early adopter users who had again really good ideas for this usecase and showed us that it was quite easy to realize this. 🙂

(2) New Parallel Dimension Tree

It is now possible to define parallel branches within the dimension tree in order to realize scenarios like the “Cost & Invest Planning” showcase:

It`s quite easy to define – simply use different element names in the top level field of the dimension tree definition table:

(3) Web Client: New “data1_CurrentSheetVisible” Parameter

How is the “automatic sheet change” realized?

Basically it`s very simple: just define a cell with the named range name “data1_CurrentSheetVisible” and write either 0 or 1 in this cell:

  • 0 = invisible
  • 1 = visible

Then replace the value by a formula to control the visibility of the right sheet(s). From our point of view there are at least two major fields of applications for this parameter:

  1. Element (type) based visibility = depending on the selected element (type) more or less sheets are visible
  2. User based visibility = depending on the logged in user more or less sheets are visible

Please be aware that in many cases it will be necessary to refresh all sheets at once with the Sync Sheets READ parameter in order to deliver a smooth change between the sheets.

(4) Web Client: New “data1_CurrentUserKey” Parameter

Another new (optional) parameter is the Current User parameter. Define a named range called “data1_CurrentUserKey” and you will get delivered the name of the current user into your workbook. Use it just to display it in your workbook …

… or use it to implement user-specific calculations, sheet visibility rules (“Object level security”) and many more.

(5) Web Client: New Warning on Sum Level

Since it is not possible to writeback data on a sum level you will get a warning if you type in data into your workbook when a sum level node is selected in the dimension tree:

(6) Web App: New Table Filter

We have replaced our old table filter in the Web App which was a little confusing and not very powerful. You`ll find the new table filter when you activate the filter in any table in the Web App:

(7) New Capacity Pricing Tiers

We are happy that we can offer now capacity based pricing tiers and therefore deliver a “performance boost” for applications which need computing power. Furthermore we make transparent that our default databases – both shared or dedicated – run with a 5 DTU SQL Azure Database.

It is very important to emphasize that with every change in our pricing tiers all our existing users – both free and enterprise – keep their conditions for lifetime. So your conditions only can get better and never get worse.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy!

Release January 2021

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New year, new features! We are glad to deliver the brandnew January 2021 release with the new showcase “Cost Budgeting” and the new security feature “Always Encrypted“. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly spreadsheet for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) New Showcase “Cost Budgeting”

You`ll find the new showcase in our showcase gallery (immediately after login):

From a technical point of view this showcase is interesting because:

  • Dynamic rows = after switching to a dimension tree element only those rows are visible that have actuals
  • Yearly Aggregation of Actuals (from about 30.000 imported actual records)

You`ll find in the next two items more about these special new features. We want to thank one of our highly motivated early adopter users who had all the really good ideas for this usecase and showed us that only a few developments were necessary to realize this. 🙂

(2) Web Client: Dynamic rows (“reapply filters”)

The dynamic rows feature is implemented as a (simple) filter in the background …

… using a control column which generates a row type: type “0” says the row is a data entry and has no acutal – and this type is set to be filtered out:

In the Web Client we have implemented the “reapply filters” function which is executed automatically if the workbook contains an active filter (there is no need to define a control parameter).

(3) Web Client: Levels by column or by row

We introduced the date aggregation parameter “data1_CELLS01_DATE01_Level” in the December 2020 Release as a single cell parameter (“one for all”). With this release you can use this parameter as a “bar” for column- or row-specific definitions:

This way the actuals can be retrieved on a yearly level and budget data can be saved on a monthly (= date) level.

(4) Web Client: READ performance boosted again

When developing our new costcenter showcase we saw that the READ performance on the top level of the dimension tree was pretty poor:

Therefore we created indizes in the SQL Database and switched the MS Azure plan for our showcase databse to the more expensive 10 DTU plan – this improved READ performance from 19,5 sec to 6,0 sec! As a consequence, we will offer in the near future all our customers with an Enterprise Plan to switch (optionally of course) to a more powerful SQL database (and paying the difference to the default SQL database).

(5) Database: New Security feature “Always Encrypted” (Enterprise Plan only)

Finally we managed to realize a promise to all Enterprise Plan customers: the Always Encrypted feature. Always encrypted is a security technology from Microsoft SQL Server which makes columns with crucial content (like credit card numbers) on a table level unreadable (as long as you do not have the key the decrypt it). We decided to encrypt as a first step only the Measures columns since this seems to have only little performance implications and gives a high protection. Encrypting every column in every table of the datamodel would kill performance, so it will be important to find the right compromise between security and performance:

Of course, Always Encrypted has only on a database level a visible effect. Within the data1.io application you as an Application Owner (or Tenant Admin) can of course see the figures in clear letters. Of course, we adopted also the import and the export functions to work with this new column feature.

Furthermore, if you access your database with an external tool – here we use our own tool TABLE.Manager – then the encrypted columns aren`t even visible (our tool recognizes at least that 1 column is missing):

We will test this new Always Encrypted feature with our showcase

(6) Web App: Renaming “Templates” to “Workbooks”

We decided to replace the term “Template” or “Excel Template” by the new term “Workbook” or “Excel Workbook”:

The reason is simply that “Template” was often misunderstood. Probably it will take several months to remove the old term from all pages and documents. 🙂

(7) Further Improvements

We solved some problems with larger amounts of records in the fact table (> 60.000). There were issues both when uploading a larger amount of records to the fact table as well as deleting a larger amount of records from it. Furthermore we optimized the timeout settings for (SQL) queries.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy!

Release December 2020

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We are happy to deliver the brandnew December 2020 release with pretty cool new reporting features. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly spreadsheet for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) Web Client: READ Performance increased by another 100%!

We are happy that we could increase the performance of the READ process by another 100% – after the same increase already in the October Release. The effect can be observed best in our most intensive public showcase – the Financial Forecast:

(2) Web Client: Aggregation queries on dimension attributes

In the data entry sheet of a data1.io Template File we always enter data on the bottom level of each dimension (the elements on this level we call the “keys”). Totals and Subtotals can simply be created with Excel formulas:

But in a report sheet it is often more effective to show aggregations instead of every single value on the key level. So a report for the “HR Contracts” could show only “Total Salaries” and “Total Contributions” as aggregations of the bottom level metrics:

But how this can be achived without querying the single metrics in the background? At first we need to define so-called attributes in the data model. We will use the definitions in the “Hierarchy Level 2” for the aggregation queries in the next step:

In the report sheet of the template file an additonal named range must be defined:

  • data1_CELLS01_DIMxxx_Level

This cell is filled with the technical column name of the attribute (“DIM004.A002”) and then it is possible to use the entries in this attribute column as query parameter for the row:

You`ll find the technical name of the attribute column in the “Field Properties”:

Please note that this feature can be used only with an Enterprise Plan since the definitions in the data model can only be set with the EP. Please also note that the use of the “Level”-definition makes a sheet read-only (the write-button in the dimension tree pane will not be activated any more in this sheet). Finally, please note that this feature is at the moment restricted to the first 5 attributes of a dimension.

(3) Web Client: Aggregation queries on virtual attributes of date fields

The same aggregation feature is now available for date fields:

It is very easy to use. Simply set the named range

  • data1_CELLS01_DATExx_Level

and set one of the 3 available default aggregation keywords:

  • YEAR
  • QUARTER
  • MONTH

Please note that in the DATExx panel there must be an entry with date format (“31.12.2020”) and not only the year (“2020”). For a YEAR aggregation you can use any date in this year, for a QUARTER aggregation any date within this quarter and for a MONTH aggregation any date within this month:

This feature can be used also with the Free Plan since there are no definitions needed in the data model. Please note that the use of the “Level”-definition makes a sheet read-only (the write-button in the dimension tree pane will not be activated any more in this sheet).

(4) Showcase “HR Contracts” with new report sheet

As you already have seen in the new aggregation query features above we have updated our public showcase for HR Contracts with a second sheet which is only for reporting. This showcase now uses a multi-sheet template as well, one sheet for data entry and another sheet for aggregations. Both sheets are synced, i.e. the double click in the dimension tree triggers the READ process always in both sheets:

Try the updated HR contracts showcase right now!

(5) Further Improvements

We have made improvements and debugging with the new comment function, the new data validation function as well as in “Cell mode”. Furthermore we made improvements in the loading bar in synced multi-sheet Templates.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy and wish you a Happy New Year!

Release November 2020

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We are happy to deliver the brandnew November 2020 release with the new comment function and major organizational improvements. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly interface for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) Web Client: New comment function

Probably everyone knows the “good old” comment function in Excel – from now on you can use this function in data1.io as well. Simply right click on a cell and select Add Comment …

… and enter your comment in the yellow comment box. After clicking the Write button not only the data but also the comment will be saved to your Fact Table:

Of course already existing comments are a shown after the READ process with the well-known red marker in the corner of the cell with the comment:

Every comment can be edited and/or deleted (do not forget to press the Write button to bring the changes into your application). Furthermore comments can be shown permanently with the Show/hide comment function.

On fact table level the comment can be found …

… in the new column CELL Comment:

(2) Web Client: New datatype validation

We have implemented the datatype validation into the Web Client which is already known from the Excel client. The datatype is derived from the field in the Fact Table where the data will be written.

If your Collector Users try to enter some text into a cell that is written to a Measure-Field in the Fact Table …

… then they will get an error message due to the invalid datatype:

Please note that the cursor in the background was automatically set to the cell with the invalid data.

(3) Showcase “Financial Forecast” with new multi-sheet feature

After introducing the Multi-Sheet Mode in last month`s October 2020 Release we activated this feature now in the Showcase Financial Forecast to extend the existing planning sheet called Erfassung …

… by an additonal sheet called Prämissen to set company specific calculation parameters:

The two sheets are synchronized, i.e. a READ or WRITE process in one sheets triggers always the same process also in the other sheet.

Please note that this showcase is implemented in german language.

(4) Enterprise Plan: Improved ODATA URL

Until now it was not possible to combine several ODATA-Feeds (to several private data1.io applications) within the SAME Power BI or Excel Power Query application. We changed that now by an improved ODATA URL and an improved background architecture so that you create now your Mashups with as many data1.io ODATA feeds as necessary for your Dashboard:

Just to remember: you`ll find your private ODATA URL here:

Please note that the ODATA Feed is an Enterprise Feature.

(5) Enterprise Plan: Additional Dimension Tables

You already know from your Fact Table that your datamodel has 10 Dimension Keys, but only the first dimension (Dim01) is used for the dimension tree and therefore can be defined in the menu item “1. Create your dimension tree”. But what about the other 9 dimensions?

With the menu item Datamodel you can activate every other dimension table needed. Furthermore you can give your dimension tables custom table names:

Please note that the Datamodel is an Enterprise Feature.

(6) Organizational: Update for our legal framework

We have updated our legal framework:

This was necessary due to the evolution of our software and in order to be 100% consistent with current legal requirements in the European Union.

(7) Organizational: New webpage “Is it secure”

We have created a new webpage answering the question how security is handled in the data1.io service:

(8) Organizational: Monthly Release Notes moved to our website

Finally we have moved these monthly release notes from our Help Center to our Website in order to get more visibility for the monthly release news:

(9) Organizational: General Update for our Website

Last but not least we have streamlined and updated our overall website www.data1.io. The whole content is now focussed on the new Web Client (and not the former Excel Client), the showcases moved from subpages directly to the landing page and the pricing table moved to a seperate pricing page.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

And: stay healthy!

Release October 2020

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We are happy to deliver the brandnew October 2020 release with a massively improved reading performance and the new multi-sheet Templates. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly interface for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) Web Client: READ performance at least by 100 % increased!

We have massively improved the performance of the READ process in the Web Client. Depending on your individual Template and the data in your application the improvement will be at least 100% (double speed) and will go up to 400%!

(2) Web Client: Multi-Sheet Templates

Now you can build Templates with several “synced” sheets! Simply add the following two named ranges to your Template:
data1_CELLS01_SyncSheets_Read
data1_CELLS01_SyncSheets_Write
Then enter the number of the sheets that should be part of the READ and/or WRITE process and seperate them with a comma and space. Please note that you must also add the number of the current sheet if you want to keep the “normal” read and write behaviour for this sheet. We recommend to use the Excel function SHEET() in order to set the definitions dynamically.

Look at this example: the Excel Template file has 3 sheets. The first two sheets must always be read and written together since sheet 1 contains the parameters for the calculations in sheet 2. Simply add the two named ranges with the content “1, 2” in the main sheet …

… as well as in the Parameter sheet:

(3) Web Client: New download-to-Excel function

You will find now a new button which enables your Collector Users to download the content of their Web Client into an Excel file in order to backup the entered data. Simply select an element in the dimension tree (which triggers the READ process) and then press the new Download button:

You as a Collector User get an Excel File on your local computer with the layout and the content from the Web Client:

Please note that the download file has the same setting as the Template file created by the Power User (sheet protection etc.).

(4) Web Client: New download iteration function

Furthermore we have implemented an iteration function for the download:

This function will iterate through all elements which are accessable for a Collector User and will generate 1 Excel file for each element in the dimension tree:

Finally the iteration function generates a ZIP-File with all the download files:

(5) Web Client: New “You have unsaved data” question

As a Collector User, you easily forget to press the WRITE button and instead double click an element in the dimension tree. From now on you will no longer loose your work but instead you`ll get the “You have unsaved data” question:

(6) Web App: Editing for uploaded Templates

We opened the Template Wizard to also edit your uploaded Templates and then save the changes you made. This is e.g. usefull if you only want to make minor changes to the Template.

(7) And many more

We have improved the date format in all download files, Excel is now able to convert the dates into a date (= number) format:

Furthermore we have removed limits on uploading records to your fact table and we have deactivated the Write button during the write operation since this was a source of errors.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

Release September 2020

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We are back from the summer break and are really happy to deliver the brandnew September 2020 release with two new public showcases and many ‘production features‘. Try it now!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly interface for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) New Showcase “Financial Forecast” – powered by 4C Group AG

The new public showcase “Financial Forecast” is powered by our Partner 4C Group AG (Munich, Germany). It uses the most advanced Excel User Interface of all public showcases with many interesting (and new) features.

It is a rolling Financial Forecast on a monthly basis and allows you to enter individual product group names, employee names etc. per dimension tree node. Furthermore we can enter parameters like material quota in % and also the calculated results are written to the application:

Entering data to another company in the dimension tree …

… and aggregating to a sum level only shows the aggregatable sums (and not the details and not the %-parameters etc.):

(2) New Showcase “Weekly Project Status”

The second new showcase is a “Weekly Project Status” reporting in a team of 5 or 10 project managers:

The showcase uses a very simple Template structure which asks for the weekly actuals for only 3 KPIs and an estimate for the same KPIs for the next week:

Please note that in the real world scenario every project manager (PM) will see only his/her projects and the “current week” is not fixed but dynamically derived from the current date.

As you wil see in the next item the “Project Weekly Status” showcase was developed from the default configuration of the Template Wizard. This showcase will be a major tutorial showcase in our Help Center.

(3) Web Client: Queries on ‘All’ level in READ-Mode

Now it is possible to perform a query on the ‘All’ level of a dimension. Simply enter a “%” as criteria and you will get the sum of all recordsets in this dimension:

This is part of the solution how aggregation is done in the new “Financial Forecast” showcase: on the sum levels (of the dimension tree) the all level query on the “orange row” is executed. On a bottom level element (of the dimension tree) the normal queries on the “blue rows” are executed. 

(4) Web App: Template Wizard 2.0

During the last two months we have cleaned up the Template Wizard, improved the default configuration for new Templates, solved many Version 1 bugs and improved both the “by column” and the “by cell” mode.

Please note that the goal of the Template Wizard is not to create real-world user interfaces but it is more an interactive tutorial in order to understand how cell adressing works in data1.io Templates.

Furthermore, we focussed the menu of the “3. Setup your spreadsheet” item to the Web Client only. The menu items concerning the Excel Client were moved to a seperate group in the major navigation:

(5) Help Center: New Tutorial “Setup your individual Web Client”

Finally we managed to publish the first tutorials to understand what the Template Wizard does and how to connect your existing Excel Files to your data1.io application:

(6) Web App: New HTML editor for Workflow e-Mails

We have replaced the HTML editor we used so far. In the new editor we got now the urgently needed “Code” button …

… which allows you now to use the merge field {MANAGER.USER_ProfilePictureUrl} in order to show the profile picture of your Workflow Organizer in every workflow e-mail:

The new HTML editor also solves an issue with the formatting of lists.

(7) Many More

We have solved many small issues and minor bugs since the last release in July. And we updated our Angular Framework to Version 10.0.3.

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

July 2020 Release (before the summer break)

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We are really happy to deliver the brandnew July 2020 release with many important ‘production features‘. Try it!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly interface for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data. The Web App is the tool for the Power User to setup and control your organization’s collection workflows.

(1) Web Client: Recordset Aggregation also on Bottom Level

Until now it was necessary to pre-aggregate actuals on exact that level that was shown in the Web Client Spreadsheet. From now on it is possible to import more detailled actuals …

… which are aggregated not only on the sum-levels of the dimension tree but also on the bottom level (here: companies):

This makes the import of actuals much easier and it is also possible to use the same data in different spreadsheets in different granularities. From a query performance point of view we recommend not to import huge amounts of recordsets since data1.io is not a dashboarding but a data collection tool.

Please note that this “bottom level aggregation” is not available in the ‘old’ Excel Client.

(2) Web Client: Acccess Control in GA

All Access Control features are now in General Availability (GA). Access Control in data1.io is defined users list of the specific workflow …

… and the defined time frame of the current collection workflow:

If a collector user e.g. clicks on the application link of an old Invitation or Reminder Workflow e-Mail, then access is not possible anymore and this info page ist shown:

(3) Web Client: Row Level Security (RLS) in GA

All Row Level Security (RLS) features are now in General Availability (GA).  Please remember: RLS can be defined in an application but it is not necessary. If you decide to use RLS you can not only choose which nodes of the dimension tree are accessable for whom but also if certain nodes should be accessable read-only:

In this case the collector user cannot save any data to such elements on the dimension tree:

(4) Web App: Improvements for Workflow e-Mails

We have created a new merge field that you can use in your Workflow e-Mails in order to keep your collector users informed: {WEBAPP.SPREADSHEET.URL}. This merge field will show the name of the application as an hyperlink and will use your application specific link to the Web Client as URL.

Furthermore we have added an ‘info footer’ to every workflow e-Mail which shows the recipient that this e-Mail comes from the data1.io Cloud Service and shows your individual application name:

(5) Web App: Extended Fact Table and reordered columns

We have reordered the colums of the fact table and have introduced a new two color system: orange is used for date, measure and text columns and blue is used for foreign key columns which can be connected to the dimension tables:

Furthermore we have extended the scope of the fact table to 10 measure colums …

… and also 10 text columns:

Those extensions are important especially for use cases which use Power Apps as additonal client tool.

(6) Web App: User Interface Update

We have further developed the user interface design of the Web App: we saw that we have to many rounded objects and changed the design of dropdowns and many buttons to rectangular:

Furthermore the fields of the data entry form are changed to rectangular as well:

Hope you like the new features – we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

We`ll be back after the summer break with the September Release!

June 2020 Release

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We have fantastic news: the brandnew June 2020 release with the new Template Wizard for the Web Client is out now! We’ve worked hard to make it possible to design your own individual Excel User Interfaces for your data1.io applications! Try it!

Remember, the Web Client is the user friendly interface for your Collector Users to deliver their monthly/weekly/daily data.

(1) Web Client: New Template Wizard

The new Template Wizard is a tool which enables you as a Power User to easily design individual Excel user interfaces for your data collection applications!

The Wizard is structured similarly to an Excel PivotTable: it has a fields area and a rows/columns area. In the bottom you can see the spreadsheet result of your design decisons:

After pressing the Save button the Template file will be stored to your application and can be tested with the new preview function – and of course will be used by your Collector Users!

(2) Web Client: New Template Preview

With the new preview function you can easily test your new Template as a Power User concerning the WRITE and READ functionality (before you grant access to your Collector Users via the workflow settings):

(3) Web Client: Download and Upload your templates

Of course you can download your Template and further develop your User Interface with the well-known means of native MS Excel. You will learn, which named ranges data1.io uses to communicate with the Excel sheet and can even “pimp” your Excel Template with additional functions, which are not supported by the Template Wizard at the moment. After you have finished your Excel Template you can upload it again to your application.

(4) Web Client: Reset your Template Wizard

After a Template file was uploaded, the preview in the Wizard shows your Template but the Wizard itself is locked:

You can use the Reset button either to make a Full reset to the default Template file or you can continue with the Wizard with the last saved state:

(5) Excel Templates: Definition Mode “By Column” and recordset granularity

The “By Column” definition is very effective: the connection to a certain measure or text field in the fact table is defined per column (“blue”). Furthermore you can define with the number fields (“lila”) how many records will be created respectively which information will be stored on the same record. The standard definition creates one record per cell “yellow” cell in the Excel Template:

Entering the following data in the (formatted and improved) Excel Template …

… generates those 9 records in the fact table:

(6) Excel Templates: Definiton Mode “By Cell” and recordset granularity

The “By Cell” definition adresses a special usecase: the parallel usage of an other Client like Power Apps which needs a specific recordset structure (resp. needs as much as possible information combined on one record). The following definition combines all 9 entries (values + text) on the same record:

Entering the same data in the (formatted and improved) Excel Template …

… combines all the information in 1 record:

We hope that you will be able to design your own user interfaces with the new template wizard. So we are very curious about your feedback! Please let us know what you think and what kind of collection processes you would prefer to automate with data1.io. 

Hope you will like it – and stay healthy!