Minimal actions during the Excel import

Time is money; a term we are all familiar with, especially in the fresh produce industry. Even in the world of IT it is not a foreign concept. After all, software automates processes so that users have more time for other important work. At GreenCommerce, we believe it is important that functionalities not only improve speed, but also increase efficiency. Developer Jim Dijkxhoorn also agrees with this thought. For the Banana release, Jim developed an improvement to the Excel import functionality, which has reduced the number of actions for users to a minimum. In this update, he explains what users can expect.

"The extension is of interest to all companies that work with importing Excel files, especially in the area of purchasing and sales," Jim starts, "Through additional settings, it has become a lot easier to import purchase and sales orders as Excel files into GreenCommerce. Thus, fewer adjustments need to be made to an existing Excel file before it can be imported. This has greatly reduced the number of actions for the user."

This was Jim's first project where he participated in the sprint: "At first I had to get used to it; at school we also worked with sprints, but that is different. Putting theory into practice is very interesting. The easy communication with fellow developer Karsten ensured that we could make quick steps."

The advanced import of Excel files is available immediately from the next release and is only available for new import order templates. Existing templates can continue to be used. Whereas previously all data was included in each line of the import file, from now on a specific cell can be selected to import data. Think of a reference, boat name or delivery location GLN.

This project was also approached from different angles: "As a developer, you don't always know exactly what difficulties users face. By working together with colleagues from project coordination, we quickly came up with solutions that took the 'user experience' to a higher level," said Jim.

Furthermore, in addition to a single column, it was made possible to use multiple columns for the desired value in the 'Data format' input field. This can be separated by an underscore (low dash).

While this functionality has yet to go live, Jim is already working on the next project: "I am currently working on an extension to the Transport App, which will show an overview of the expected goods. I really like the fact that I'm able to work on different parts within one product," Jim concludes.

Please check the Banana release notes for all developments. Are you interesed in the Excel import functionality or do you have questions? Please get in touch via info@greencommerce.nl or call +31 174 - 642 622.