07. Reference Data

Created by Migration Bot, Modified on Fri, 23 Oct at 2:30 PM 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

The Reference Data button on main menu, provides a sub menu of ‘reference data' which allows the operator to view and where enabled modify reference data used by the spreadsheet.

The reference data must match data held within SwanFRS, failure to do so will result in either data failing / being rejected at time of import or worse incorrectly referenced within SwanFRS.

When selected the following sub menu is displayed

This video describes the features available within the Reference Data section of the Main Menu..

This video is based on 1211.0.0 and may not show all features available in later versions.

Automatic Updates

SwanFRS can be configured to ‘send’ reference data to a pre-set shared folder. The data in the folder can then be used to ‘refresh’ the reference data held in the spreadsheet. This can be done as the spreadsheet is opened or by selecting the REFRESH button displayed in the lower right of the reference data section of the main menu.

When automatic updates are in operation a notification message is shown alongside each button (shown above with a light green background).

It is not possible to amend reference data automatically imported from SwanFRS within the spreadsheet.

Please contact Swan support to commission this feature.

Catalogue

The catalogue button holds data specifically relating to the supplier the spreadsheet relates to.

The admin form consists of three tabs.

Changing data may affect the data in other areas of the spreadsheet, for example changing the catalogue ID may change the SKUs (product codes) within this spreadsheet.

It is therefore recommended that the catalogue tab be set before adding product data.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

Catalogue

This tab should be set in partnership with checking the CATALOGUE ID button from within Set Up Suppliers within SwanFRS.

The Catalogue ID assigned in SwanFRS is the Catalogue ID on this tab and forms the pivot point between the systems.

Field	Description
Catalogue ID	Specify the ID given to the supplier within SwanFRS. This field is protected and cannot be changed without entry of the ‘administrator' password when product data exists.
Supplier	Optional, however recommended, specify the name of the supplier this spreadsheet relates to.
Version	Optionally specify a version ID for this data.

Field

Description

Catalogue ID

Specify the ID given to the supplier within SwanFRS.

This field is protected and cannot be changed without entry of the ‘administrator' password when product data exists.

Supplier

Optional, however recommended, specify the name of the supplier this spreadsheet relates to.

Version

Optionally specify a version ID for this data.

Defaults

This tab is required when importing data, especially mapped data from external systems.

Field	Description
Product	Specify the product group the import process should use if the load data doesn’t contain a product group
Lead Time	Specify a default number of days (for the supplier receiving the PO to goods arriving at your premises) which will be used as a default if the load data doesn’t contain a mapped lead time value.

Charming

This optional tab allows up to 5 algorithms to be generates for use when ‘charming’ selling prices for either options or items within this supplier.

Field	Description
Name	Specify a name for this charming formula.
Multiplier	Specify a value by which the source price is to be multiplied by to generate a base destination price. Typically, a source would be a cost price, with a destination being a selling price.
Round To	Specify a value by which the calculated destination price is to be adjusted. The process with round to the nearest value (up or down). Examples 0 would leave the price as calculated 0.10 would remove the pence/cent value creating a price ending in .10, .20, .30 .50 would create prices ending in .50 or .0 1.00 would remove all pence / cents from the destination price.
Take Off	Specify a value to be removed from the ‘rounded’ price to generate a final charmed price. Examples 0 - leave at the rounded value. .01 - forces all prices to end in .99 .25 - creates prices ending in either .00, .25, 0.50 or .75

Price Pointing

Price points are a way of setting ‘golden’ or ‘preferred’ prices which will act as a look-up within the spreadsheet for the price change algorithms.

There is no corresponding feature in SwanFRS and the price point contained within the spreadsheet stays isn’t used elsewhere.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

Price point data is only used with product and option-choice pricing algorithms where the ‘price point’ option is chosen and instructs the system to find the closest ‘preferred’ price when calculating selling prices.

This is an optional feature in the spreadsheet.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking opens a data creation ‘form’ at the bottom of the screen and allows for a new price point to be created. Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
DELETE ALL	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes ALL the price points from the dataset.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Price Point window and return to the Main Menu.

Product Group X-ref

The product group cross reference window allows a product group set within the Items dataset to be changed to one selected from the Product Groups data set.

This feature is particularly useful when import mapped data and the ‘product groupings’ used by the supplier do not map to those used by you the retailer. This feature allows you to import the suppliers data then using the Apply Mapping to automatically change supplier to retailer product groups.

There is no corresponding feature in SwanFRS and the product group cross references contained within the spreadsheet stays aren’t used elsewhere.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

Button	Action
LOAD NEW	This button pulls all product groups used in the Items dataset which are not ‘mapped’ to data in the Product Groups dataset into the data grid ready to be mapped.
NEW	Clicking opens a data creation ‘form’ at the bottom of the screen and allows for a new mappings to be created. Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
CLEAR	Selecting deletes all rows, allowing you to restart your mapping.
APPLY MAPPING	Clicking finds all Item data rows matching the From PG column and replaces them with corresponding data from the To PG data column.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Price Point window and return to the Main Menu.

Product Groups

This button allows the operator to view and subject to permission maintain ranges within the supplier.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

The left hand side displays a listing of product groups, highlighting (by clicking the row) populates the right hand side with the details of the item.

It is important that the product groups set in this spreadsheet truly replicate those held in SwanFRS, any mismatching will cause either the data to be rejected when loading into SwanFRS or for SwanFRS to operate differently than expected.

Any changes made to product groups in one system should replicate those in the other. i.e. if you make a change in the spreadsheet the change should be manually changed in SwanFRS.

There is no spreadsheet to SwanFRS product group import feature.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking clears data from the right hand side of the screen and allows for a new product group to be entered. Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the right hand side of the screen where a amendments are possible. Certain fields are protected once the data has been sent to SwanFRS - To gain access a password is required having clicked the UNLOCK button. Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited. To disable a range from being sent (and its associated items) tick the ‘Don’t Send to SwanFRS' check box. It is also recommended that Notes are added to inform viewers of decisions taken relating to the range - Notes are not sent to SwanFRS.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Product Groups window and return to the Main Menu.

Relationships

The product relationship is a way of up-selling. For example if you sell product X when recommend product Y.

This dataset is used to define the conditions used by SwanFRS when selling product X.

Data set within the spreadsheet doesn’t form part of the standard product export. Once the base product and pricing export has been imported into SwanFRS, then import the relationships export.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

Relationships set in this spreadsheet are not automatically created in SwanFRS. Any changes made in the spreadsheet must be manually replicated within SwanFRS and vice versa.

Deleting a relationship from the spreadsheet is only possible if it has not been used within the product dataset and will not be deleted from SwanFRS when the next block of data is ‘exported’ to it.

There is no spreadsheet to SwanFRS relationships import feature.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking opens a data creation ‘form’ at the bottom of the screen and allows for a new relationships to be entered (for the specified level). Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Relationships window and return to the Main Menu.

Sales Departments

The window requires the operator to select a department tier prior to displaying data (a numeric in the range 1 to 3 inclusive).

This dataset is used to assign products to sales departments and subsequently within SwanFRS it is used for report grouping.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

Sales Departments set in this spreadsheet are not automatically created in SwanFRS. Any changes made in the spreadsheet must be manually replicated within SwanFRS and vice versa.

Deleting a sales department from the spreadsheet is only possible if it has not been used within the product dataset and will not be deleted from SwanFRS when the next block of data is ‘exported’ to it.

There is no spreadsheet to SwanFRS sales department import feature.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking opens a data creation ‘form’ at the bottom of the screen and allows for a new sales departments to be entered (for the specified level). Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Sales Departments window and return to the Main Menu.

Attributes

The ATTRIBUTE button allows the operator to view and subject to permission maintain attributes and where applicable their default values.

Clicking the video icon in the top left of the menu, and subject to access, the operator can watch a short video relating to this page.

The listing shows all attributes known to the spreadsheet.

for preset attributes the pipe symbol indicates to the left the attribute name and to the right the value. preset attributes are not amendable and need to be deleted and readded if changes are needed.

An attribute can be linked to an item, an option or an option-choice and allows additional information to be collated against the reference where a specific field isn’t available in the standard data set.

Attributes are sent to SwanFRS as part of the product export and will be automatically updated / set within SwanFRS as part of the import catalogue process.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking clears data from the bottom section of the screen and allows for a new product to be entered. Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Use the tabs to move between the data sets making changes as appropriate. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
CLONE	This feature copies the highlighted SKU row thus making it available change. It is necessary to set the SKU (where access is allowed) or set the line number before saving as duplicate SKUs are not permitted.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
MULTI-DELETE	Clicking this button opens a window listing all the attributes set within the spreadsheet. The operator may select one, some or all attributes and after confirming the action instruct their deletion from the spreadsheet. There is no reverse feature for this option Deletion will only occur if the attribute is not linked to a product, option or option-choice. Deleting from the spreadsheet will not result in the attribute being deleted from SwanFRS.
SORT	Click Sort allows the operator to resequence the data list into selected pick list item order and secondly whether to show ascending or descending values.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Attributes window and return to the Main Menu.

Warranty Groups

Where used a warranty group is linked to a specific product (SKU) and can be used to generate warranty sales KPIs within FRS.

A product can only be linked to a single warranty group with one or more products from one or more supplier set within each group.

It is also possible to set the product as either the warranty product itself or the product the warranty is being applied to.

One or more warranty item / Warrantable item can be set within each group.

Web Promo Names

A web-promotion name is a grouping used when connected to an external web site.

It has no impact within SwanFRS and is used solely to tell the linked website how to interpret the product its linked to.

This may result in the web showing a badge or indicator highlighting the item or used for collation purposes.

For example - Featured product of the month, special purchase or Sale item

This grouping can be used used for whatever purpose you wish to, these examples are for illustrative purposes only.

see https://swanretail.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FRS/pages/2732982611/07.+Reference+Data#Form-Examples

Web Promo Colours

A web-promotion colour is designed to work in partnership with Web Promo Names, instructing a website to display a badge in a particular colour.

It has no impact within SwanFRS and is used solely to tell the linked website how to interpret the product its linked to.

This may result in the web showing a badge or indicator highlighting the item or used for collation purposes.

For example - The Black Friday sale could have a Black colour whereas the Sale badge is red.

This grouping can be used used for whatever purpose you wish to, these examples are for illustrative purposes only.

see https://swanretail.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FRS/pages/2732982611/07.+Reference+Data#Form-Examples

Web Sizes

A web-size is designed as a grouping agent allowing like products to be collated.

It has no impact within SwanFRS and is used solely to tell the linked website how to interpret the product its linked to.

For example - Large, 2 Seater, King

This grouping can be used used for whatever purpose you wish to, these examples are for illustrative purposes only.

see https://swanretail.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FRS/pages/2732982611/07.+Reference+Data#Form-Examples

Web Colours

A web-colour is used to group items by colour for collation and search purposes.

It requires the colour to be part of the SKU and not an option within it to work as designed.

It has no impact within SwanFRS and is used solely to tell the linked website how to interpret the product its linked to.

For example - Black, White, Blue, Green

This grouping can be used used for whatever purpose you wish to, these examples are for illustrative purposes only.

see https://swanretail.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FRS/pages/2732982611/07.+Reference+Data#Form-Examples

Form Examples

This optional data set holds a list of ‘recognised’ sizing descriptors which may be used to collate items when viewing on a website.

The data in this window forms a pick list for the web size field within the Items dataset.

When sent to SwanFRS this forms an ‘attribute’ for the specific product.

Button	Action
NEW	Clicking opens a data creation ‘form’ at the bottom of the screen and allows for a new web size to be entered (for the specified level). Data isn’t saved unless the SAVE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
EDIT	Clicking allows access to the lower sections of the screen where a amendments are possible. Data isn’t saved unless the UPDATE button is selected (only displays when inserting a new record to the left of the CLOSE button). If selected in error, click on an existing row to cancel the new action and return to the browse mode.
DELETE	Ensure the data row you wish to remove has been highlighted before selecting this feature, as it is not possible to reverse this action. Clicking deletes the highlighted row from the dataset with the condition that it has not been ‘sent’ to SwanFRS, in which case deletion is prohibited.
CLOSE	Click this button to close the Web Size window and return to the Main Menu.