This tutorial shows you how to import a site database stored in an Excel spreadsheet into Overture. Note that in the US, you can use the US Data Module to import sites directly from the portfolios of various tower providers.

To import site data from an Excel spreadsheet, you should first ensure that Excel is installed on the same computer as Overture. You will then need to locate the Importers sub-page, which can be found by navigating the Start Page through to the Network and Import sub pages:

Click on the Add button (highlighted above) to display a list of the possible data importers, then select the Excel Site Data Importer:

The properties of the importer will then be displayed:

Enter the filename of the Excel spreadsheet containing your site data, then set up the various site, sector, radio and connection bindings appropriately. More details on how to bind columns from an Excel spreadsheet to a site, radio or sector property can be found here.

The Site Template property specifies the Site Template that will be used to generate and populate new sites.

The Import Action property allows you to choose how the new sites will be inserted into your project. The possibilities are explained below:

• Replace. The newly imported sites will be inserted into the project, and all existing sites will be removed.
• Add. The newly imported sites will be added to the existing sites in the project. New network entities will be renamed where necessary to ensure that the names of each remain unique.
• Update. The existing sites in the project will be updated with the details of the corresponding sites from the import set. If you choose this option, you can also choose which parameters will be updated by editing the entries in the Property Settings section.

When you have configured the Excel Site Data Importer for your spreadsheet, you can start the import by clicking on the Import button.