Overview

Vendor Pulse moves data in and out through Excel in four places: your vendor list, your Master Data question templates, assessment answers, and the ZIN knowledge base. Each has its own downloadable template, and each accepts a specific set of file types.

This guide covers all four.

Prerequisites

• Excel or a compatible spreadsheet application
• The relevant permission for the area you are working in (see the table at the end of each section)
• Always start from the template downloaded from the platform, not from an old copy

Vendor Bulk Import

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → Bulk Upload

Importing vendors

1. On the vendor list, click Bulk Upload.
2. Click Download Template.
3. Fill in the Vendors sheet — one row per vendor.
4. Drag the completed file onto the upload area, or click Upload Template to browse.
5. Click Submit.

File limits: .xlsx and .xls only, maximum 15 MB. A larger file is refused with *"File size exceeds the maximum allowed size of 15MB"*.

Columns the template must contain

The header row must keep these columns, spelled as in the template:

Company Name, Company Domain, Description, Employee Count, Revenue, City, State, Country, Industry, Tier, Impact/Materiality, Contract Date, CIN, GSTIN, SPOC Name, SPOC Email, Extra POC Emails, SPOC Contact Number, Assign Manager Email, Purpose, Core/Critical, Outsourcing, Tech Related, Back Office.

If any are missing, the upload is rejected with a message naming exactly which columns are absent and asking you to download the latest template.

Notes on individual columns:

• Company Name and Company Domain must have a value in every row.
• SPOC Email, Extra POC Emails and Additional Business Owner Email must be business email addresses. Extra POC Emails takes several addresses separated by commas.
• Assign Manager Email and Business Owner are matched against users who already exist in your organisation, by email address. A Business Owner value that does not match an existing user stops the import and names the row and company.
• Business Owner may be left blank.
• Industry left blank falls back to "Others".
• Fully empty rows and exact duplicate rows are dropped automatically.

Exporting vendors

On the vendor list, click Export. Your vendor data downloads as an Excel (XLSX) file and you see *"Vendor Report exported successfully."*

The export always covers your full vendor list — the filters and search on the page do not narrow it.

Master Data Template Import/Export

Navigation: Sidebar → Master Data → Templates tab

Creating a template from a spreadsheet

1. Click Create Template.
2. In the panel, use Download Sample Template to get the blank workbook.
3. Fill in your categories, subcategories and questions.
4. Upload the completed file and finish with Create Template.

Only .xlsx files are accepted here — the panel states *"Only .xlsx files are supported"*.

Exporting a template

Click the ⋮ menu on a template row and choose Export. The template downloads as an Excel file, which is useful for backup or for sharing a structure between organisations.

The same menu carries Edit and Delete. Standard templates are read-only: attempting to edit or delete one tells you *"Standard template cannot be edited!"* or *"Standard template cannot be deleted!"*. Only Custom templates can be changed.

How your columns are matched

Columns are matched by their header name, not by their position, so you can reorder columns and the import still works. Several older and abbreviated spellings are accepted, including "Question"/"Question Title"/"Questions", "Weightage"/"Weight", "Mandatory/Optional"/"Is Mandatory"/"Mandatory", "High Risk Options"/"High Risk", and the equivalents for Medium and Low.

Three columns are mandatory in every sheet: Question, Type and Mandatory/Optional. If one is missing, the upload is rejected with a message naming the sheet and the missing columns. If two columns in one sheet map to the same field, the upload is rejected and you are asked to remove the duplicates.

Columns that match nothing are simply ignored.

Assessment Answers Import/Export

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → *[select a vendor]* → Assessment Process tab → *[open an assessment]*

Inside the assessment review screen, click Import Assessment. The Import Assessment Questions panel opens and handles both directions.

Downloading the questions

Click Download Assessment Template. Every question in the assessment downloads as an Excel file, ready to be filled in with answers and imported back.

Importing the answers

1. Fill in the downloaded file.
2. Drag it onto the upload area in the same panel.
3. Click Import Assessment.

Accepted file types: .xlsx, .xls and .zip.

Two things matter:

• The file name must match the assessment name. The panel states this explicitly.
• A ZIP should contain the Excel file together with the evidence files, so answers and their supporting documents arrive in one upload.

Knowledge Base Import

Navigation: Sidebar → ZIN Advisor → Knowledge Base tab

The ZIN Advisor section has three tabs: Checklist, Knowledge Base and Questionnaire.

Importing entries

1. On the Knowledge Base tab, click Import.
2. The Import Knowledge Base panel opens. Use Download Template first — it downloads as VendorPulse_KB_Template.xlsx.
3. Fill it in. For XLSX and CSV files the columns must be labelled Question, Answer, and optionally Tags.
4. Upload the file and finish with Import Files.

Accepted file types: .xlsx, .csv, .docx, .pdf.

Adding entries by hand

Click Add and enter the question, answer and tags directly.

The Knowledge Base table shows Question, Answer, Tags, Source, Uploaded Date and Created By. Individual entries can be edited and deleted from the row menu. There is no bulk export of knowledge base entries.

Supported File Formats at a Glance

Troubleshooting

The vendor import says columns are missing → The message names each missing column. Download a fresh template and keep the header row exactly as supplied — column order does not matter for Master Data templates, but the vendor template's headers must all be present.

The vendor import fails on a Business Owner value → The value must be the email address of a user who already exists in your organisation. Leaving the cell blank is fine.

A vendor file is rejected before it uploads → It is either over 15 MB or not an .xlsx/.xls file.

A Master Data sheet is rejected for duplicate columns → Two columns in that sheet map to the same field — for example a "Weight" and a "Weightage" column. Remove one and upload again.

Risk options all came in with no rating → An older sheet whose risk-band headers were not recognised. Re-check the High/Medium/Low risk option column headers against the downloaded template, or download the current template and re-enter the data.

The assessment import is rejected → Check the file name matches the assessment name, and that the file is .xlsx, .xls or .zip. CSV is not accepted here.

Evidence in a ZIP was not attached → Put the evidence files and the spreadsheet in the same ZIP, and make sure the file names match the references in the answer sheet.

The Export button downloads an empty file → There is nothing to export. The vendor export is not affected by page filters, so an empty file means the underlying list is empty.

The template download does nothing → Check your browser is not blocking the download, and try a different browser. All templates are Excel files.

Need more help? Contact support@zeron.one