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Microsoft Excel 365 Integration

Contents

Overview

The Microsoft Excel 365 integration allows users to connect the progress of their Betterworks milestones to a defined cell in an Excel workbook. When a user updates the cell, the progress of the associated milestone will automatically update as well. 

Note: The integration will only connect to Excel workbooks that are stored in Microsoft Sharepoint or OneDrive for Business. The integration does not apply to personal accounts.

Integration Benefits

  • Time-saving automation
  • Easy data import for streamlined performance tracking
  • Increased accuracy by reducing the risk of errors in manual data entry
  • Improved collaboration between team members through shared Excel workbooks

Setup — Administrators

Note: You must be a Super Admin to set up the integration. 

1. Go to the Admin → Platform Configuration → Integrations → Third-party Integrations → Microsoft Excel 365 → Setup.

2. Enable the option.  

3. Go to Goals → Create Goal.

4. Add a milestone. 

5. Select the Excel icon.

6. Click "Sign in with Microsoft" and enter your credentials. 

7. Request approval.

Note: As the first user within the organization to access the integration, you will see a pop-up informing you that the integration requires administrator approval. This is because our integration does not currently have Microsoft Publisher verification. However, it is absolutely safe to use. Once approval has been granted by the Microsoft administrator, the pop-up will disappear. Furthermore, the pop-up will not display for any users that access the integration after this. 

Permissions

The permissions used by this integration are as follows:

  • user.read: Grants permission to read the profile of the signed-in user.
  • files.read.all: Allows Betterworks to read all files the signed-in user can access.
  • offline_access: Allows Betterworks to read and update user data, even when they are not using the application.

Connecting Milestones — Users

Once the integration has been set up, any user in the organization can access the integration.

1. Go to Goals → My Goals → Create Goal.

2. Add a milestone. 

3. Select the Excel icon.

4. Click "Sign in with Microsoft" and enter your credentials. 

5. Select the workbook, followed by the cell. 

Note: It is possible to connect multiple milestones to the same workbook.

Data Sync

  • Automatic Sync: The Betterworks integration captures data from and automatically updates the progress of your milestones at the top of every hour (2 PM, 3 PM, etc.). Therefore, if you make a change in the workbook at 2:15 PM, our application will check at 3 PM and make the update to progress in Betterworks at that time.
  • Manual Sync: You can manually sync the progress on your milestones by going to Goals → My Goals, selecting the relevant goal, clicking on its corresponding milestone, and opening the right-side panel. From there, click the three horizontal dots and select "Sync" from the drop-down menu to update the progress. This will take a few minutes. 

Real-time Usage

Connecting milestones. 

Troubleshooting

  • Ensure that the data starts in row 1. Otherwise, the integration will return data from a cell whose row equals the row that you selected plus the rows that were skipped (i.e. if you select a cell in row 8, but have 2 empty rows at the top of your workbook, the integration will return data from a cell in row 10).
  • A Key Result/Milestone will not update if a Key Result/Milestone is linked to a cell that contains text, as Betterworks platform only supports numerical data, not text. 
    • Once the data in the sheet is changed from text to numerical, the Key Result/Milestone will need to be re-linked.
  • Only cells containing integers will sync. Other characters (i.e. "$" or "%") will not be recognized.
  • Ensure that the value has not been moved. The Betterworks application will track the value in the cell, but if the workbook is edited and the selected value is moved to a different cell, the associated milestone will need to be updated manually.
  • If progress is not updating, check if progress locking is on. Progress locking is a sub-set of goal locking and extends to milestones connected to third-party applications via our integrations.
  • If you cannot access the integration at all and you've confirmed that your administrator has approved it, your client secret (internal application password) may have expired. Please contact support@betterworks.com if you suspect this is the case.

FAQs

How long does it take for progress made in my Excel workbook to be reflected in Betterworks?

Our application checks for updates from MS Excel 365 at the top of every hour (2 PM, 3 PM, etc.). Therefore, if you make a change in the workbook at 2:15 PM, our application will check at 3 PM and make the update to progress in Betterworks at that time.