02. Admin Button

Created by Migration Bot, Modified on Fri, 23 Oct at 11:20 AM by Migration Bot

Originally written by John Hardwick, last updated Jul 27, 2026, on the Swan Retail knowledge base (FRS).

Part of: Product Creator - v1214

This document relates to spreadsheet version 1214.1.00 onwards

This document details the features within the General Controls element of the main menu

This video describes the new menu system and the settings available within the Admin page when accessed via the Main Menu.

This video is based on 1213.0.5 and may not show all features available in later versions.

It may be necessary to set up a file share to use the image and data sharing features of this spreadsheet. Please raise a support ticket for assistance.

Admin Button

The admin button requires a password to gain entry to the control forms, this password can be obtained from your Systems Administrator or via a support ticket.

The admin password will only be requested the first time the admin form is selected and will remain ‘active’ until the spreadsheet is closed.

The admin form consists of five tabs across the top of the page.

Changes stipulated within the tab are not saved within the spreadsheet until the UPDATE button is selected.

It is possible to enter a temporarly password to gain access to ‘Admin’ protected data. This poassword is effectively a single use, once the task is completed admin access ceases and a password is required again to regain access.

General

A General tab, as shown above, allows the administrator to control how the spreadsheet is to work.

Field	Description
SwanFRS Version	Specify the version of SwanFRS XML output generated by this spreadsheet is to be loaded into. It is always important to ensure this variable matches the release of SwanFRS.
SKU Format	This field will only allow change if there are no SKU items in the dataset. The choices are Line ID - the SKU is manufactured from the Catalogue ID - Range ID - Line number. This is the most common and recommended way of constructing SKUs This is the default and recommend way of structuring SKUs providing an X-Y-Z structure (X is the catalogue code, Y is the range ID and Z a line number). This structure ensures unique codes throughout SwanFRS Supplier Stock Reference - The SKU is the Catalogue ID - Supplier’s Stock reference This generates an X-Y structure (X is the catalogue code, Y is the manufacturer’s stock reference or code). There is a risk that a supplier may have duplicated model numbers across ranges or may not have a reference for some products therefore there is a potential for duplication and error. Free Format - The operator may specify the SKU This is a free format code, the spreadsheet can only check for duplication within the dataset and cannot advise if the code has been used against another supplier. Care should be taken when using this setting as data sent to SwanFRS may be rejected by it due to duplication of codes linked to other suppliers. It is not possible to change this setting if one or more SKU (product) exist,
Web Defaults	Specify if ‘web related’ data held against the SKU is to be set to a default setting. Choose from No Preset - Manual mode - The operator will choose per SKU how the web settings are to be built. Default to On - Defaults all web controls to On Default to Off - Defaults all web controls for the SKU to off.
Use Landed Costs Instead of	The landed cost is a used for option choices and SKUs (items) and is the summation of either cost 1 or cost 2 plus the ancillary cost values for the row. The landed cost is not sent to SwanFRS however there is an option to send the landed cost instead of either cost 1 or cost 2. Choose from Do Not Replace - This is the recommended option and instructs the XML to contain cost 1, cost 2 and the ancillary costs as separate data elements. Cost 1 - Instructs the spreadsheet to send the calculated landed cost value instead of the cost 1 column to SwanFRS. Cost 2 - Instructs the spreadsheet to send the calculated landed cost value instead of the cost 2 column to SwanFRS. Sending the landed cost to SwanFRS provides it with the sum of the 6 cost columns - it is NOT recommended for use when ancillary cost management is operational in SwanFRS. Pulling data out of SwanFRS with this setting active will result in cost 1 or cost 2 showing the landed cost rather than the supplier purchase cost of the item when pulled back into the spreadsheet, and for that reason care MUST be taken to ensure costs remain accurate within the spreadsheet and SwanFRS.
Country of Operation	Changing the country changes a number of ‘literals’ (titles) within the spreadsheet to accomodate variances in terminology Select from UK/Europe and USA
Web Grouping Control	When sending data to a linked website, it is possible to collate like items using a group attribute. This setting instructs the system how to build these grouping using one of the following choices. Manual - Via Products Button or Data Grid Debranded Range Debranded Range + Description 1 Debranded Range + Description 2 Debranded Range + Description 3 Debranded Range + First word of Description 1 Debranded Range + First word of Description 2 Debranded Range + First word of Description 3 Debranded Range + Last word of Description 1 Debranded Range + Last word of Description 2 Debranded Range + Last word of Description 3 Set from SEO - this option populates the web grouping and long description with the contents of the SEO field and also enables a copy from SEO option on the Web Features page to allow a user defined tier description to be set to the SEO. When operating with any setting other than Manual access to the Group_Product field is prohibited. When not operating in Manual mode, this field is refreshed when the data is saved therefore information viewed in the ‘form’ may not reflect ‘unsaved’ changes Please note that changing the control will result in the spreadsheet ‘rebuilding’ this field for each SKU, a process that may take some time to complete especially when processing larger datasets.
Tax Rate	Specify the standard percentage rate of tax for goods sold from this supplier. This is the sales tax and not a purchase tax.
Exchange Rate	Should the supplier be a foreign supplier providing costs in a non-base currency, it is possible to set the ‘agreed’ exchange rate and then use this value to convert foreign currency purchase costs to base currency costs at the click of a button.
Ideal Margin	Specify the ideal sales margin percentage for this supplier. The spreadsheet will use this value to present the ‘ideal’ unrounded selling price of the option-choice or item and use this as a marker showing red if the selling price stipulated is below (or green if above) the ideal margin.
Auto Archive Days	Specify the number of days after setting the Product (SKU) or Option-Choice’s discontinued date that will instruct the SwanFRS import process to automatically archive the record. For example if you set a discontinue date to January 1 and send it to SwanFRS. Should you subsequently import the data back into the spreadsheet, if you set the Auto Archive Days to 30 days the import will automatically archive the row if imported anytime after 1st of February. Setting the value to zero turns this feature off.
Default Mark up percentage	Set the default mark up percentage which, when selected will be used in ‘price refreshing’ if no product specific mark up percentage is set. The selling price will be calculated using the following formula. Selling Price = Cost + (Cost * (Mark up Percentage / 100) where VAT is set the selling price then has VAT Added and if selected rounded accordingly.
Include Prices in XML data file	set to ON if the XML product, options and prices data file is to include cost and selling prices. Excluding will cause the XML catalogue to be rejected at time of importing into SwanFRS if there are any newly generated SKUs in the datafile. I.e. New SKUs must be sent with cost and selling prices if they are to successfully load into SwanFRS.
Include Ancillary Prices in XML data file	ON includes the 5 ancillary prices is the Products & Prices XML output file. This allows the data to be used solely within the spreadsheet without replicating within SwanFRS.
Include Lead Times in XML data file	ON includes lead times in the XML product, options and prices data . OFF will cause the XML catalogue to be rejected at time of importing into SwanFRS if there are any newly generated SKUs in the datafile. I.e. New SKUs must be sent with lead times if they are to successfully load into SwanFRS.
Overwrite Prices	set to ON if the update logic within the spreadsheet is to replace a field with an existing value. For example, when ON and a field to be updated is blank, the spreadsheet will replace it with the new price, however if the field contains a value the update logic will retain the original price rather than replacing it. When OFF prices will be replaced whether they originally had content or not.
Confirmation of Edit & Deletion required	When creating, amending or deleting records, the spreadsheet will ask the operator if the action is to be completed. This confirmation of action message can be turned off by setting this field to ON
Run Menu on Opening	Setting to ON instructs the routine to display the menu when the spreadsheet opens, setting to OFF displays the ‘home’ tab (and any other tabs active when the spreadsheet was previously closed).
Lock Margin	Setting to ON this field stops the operator from changing the ‘ideal margin’ when processing data. I.e. it locks the margin to the specified value.
Password required on Update Pricing	Selecting ON instructs the spreadsheet to request a password when attempting to move prices from the item and choices Grid Pricing tables to the items data set. This is useful if price changes are to be reviewed by a manager before sending to SwanFRS.
Lock Formulas	Setting to ON this field stops the operator from changing the formula settings within the CATALOGUE Button.
Lock Button Check Boxes	Setting to ON locks the checkbox settings displayed to the left of the Range & items, Options & Choices and Extras sections within the main menu. ON freezes the settings, which mean you can lock off the ability to view (and therefore maintain) specific datasets within the spreadsheet.
Tables (tab) in Use	Selecting ON allows access to the pre-1210 style item and choice tabs. The ITEMS and CHOICES buttons narrow displaying a grid icon, which when selected opens the tabular style data sheet. selecting OFF hides the grid icon and expands the ITEMS and CHOICES buttons.
Block Reference Editing	Selecting ON stops the operator from editing, creating or deleting reference data within the spreadsheet. Selecting ON also turns off the ability to interactively add reference data to the sales department and attribute pick lists.
Block Reference Deleting	Selecting ON stops the operator from deleting reference data within the spreadsheet.
Block Import / Exporting of Data	Select ON to block the exporting of data. This turns off Imports and File Transfer sections of the main menu.
Block Mapping	Select ON to block the exporting of data. This turns off the Data Mapping sections of the main menu.

Links

This tab defines where the spreadsheet will look for images and data sent from SwanFRS

Field	Description
Image Folder Path	Direct access to this field is blocked. It holds the local PC path to a folder where the images relating to ranges, items and choices are held. The path should be set to the folder above the PICTURES folder on the SwanSync / SyncTrazor file share to ensure the spreadsheet ‘sees' the same images used by SwanFRS. Ideally is is the same folder used by SwanFRS for its images.
CHANGE	Clicking this button open a file explorer window whereby it is possible to navigate to the desired folder holding images. Navigate to the appropriate folder and click the OK button. The path should be the folder above the actual ‘pictures' folder. When correctly set, the system will open the image file search at the pictures folder level allowing you to drill down into the specific supplier. Where the full image file path matches the Image folder path this will be automatically stripped i.e. if the image path is C:/images, and file path beginning with this character sequence will have the C:/images automatically removed.
CLEAR PATH	Clicking removes the image path set effectively turning off the spreadsheets ability to show associated imagery.
SwanFRS Data Folder	Direct access to this field is blocked. It holds the local PC path to a folder where extracted SwanFRS data is held and subject to settings back-up files kept. It is recommended that this be set a folder on the SwanSync / SyncTrazor file share.
CHANGE	Clicking this button open a file explorer window whereby it is possible to navigate to the desired folder used to receive data sent by SwanFRS. Navigate to the appropriate folder and click the OK button.
CLEAR PATH	Clicking removes the image path set effectively turning off the spreadsheets linking of reference data with SwanFRS and single user/back up options.
Auto Link with SwanFRS in Use	Select ON if the spreadsheet is to have ‘reference’ data sent to it from SwanFRS and therefore to restrict the operators ability to change this data. Changes to SwanFRS will be required to operate this feature please raise a ticket to have SwanFRS changed to facilitate the sending of reference data. This feature requires a share folder setting up where both the operator using this spreadsheet and SwanFRS can send and receive data.
Auto - Refresh on Open	Selecting ON instructs the spreadsheet to refresh ‘reference data' when opening. This will result in the spreadsheet taking a little longer to open but will ensure the reference data used is synchronised with the last ‘send’ instigated from SwanFRS. The folder containing extracted SwanFRS data is named ‘FRSData’ and is a subfolder within the specified SwanFRS Data Folder path.
Create Back-Up on Open	Select ON tells the spreadsheet to create a back-up file in the designated back-ups folder when the file is opened. This will result in the spreadsheet taking a little longer to open but will ensure that a copy of the spreadsheet is available should it be needed. The back-up folder is named ‘BackUps’ and is a subfolder within the specified SwanFRS Data Folder path.
Single User Mode	Select ON creates a lock files when the spreadsheet is opened which effectively stops a second operator opening the same spreadsheet whilst the first operator has the sheet open.
REFRESH NOW	Clicking tells the spreadsheet to refresh ‘reference’ data previously exported from SwanFRS and operates as an ad-hoc update mechanism.

Pricing Names

This tab allows the systems administrator to name pricing columns, naming columns aids recognition of the data especially when returning to the page after a period of time.

It is also possible to turn off ‘optional’ columns when not in use, thus ‘decluttering’ the page.

Turning off does not purge data in these fields and they will remain available for export and import processes. Unticking simply hides the column or makes it unaccessible.

Field names are limited to 10 characters to ensure they display when viewing raw data.

The ancillary cost titles SHOULD map to the titles used in SwanFRS when using SwanFRS’s ancillary cost management feature.

Field	Description
Cost 1 Title	Specify a name representing the contents of cost 1 - for example ‘STD Cost' This field is always active
<Field Name > Active	Selecting ON turns on this field within the spreadsheet.
<field Name> Title	Specify the name for cost 2 - for example 'SupCont Cost'

Making a field inactive disables it from data entry and hides it from tab displays and export select lists. Any contents in the field are retained and not cleared.

Products Data Fields

This tab controls which elements of the item you wish to maintain within the spreadsheet.

Turning fields off does not remove them or delete contents, it simply hides or disables the field thus reducing the number of data elements to manage.
Turning off fields will not exclude them from being exported to FRS, it is therefore recommended that these settings are only changed when configuring the spreadsheet for a new data set or having checked to ensure there is no data in the ‘turned off’ fields.

Making a field inactive disables it from data entry and hides it from tab displays and export select lists. Any contents in the field are retained and not cleared.

If you paste multiple cells into the data tab and they span a hidden column data will be pasted into the hidden column.

Red is in-active - Green active

The SET ALL TO ON toggling to SET ALL TO OFF button sets / clears all setting on this page with a single key click.

Data Processing

This tab has three sections

Clear Data

This feature allows the operator to choose which data elements are to be cleared.

Products Only - Clears products, options and choices
Product & Reference - Clears all data excluding the document settings
All Settings - removes all data, effectively returning the document back to ‘factory settings’

Cleating data is not reversible. Ensure you have a back-up before clearing data.

Once data is cleared down the spreadsheet automatically goes into ‘build’ mode.

This allows the creation of ranges, products etc with the ability to generate XML with a view to sending the data to a TEST SwanFRS account. The data can be loaded, checked and then adjusted without it generating a change history in the spreadsheet.

When in build mode the menu will display the following information block

Once the data is ready for Exporting to live answer yes to the following prompt and the system will begin to track changes, having selected Ranges, Products, Options and Prices from the EXPORT TO SWANFRS menu button the following prompt will appear.

Once data has been issued for use in Live systems it is not possible to return to build mode for this particular catalogue.

Archive Items

Where available, this button allows products (and linked data elements) and / or Options (and linked data) to be archived.

Archiving moves the data out of the sheets but retains a copy to allow the detailst to be ‘restored’ if needed.

It also acts as a cross reference to stop the same SKU or Option code to be used for a different product.

Fix Mismatched

When importing from SwanFRS, it is possible that ‘old’ data will be pulled into the spreadsheet. if product is loaded which creates a variant of the original SKU this process ‘attempts’t to rebuild these items.

If the process doesn’t resolve the issue, please raise a support ticket.

Operators

This table lists ALL users who have previously opened the spreadsheet. (with a clarification that is it possible to delete records).

The list shows the name of the account holder opening the spreadsheet, the date and time they opened the spreadsheet (and subsequently saved it, their access type or mode and a free formt comment field.

The operator may then EDIT or DELETE the record as desired.

Changes are only recorded when the SAVE button is selected.

Note: The date and time is only recorded if the spreadsheet is ‘saved’.

Operating modes

Mode	Details
Admin	Setting this mode allows the operator to create, change and delete any record (subject to restrictions relating to use). All import and export features are available.
Pricing	Operators with this setting have access to cost / selling price fields and the lead time. They can send data to SwanFRS however this is restricted to price related information.
Web	This status provides restricted access to ‘web related fields’ held against the product. As with the pricing mode it is not possible to add, change or remove core data.
Web & Attributes	As per the Web mode but with the ability to maintain attributes
Enquirer	This is the default setting for all ‘new’ operators. In this mode the spreadsheet is an enquiry only system. Changes of all forms including import and export are restricted.