The Formula-Connector is a Microsoft Office add-in that allows you to easily connect a Pricefx formula with an Excel spreadsheet and display data calculated by Pricefx straight away in MS Excel, using all its formatting options. No programming skills are needed.

Advantages

The Formula-Connector is most handy when you want to:

Easily build visually appealing dashboard reports in Excel with data from your pricing solution in Pricefx.
Offload all the heavy-lifting number crunching to the Pricefx backend.
Prevent data leakage as you can remove potentially sensitive data required for your calculations from your Excel sheets (since the calculation is offloaded).

Requirements

In order to use this functionality you need:

Office 2016 or later or Excel Online.
An account with Pricefx with the necessary permissions to execute a formula (contained in many default roles).

Privacy Policy for the Formula-Connector

The Formula-Connector does not collect and store any personal data. It does not use any 3rd party plugins that collect and/or store usage of the connector. The login credentials are purely used to authenticate with the Pricefx backend.

The general privacy policy for Pricefx can be found at: https://www.pricefx.eu/site/impressum/

The general terms and conditions of the Pricefx SaaS can be found at: https://static.pricefx.com/documents/2019-03-15_pfx-standard-terms-and-conditions_int_en.pdf

Installation

To install the add-in:

Go to the Pricefx Formula-Connector page on the Microsoft AppSource website.
Click the Get it Now button (you must be signed in to your Microsoft account).
Follow the installation steps displayed on the page.

Quick Start

The connection is established by default "named ranges" functionality in Excel.

To define inputs/outputs, create a named range with a name following this format:

Input	PFX_<formula name>_In_<input name>
Output	PFX_<formula name>_Out_<output name>

This pattern implies that:

You need to know the formula name, the input name(s) and for results display the output name(s).
It is also useful to know the format of the outputs, i.e. if the output is a single value or a matrix.
- If the result is a matrix, define the named range as an area that covers multiple columns and rows.

The resulting data will be cropped to match the defined named range size.

Things to Know

Inputs can be a single cell range or a multi cell range. Ranges of a single row or a single column (i.e. 1xN or Nx1) are converted into a list input. True NxM ranges are converted into a list of lists:
Outputs can be a single cell or bigger (multiple rows and columns). The add-in will fill the data in there and crop it as needed. There will be no data written outside the named range.
The cell formatting will be kept intact. For example, a conditional formatting will update the cell's style according to the updated values.
You can also further process the result data using the standard Excel functionality, e.g. use the raw data as an input for a chart.
The named range can also be on other sheets in the Excel spreadsheet. You can e.g. set up a "raw data" sheet and a visually appealing dashboard with charts on another sheet.

Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Show Connector Pane

Once you have installed the Formula-Connector add-in, a new button Show Connector on your start ribbon in Office will appear. After you click it, the Connector side bar will display.

Step 2: Login

Enter your Pricefx login details and click Login.

Step 3a: Enter Inputs and Calculate Formulas

If you have a ready-made Excel sheet that has the connections to the Pricefx formula already set up, you will see this in the Connector's side bar:

Simply enter inputs (if any) in the fields that are designated as such by the creator of the sheet. Then click Calculate All.

Step 3b: Configure Sheet to Connect to Formulas

If you are starting with a new Excel sheet, there are no connections to a Pricefx formula. You will see this content in the Connector:

Notice that it mentions "0 formula references can be found" at the bottom. Follow the instructions displayed and connect a formula with its inputs and outputs.

Once you are done, click Refresh Formulas. Then continue with Step 3a.

Further Help

If you need further assistance with the Formula-Connector add-in, contact Pricefx at https://support.pricefx.eu.