Excel Powered By field data: a guide on data integration | Eskuad

Mastering data-driven decision-making is key in the ever-evolving landscape of the forestry and wood products industry. This step-by-step guide takes you through the combined prowess of Excel and Eskuad, two dynamic software solutions poised to revolutionize your workflow.

Eskuad: Tailored for Industry Success

Eskuad is a leading field software management solution tailored for field workers in various sectors, including forestry and logging, port operations, etc. This innovative platform offers real-time insights and optimization tools to enhance resource management, predict maintenance needs, and streamline supply chain operations. Eskuad is designed to empower businesses with user-centric features, fostering efficiency, sustainability, and strategic decision-making.

Excel: A Visualization Powerhouse

Microsoft Excel stands as the go-to platform for robust data visualization and analysis. Its charts, graphs, and pivot tables empower users to derive meaningful insights from raw data, laying a solid foundation for informed decision-making. Excel's data visualization features are accessible to users of varying skill levels, making it an accessible and widely used tool for decision-making, reporting, and analysis.

A Harmonious Duo

Integrating Excel's user-friendly data visualization and Eskuad's specialized field software management creates a powerhouse solution. Excel's visualization prowess complements Eskuad's operational optimization, providing businesses with a comprehensive solution to enhance resource management, predict maintenance needs, and streamline supply chain operations.

Data Integration via API

This is a helpful guide for those looking to take their field data analysis and understanding to the next level. Below you will find the required steps that you need to take, to create the API integration between Eskuad and Excel.

Step 1: Obtaining the Eskuad API Key

The first step is to obtain the API Key from Eskuad. This key will serve as the connection between Eskuad and Excel. Follow these steps to obtain the key:

• 1.1 Head to the web panel: Link to the panel: https://app.eskuad.com/
• 1.2 Login with your username and password
• 1.3 In the user tab, click “Settings” (a)

• 1.4 Go to (b) integrations → (c) “Create New Key”

• 1.4 Add a title/ description to your newly generated API Key

• 1.5 Select “Read Only” in permissions

• 1.6 Click Save
• 1.7 Once the API Key has been generated, copy the "Key"

Once the API Key has been created, we can continue to Step 2 in the integration process. For this next step, you will need to open Excel.

Step 2: API Key into Excel

In this step, we will go over how to conduct the API connection and extract data from Eskuad directly into Excel. First:

• 2.1 Log into Excel with your personal or company login.
• 2.2 Head to the "Data" tab and click on the “New Query” dropdown → From Other Sources → From Web

• 2.3 Select “Advanced"

• 2.4 Head to “URL parts”

** Depending on the desired type of data extraction, paste one of the following URLs:

2.4.a To sync all data from Eskuad: https://api.eskuad.com/api/v1/form-updates

2.4.b To sync data from a specific report (database reports only): https://api.eskuad.com/api/v1/form-updates/formupdates_json?reportId=REPORTID

Please note that option b's last part of the link, "REPORTID," should be replaced with the report ID of the database report you wish to sync.

For example, if your report ID is ABC123, your URL would be: https://api.eskuad.com/api/v1/form-updates/formupdates_json?reportId=ABC123 *This is an example link

*** For instructions on obtaining the report ID, please see the "Extra Steps" section at the end of this article. ***

2.4.c To sync data from a specific report (database reports only) with a specified date range: https://api.eskuad.com/api/v1/form-updates/formupdates_json?reportId=REPORTID&date_from=YYYY-MM-DD&date_to=YYYY-MM-DD

For option c, the "REPORTID" part of the link should be replaced with the report ID of the database report you wish to sync. The first date of your desired date range will be placed after the "date_from=" part of the URL in a YYYY-MM-DD format. The last date of your desired date range will be placed after the "date_to=" part of the URL in a YYYY-MM-DD format.

For example, if your report ID is ABC123, and your desired date range is January 1st 2024 to February 17th 2024, your URL would be: https://api.eskuad.com/api/v1/form-updates/formupdates_json?reportId=ABC123&date_from=2024-01-01&date_to=2024-02-17 *This is an example link

Please note: To implement other types of filters in step 2.4 that are not related to form data extraction or to learn more about our Public API; please see more advanced API information here: DOC API Currently only available in Spanish

• 2.5 Next, head down to the “HTTP request header parameters” area

• 2.5.1 In the "Enter or select a value" section, write in “api-key” (without quotes)
• 2.5.2 Paste the API key that was obtained from Eskuad in step 1.

• 2.6 Click “OK”
• 2.7 Your Data will begin to load into the table. This can take up to a minute, depending on the size of your data.

At this point, you have successfully connected Eskuad with Excel using an API call for seamless data extraction. You should be proud of yourself!

All that is left to do is simply review your data and ensure you are happy with how it looks. Here is what you need to do:

Step 3: Data Review

• 3.1 Once the data loads into Excel, they will be displayed in the Power Query Editor as a List, which you can expand and filter/ adjust to your needs.
• 3.2 To expand this list and view the information inside, convert it into a table by clicking the "Into Table" button. This will convert the data into a table and will allow you to modify the data before loading it into Excel ie. transposing rows to columns or vice versa.

• 3.3 You may get a To Table preferences window. Leave the first dropdown, "Select or Enter Delimiter," unchanged (None). In the second drop-down, "how to handle extra columns," select "truncate additional columns" and click Accept.

• 3.4 Once the columns have been truncated, we will be able to see our converted table, however, now, the values in Column1 are hidden. To select which values to display, in "Column1," you will need to click the Expand (←→) button.

• 3.5 Clicking the Expand (←→) button will show you all of the columns that can be expanded. Here, you can select the data you would like to work with. When finished, click OK.

• 3.6 Now, all of the expanded columns will be shown with their respective data. This is a preview of the data you are going to extract. Here you can review your data, add new columns, change the format, etc. Once you have made sure that your data looks how you want it to, click "Close and Load."

Note: If this is not what you want your data to look like, or if you would like to edit any of the past steps, you can click on any of the Applied Steps on the right-hand side.

• 3.7 Once you click "Close and Load," all of your data will load into a new worksheet in Excel. Now you can work with all the information you need with a single file, without having to re-download the data daily.

To update your data, click the "Refresh All" button in the Connections section of the Data tab

Now, you can build dynamic tables, graphs, and formulas that update automatically with data directly from Eskuad.

Extra Steps

1. Obtaining The Report ID

In the web panel, head to (a) “Reports” → (b) “Report Templates” → select the report you wish to sync → (c) “Edit” button (pencil icon)

Once you are in the template editing screen, head to the URL. Copy the digits after the last forward slash “/.” This is your Report ID

Thank you for reading! I hope this guide has been helpful in your integration efforts. If you have any specific questions or if you would like to learn more about Eskuad, please feel free to contact me, or you can always visit https://eskuad.com/.