You can attach an external Excel workbook to an input or report template. This kind of attachment can be used to provide additional information, for example, explanations for units or other instructions for using the input or report template.

Only Excel files (.xlsx) can be added to input and report templates as attachments. Other file formats are not supported. The external workbook is included in the input or report template as a separate tab. Several workbooks can be added to one input or report template, and each one is shown on its own tab in the input/report template.

To attach an external Excel workbook to an input or report template, define the name and other settings for the external file in the input or report template definition file with the externalfiles element.

For more information on input and report template parameters, refer to Clausion Financial Performance Management Input and Report Template Parameters.

External sheets can only be saved from input templates, not reports. The location where the external workbook files are saved can be defined using the Parameters custom template with the DATATEMPLATE_EXTRASHEETS parameter. You can define a specific path to a location or only the folder name, in which case the folder is created as a sub-folder under the DataTemplate directory.

When the input template is saved, the external workbooks attached to it are saved in the defined location. The data of the external workbook is saved in the file, not in the database.

Note! By using the Save As function you can only save the currently selected tab. That is, if the input template tab is selected when you click Save As, only the input template is saved, not the external workbook(s).

The following figures depict an example of attaching an external workbook to the Simple Report example (EX_RT101).

Figure 74: Definitions for attaching an external workbook to template

Figure 75: An external workbook attached to Simple Report