Data Uploader - protect existing data from being overwritten?

Cindy Schick

Hi,

I am working with several consultants from varying solutions at our company who are contracted at any given time to evaluate various pieces of an enterprise software solution at any given time. Sometimes a company may ask us to re-evaluate the same solution every 2-3 years to see if they are using it as efficiently as possible.

It's being suggested to us to use the a single analysis sheet for all projects regardless of when they take place or what solution they apply to, which we can do, but I'm concerned that when they use the Data Uploader to load the latest software evaluation settings into the sheet that there's a possibility they may choose Replace instead of Merge which could result in either they lose previous evaluation data/results, or they write over a colleague's results.

Any ideas on how to protect data already in the sheet from being compromised?

Thanks,

Cindy

Genevieve P.

Hi @Cindy Schick

I can see how that would be a concern. I would first make sure that you set up a weekly recurring backup of the workspace (see here) to ensure that there's a record of previous information.

And then of course there's the education of the user - making sure that they understand the different settings in Data Uploader and how it will affect the destination sheet. I would create a resource, perhaps a Dashboard, that highlights important information for your process and provides links to training documents and Help Articles (such as this one). Perhaps set up a training checklist of items to review and understand before they can take ownership of the workflow?

The final suggestion I have would be to potentially break out the sheets to different sections (with separate Data Uploader workflows per-sheet) and use a Report to gather all the data into one place (instead of using a single sheet).

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Cindy Schick

I can see how that would be a concern. I would first make sure that you set up a weekly recurring backup of the workspace (see here) to ensure that there's a record of previous information.

And then of course there's the education of the user - making sure that they understand the different settings in Data Uploader and how it will affect the destination sheet. I would create a resource, perhaps a Dashboard, that highlights important information for your process and provides links to training documents and Help Articles (such as this one). Perhaps set up a training checklist of items to review and understand before they can take ownership of the workflow?

The final suggestion I have would be to potentially break out the sheets to different sections (with separate Data Uploader workflows per-sheet) and use a Report to gather all the data into one place (instead of using a single sheet).

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve