Spectrum Office Add-in

Data Exchange Module

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Viewpoint. The

software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. The software may be used or copied only in

accordance with the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed

in the agreement. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Viewpoint.

and Spectrum

Construction Software are registered trademarks of Viewpoint, Inc. Other products

and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Last revised on: October 3, 2019

CONTENTS 
SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN ........................................................................................ 1 
REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................... 1 
SPECTRUM DATA EXCHANGE DOWNLOAD .............................................................. 2 
INSTALLATION .............................................................................................................. 3 
First Installation ............................................................................................................ 4 
Service Pack Installation .............................................................................................. 10 
Other MSI Installer Features ........................................................................................ 12 
Registry Editor ............................................................................................................. 17 
Control Panel on Computer ......................................................................................... 18 
Microsoft Excel ............................................................................................................ 19 
SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN FUNCTIONS ................................................................. 20 
About Button .............................................................................................................. 21 
Templates Button ........................................................................................................ 22 
Sync Button ................................................................................................................. 22 
Show All Button .......................................................................................................... 23 
USING THE SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN .................................................................. 24 
SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN TEMPLATES ................................................................ 25 
 
 

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 1

SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN

Viewpoint created a Data Exchange module to provide a secure, quick, and easy way to

transfer data into Spectrum Construction Software. The module contains three components that

streamline time-consuming data entry processes via a secure Web connection. The Spectrum

Office Add-in component provides the following benefits:

 It uses an Excel

-based template.

 Each Web service has a template that can be used to bring data into Spectrum.

 Each Web service is defined with specific requirements and validation rules for field

names.

 Each template can be customized and stored for individual users.

To use the Spectrum Office Add-in, the Data Exchange module must be active, the

Authorization ID must be defined, and the Spectrum Office Add-in must be installed on the

user’s local computer. If multiple people use the computer, then we recommend that the add-in

programming be stored in a central location that all users can access.

**NOTE: The Spectrum Office Add-in needs to be reinstalled after each Spectrum service

pack or release using the current MSI installer.

To create an Authorization ID, please see the Spectrum Help, Data Exchange Authorization

Setup. For assistance with the Spectrum Office Add-in Installation, please contact your

Spectrum systems administrator.

REQUIREMENTS

The Spectrum Office Add-in works with the following Software components:

 Microsoft

Office

o Suite 2016

o Office 365 – Full installation only. Not compatible with Office Online versions.

 Operating systems

o Windows 10

 Required Framework—this will be included in the installation, and requires internet

access to load

o .NET Framework 4.7.2

o Microsoft

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office (VSTO) Runtime

 Programming for the Office Add-in must be stored on the user’s local hard drive and

cannot be stored on a network drive.

 The Spectrum Data Exchange Security/Authorization ID must be setup to allow access

to Spectrum.

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SPECTRUM DATA EXCHANGE DOWNLOAD

The Spectrum Office Add-in, which can be used in conjunction with the Data Exchange module,

can be downloaded from the Data Exchange Download screen. Select System Administration >

Utilities > Data Exchange Download to get to the screen.

The Data Exchange Excel Download screen displays:

 The Authorization ID (optional)

 The URL defined for the company’s server

 The Port defined for the company’s server

 The Spectrum Office Add-in version number

Click Export to download the programming. The Opening window (shown below) displays and

provides the option to either Open With—Windows Explorer (default) or Save File.

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Select the Save File option and click OK. The user controls the location of where the file is

stored. The Download window (shown below) displays the zip file for you to select.

INSTALLATION

The downloaded zip folder contains the MSI Installer for the Spectrum Office Add-in. To install it

open the zip file on the computer that will be using the Spectrum Office Add-in. The following

files will display:

Click on the setup.exe file with the Type defined as Application. The Spectrum Office Add-in

MSI installer checks the version and the Registry Editor logic to determine the type of

installation that is needed. Follow the Spectrum Office Add-in installation screens and

instructions shown below for the given types of installation.

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First Installation

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 5

Replace the [MY URL] portion with your Server’s URL here or use the default URL on the

Spectrum Server Location screen.

Default URL in MSI Installer

Modified URL entered into MSI Installer

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The Installation Location screen allows you to define where the programming will be stored on

the local drive. The ‘default’ storage location is on the C:\ drive in a folder called Spectrum

Office Add-in.

Click CHANGE to define a different location on the local drive.

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The MSI installer prevents you from defining a location that is NOT on the local hard drive.

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NOTE: installation will ask you to confirm the installation of the programming.

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The Default Storage location is shown below.

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Service Pack Installation

When a new Service Pack is released a new Data Download file is available that contains the

current Spectrum Office Add-in MSI Installer that needs to be installed. The installer checks the

version and the Registry Editor logic to determine the type of installation needed. Follow the

instructions shown below.

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The Spectrum Server Location screen displays the existing URL currently stored on the

computer. This can be modified.

The Installation Location screen displays the existing path where the programming is currently

stored on the computer. This can be modified.

The Spectrum Office Add-in completes the installation process similar to the first time it is

installed.

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Other MSI Installer Features

The Spectrum Office Add-in MSI Installer contains two other features--the ability to Repair or

Remove a current installation of the Office Add-in. The installer checks the version and the

Registry Editor logic to determine the type of installation needed. Follow the instructions shown

below.

Click Repair to correct errors or update the programming with the current files.

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 13

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 14

Click Remove to remove the programming from the Spectrum.

NOTE: installation will ask you to confirm the removal of the programming.

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The Spectrum Office Add-in MSI Installer does not delete or move any files that are NOT

contained within the Office Add-in Installer. Therefore, if a custom file (i.e., a modified version of

a template, log files, or a Custom Template) exists then these files will need to be moved or

deleted manually by you.

Once the installation is complete on the workstation, a new folder called Dexter+Chaney will be

added to the computer’s Registry Editor and the programming will be stored on the local hard

drive using that same name.

**NOTE: The Spectrum Office Add-in needs to be reinstalled after each Spectrum service

pack or release using the current MSI installer.

The Dexter+Chaney folder stores all the programming for the Spectrum Office Add-in and the

programming for each Excel template in the defined location during the installation process.

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Individual folders are created within the Templates folder to store the specific programming for

each template. If anyone creates a custom version, then it must be stored within the specific

Templates folder in order to work properly.

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The Dexter+Chaney > Spectrum Office Add-in folder contains a Logs folder (shown below) that

stores the individual Log files for each Web Service. These log files are created as a Web

Service is sent to Spectrum. The logs are used for troubleshooting the different error messages

and the data that was submitted. Occasionally these Log files need to be manually deleted due

to the large quantity of data being stored based on the Web Service usage.

If the programming is deleted or moved to a new location on the hard drive and any Log files

exist then these files will not be removed. They will need to be manually deleted.

Registry Editor

As shown in the example below, the new Dexter+Chaney folder is defined on the Registry

Editor (regedit) to store user specific data only regarding the Spectrum Ribbon in Microsoft

Excel. It is stored in the Regedit\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Dexter+Chaney which

contains the following:

 The AuthorizationId contains the Authorization ID defined on the ‘About’ button within

the Spectrum ribbon in Excel.

 The BaseServiceUri contains the Service URL defined on the ‘About’ button within the

Spectrum ribbon in Excel.

A similar-named folder exists in the Registry Editor to track Spectrum’s information. The

information stored within the Registry Editor is specific to the individual software programming

loaded on the computer.

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 18

Control Panel on Computer

When you open the Control Panel on their Computer, a new ‘Spectrum Office Add-in’ program

displays the current version of the installed MSI Installer.

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Microsoft Excel

When you open Microsoft Excel, a new Spectrum tab becomes available.

The Spectrum tab displays the options needed to use the Spectrum Data Exchange module.

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SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN FUNCTIONS

To use the Spectrum Office Add-in component for the Spectrum Data Exchange module, you

must first select the Spectrum tab in Excel. The Spectrum tab displays the version that is

installed and provides the following buttons:

 Show All

 Sync

 Templates

 About

The Show All and Sync buttons are available when a template is active. To use the templates,

click the About button and enter the Service URL and Authorization ID (Auth ID). The

Authorization ID is created within the Data Exchange Installation screen. The Service URL is

defined by the client and will be provided to users by their IT department or it may have been

defined during the installation.

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About Button

The About button in the Spectrum tab stores the Service URL and Auth ID that allows access to

the Spectrum Data Exchange module.

 Service URL – The address for the company’s Spectrum server along with the defined

secure port number that is used to bring data into Spectrum.

 Auth ID – The created Data Exchange Authorization ID that provides access to the

Spectrum Database.

 Company code – The three-digit company code is used for authorization with RESTful

services. For other services, this field is not required.

The About button provides the following additional features:

 Version – Displays the current version details for quick reference.

 Test Connection button – Click to test the connection to the company’s Spectrum

database using the defined Service URL and Auth ID. If the Spectrum Excel Add-in

templates are not up to date then an error message will appear asking you to contact

your Spectrum Administrator to update the programming.

 Cancel and OK buttons – Click to exit (Cancel) or save (OK) the defined Service URL

and Auth Id.

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Templates Button

The Templates button provides a list of the templates that are available for the Spectrum Office

Add-in as shown below.

Once you select the template (such as Customer Import) it opens in Excel with the field names

defined in row 1 of the template, as shown below.

Sync Button

Once a template is selected and opened in Excel, the Sync button becomes available as shown

above. If you enter data in a cell and then leaves the cursor active, the Sync button remains

grayed out; you must exit the active cell to use the Sync button. The first time the Sync button

is used, the template displays the Sync_Status field defined in column A, which is hidden when

the template is initially opened. The Sync_Status field defines the status for each record while

the programming processes the individual records as shown below.

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The following Sync Statuses exist:

 N – Identifies a new record that has been added to the template.

 OK – Identifies a record that has passed all the validation logic and has been entered

into the Spectrum database. Once the record is submitted, it is hidden on the template.

 E – Identifies a record that has an error and will not be allowed into Spectrum.

o If an error exists, then the Sync_Status cell and the actual cell that has the error

will change to red and will need to be corrected before it can be sent again using

the Sync button.

o An error message will display as an Excel comment on the Sync_Status cell and

on the actual cell that has the error.

 C – Identifies a record that has been modified or a change that has already been

submitted to Spectrum.

 A – Identifies the last record that has been aborted during the Sync process and

prevented from being submitted to Spectrum. The Abort logic is tied to the defined

Spectrum Web service counter overrides. Once a template receives an ‘A’ Sync_Status,

the template is considered malformed and cannot be submitted again. You must create

a new template.

 U – Identifies a record that has been stopped from being submitted by Spectrum. This is

typically due to a hardware issue.

Stop the syncing process by clicking the Cancel button in the Syncing processing window.

Show All Button

The Show All button allows you to see the lines that are hidden during the Sync process

because they have been imported into Spectrum and have a status of ‘OK’.

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USING THE SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN

To use the Spectrum Office Add-in component for the Spectrum Data Exchange module:

 Open Excel and select the Spectrum tab.

 Click the Templates button and select the template.

The selected template opens in Excel and the field names display in the first row as header

information for each template. The header information is defined in the Spectrum Help,

Spectrum Data Exchange Manual and should be used while creating the templates.

The yellow column headers are required fields in the layout and the light blue column headers

are cost center fields. The red cells indicate that data is missing in the required fields; in this

case the Sync process cannot be activated.

You can access the Sync button after the template has been populated. Once the Sync begins,

it processes one record at a time and follows the pre-defined validation hierarchy; then it

provides errors as they are triggered at each level. You can cancel the Sync if needed. If a field

has an error, it will be highlighted in red along with the Sync_Status field. An error message

displays using Excel comment logic. All the errors must be corrected in order to begin

processing the records again.

If all the records are accepted and no errors are found, the row is sent to the Spectrum

database and the record is hidden. As the Sync process continues, it shows only error records

so that you can easily see the records and make the necessary corrections. Click the Show All

button to display all records that were imported using Spectrum Data Exchange.

Each template can be customized for your own use by hiding or deleting any column header

(field name) that is not required, or by rearranging the columns. Save the custom version with a

new name and store it in the same location as the current template for the Spectrum Office Add-

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 25

in. To select the saved custom versions, click File > Open and select the Excel custom version

from where it is stored on the computer. The Templates button does not display any custom

versions.

**NOTE: The Spectrum Office Add-in needs to be reinstalled after each Spectrum service

pack or release using the current MSI installer.

SPECTRUM OFFICE ADD-IN TEMPLATES

The following is a list of the Web Services and their associated Spectrum Office Add-in Excel

template name.

Web Service name

Excel Template name

Add Vendor

Vendor Import

Change Vendor

Vendor Update Import

Change Vendor - UDF

Vendor UDF Import

Change Vendor Locations

Vendor Locations Import

Vendor Notes

Vendor Notes Import

Add or Change AP Use Tax

Vendor Use Tax Import

Add or Change Subcontract

Subcontract Import

Add or Change Subcontract Phases

Subcontract Phase Import

Change Subcontract - UDF

Subcontract UDF Import

Subcontract Notes

Subcontract Notes Import

Add Vendor Invoices

Vendor Invoice Import

Add Customer

Customer Import

Customer Bill-to

Customer Bill To Import

Customer Ship-to

Customer Ship To Import

Change Customer - UDF

Customer UDF Import

Customer Notes

Customer Notes Import

Add or Change AR Sales Tax

Customer Sales Tax Import

Add Customer Invoices

Customer Invoice Import

Add Cash Receipts

Cash Receipts Import

Add or Change AR Change Request

Change Request Import

Add or Change AR Change Order

Change Order Import

Change Request or Change Order Notes

Change Request-Order Notes Import

Add or Change AR Pre-Billing Quantity

PreBilling Quantity Import

Add Equipment (Required Fields)

Equipment Required Import

Change Equipment Charges

Equipment Charges Import

Add Equipment Warranty

Equipment Warranty Import

Change Equipment UDF

Equipment UDF Import

Equipment Notes

Equipment Notes Import

Add Equipment Costs

Equipment Cost Transactions Import

Add Equipment Revenue

Equipment Revenue Transactions Import

Add Equip Meter Reading

Equipment Meter Import

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 26

Web Service name

Excel Template name

Add ET Requisitions

Equipment Tracking Req Import

Add GL Account

GL Account Import

Change GL Account - UDF

GL Account UDF Import

Add GL Journal Entries

GL Journal Entries Import

Add Inventory Items

Inventory Required Import

Change Inventory Items Sell Prices

Inventory SellPrice Import

Change Inventory Items - UDF

Inventory Item UDF Import

Inventory Item Notes

Inventory Item Notes Import

Add Inventory Items Receipts

Inventory Receipts Import

Add Inventory Job Requisitions

Job Requisition Import

Add Inventory Cost Adjustment

Inventory Cost Adjustment Import

Add Job

Job Import

Update Job

Job Update Import

Change Job - UDF

Job UDF Import

Add or Change Job Phase

Phase Import

Change Job Phase - UDF

Phase UDF Import

Job Notes

Job Notes Import

Phase Notes

Phase Notes Import

Add Job Cost Transactions

Job Cost Transactions Import

Job Cost Projections

Job Cost Projections Import

Add Employee (Required Fields)

Employee Required Import

Change Employee - Required

Employee Required Update Import

Change Employee - Personal Info

Employee Personal Import

Change Employee - Payroll/Tax

Employee Payroll Tax Import

Change Employee - UDF

Employee UDF Import

Add or Change Employee Deduction/Add-ons

Employee Deduction/Addons Import

Employee Notes

Employee Notes Import

Add Change Employee Entity

Employee Entity Import

Add Change Employee Entity Ded/Add-on Code

Employee Entity Deduction/Addons Import

Add Change Employee Entity Time Bank

Employee Entity Time Banks Import

Pre-Time Card

PreTimecard Import

Equipment WO Properties

Equipment WO Properties Import

Equipment WO Component

Equipment WO Component Import

Equipment WO Notes

Equipment WO Notes Import

Project Log

Project Log Import

Project Log Notes

Project Log Notes Import

Add Change Job Spec Section

Project Job Spec Import

Add Project Log Recipient

Project Log Recipient Import

Add or Change Service Contract

Service Contract Import

Change Service Contract UDF

Service Contract UDF Import

Service Contract Notes

Service Contract Notes Import

Add Work Order Site Address

WO Site Address Import

Add Work Order Site Equipment

WO Site Equipment Import

Change Work Order Site - UDF

WO Site UDF Import

Data Exchange Spectrum Office Add-in | 27

Web Service name

Excel Template name

WO Site Notes

WO Site Notes Import

Add or Change Work Order Header

WO Header Import

Change Work Order Header - UDF

WO Header UDF Import

WO Header Notes

WO Header Notes Import

Add Work Order Labor Cost

WO Labor Cost Import

Add Work Order Material Cost

WO Material Cost Import

Add Work Order Other Charges

WO Other Charges Import