How to Import Work Centers from Excel in EDGEBIC

To import work centers from Excel in EDGEBIC by User Solutions you build a Workcenter import mask that maps your spreadsheet columns to the work center fields, run Do It, and then confirm the imported machines have instances and shifts. The mask matches each row by the work center id, so that column is the one that must always be filled and mapped.

This is the specific task of loading work centers. For the general mechanics of masks, read import masks explained, and for building any mask see how to build an import mask.

Before You Start

• Your file is .xlsx, .csv, .txt, or .tsv, and every row has a filled work center id.
• You can see the Settings tab. Import is permission-controlled.
• You know that a work center needs a shift to have capacity. If your file does not carry shift information, plan to assign shifts afterward.
• You have decided update or reuse: reuse leaves existing work centers alone, update overwrites matched records.

Building and Running the Workcenter Mask

1. Open Settings → 📥 Import. The Import Data page opens.

2. Select Workcenter in the Entity Type list.

3. Click ➕ Define New…. Name the mask, for example Work Center Load.

4. Click 📂 Get File, pick your spreadsheet, and choose the worksheet in Sheet for an .xlsx. The column headings list under File Header Titles.

5. Map the columns by dragging headings onto the matching Source Header cells. The Req-ticked row is the mandatory one:

   Field	Required	Notes
   Workcenter Id	Yes	The natural key; matched case-insensitively
   Workcenter Name	No	Display name
   Number Of Instances	No	Parallel machines; blank defaults to 1
   Capacity, Capacity Type, Efficiency	No	Capacity model inputs
   Setup Time Hours, Hourly Rate	No	Time and cost
   One Per Day Flag	No	One job per instance per day
   Is Bottleneck	No	true marks a scheduling constraint
   Use Global Shifts, Shift Names	No	Calendar association
   Color, Type, Min/Max Batch Size, Is Active	No	Display and batching

6. Set Header Present on, keep the delimiter on Excel for .xlsx, and click Save.

7. To control whether matches update, select the mask, click ⚙️ Options…, and tick UpdateExistingRecords only when the run is meant to change values.

8. With the mask selected, click ▶ Do It. Choose the file if prompted, and watch the Importing progress window.

What Changes When You Save

New and updated work centers appear immediately in the Workcenter grid and in the routing pickers. The schedule itself is not recalculated by the import: run the scheduler afterward to plan against the new capacity.

How to Check It Worked

Read the summary line on the Import Result dialog, then open the Workcenter grid. For each imported machine, confirm three things: the Number Of Instances looks right (blank cells came in as 1), a shift is assigned so it has open hours, and any constraint machine shows the bottleneck flag you intended. A quick way to prove capacity exists is to schedule a small test order routed through the new work center and see the bar land on it. If it will not land, the machine has no shift.

Getting Capacity Right on Import

Three fields decide whether an imported work center actually schedules work, so it is worth being deliberate about each.

Number Of Instances is how many identical machines the work center represents. A cell left blank comes in as 1, which is correct for a single machine but wrong for a station with three lathes. If the count is off, the scheduler either starves the station or over-plans it, so fill this column whenever a work center is more than one machine.

Shifts define the hours the work center is open. Capacity only exists where a shift is assigned, so the Shift Names column, together with Use Global Shifts, is what gives an imported machine open windows. A work center imported with neither has no calendar and no capacity, and every operation routed to it stalls.

Is Bottleneck changes how the scheduler treats the machine. Set to true, it becomes an anchor: the scheduler plans that constraint first and sequences each job around it. Mark true only on the machines that genuinely gate throughput, because anchoring works by having a small number of constraints to plan around.

Order of Loading

Work centers rarely come in alone. The reliable sequence is products first, then work centers, then routings that reference both, then the orders that consume them. Loading in that order means each import finds the records it depends on already present, and you avoid leaning on the auto-create options to invent bare parent records mid-run.

Common Mistakes

Importing work centers with no shift. A shift-less work center has no capacity windows, so operations routed to it never place. Map the shift columns, or assign shifts on the grid after import.

Leaving Number Of Instances blank when you meant more than one. Blank defaults to 1. If a station has three identical machines, the file must say 3, or the scheduler treats it as a single resource. This and similar traps are in import mask mistakes.

Flagging too many bottlenecks. The bottleneck flag anchors scheduling around a constraint. Mark only the machines that truly gate throughput; a plant of anchors gives the scheduler nothing to sequence around.

Expecting the import to schedule. It loads capacity only. Run the scheduler afterward to use it.

A Note on Colors and Types

Two optional fields shape how work centers read on the schedule rather than how they compute. Color takes a hex value such as #1E88E5 and drives the shade a work center's bars show on the Gantt, which is worth setting on import so a freshly loaded plant is legible from day one rather than a wall of the same tone. Type and the batch-size fields carry the work center's classification and batching limits. None of these change capacity, so leaving them blank is harmless, but filling Color in the import file saves a round of manual recoloring later.

Next Steps

Products are the companion master-data load, and usually come in first: see how to import products from Excel. With products and work centers in place, how to import a routing from Excel ties them together. For the full task library, see the EDGEBIC how-to hub, and for the wider platform, EDGEBIC.