Excel: Customer Part Numbers
The customer-to-internal part cross reference, refreshable
Overview
The customer-to-internal part cross reference, refreshable
The cross reference, one row per customer part: the customer, their part number and revision, the internal part it maps to, and the packaging and handling attributes that ride along with the mapping.
This is the table that turns a customer's PO line into something you can look up internally — worth having beside any order or shipment sheet.
Take the .xlsx link rather than .csv. Part numbers that start with a zero are common, and CSV carries no type information, so Excel would quietly turn 00124735 into 124735. The xlsx feed keeps it as text.
How to connect it
Open the script, click Connect to Excel and copy the link. In Excel, Data → From Web, paste, choose Anonymous, and Load. From then on Refresh All re-runs the query — there is no exported file to hunt down, nothing is scheduled and nothing is emailed around.
How current is it?
This table reads Plex over its ODBC reporting connection, not the live transactional system. That copy can trail production by up to about four hours, so treat the numbers as recent rather than real-time. Refreshing re-runs the query, but it re-runs it against the same reporting copy — it does not reach past it.
That is the right trade for reporting, review meetings and models. Anything that has to be accurate to the minute — shipping a container, releasing a job — belongs in Plex itself, not in a workbook.
Filters
Every input is an optional URL query parameter on the link, so one script serves a whole team: two sheets can be the same feed with different values. For example ?customer=VALUE&part_no=VALUE.
| Input | What it does |
|---|---|
customer | substring match on Customer Code or Customer Name |
part_no | substring match on Customer Part No or Internal Part No |
active_only | true = keep only active cross references |
max_rows | keep only the first N rows |
What this installs
The Excel Data - Customer Part Numbers script and one saved SQL query it runs on. The SQL lives in the SQL editor, so a column you want added is an edit in one place that every workbook picks up on its next refresh. The table has 18 columns as shipped, and no row cap — a cap would truncate silently and the workbook would look complete.
What you need
One ODBC credential pointed at your Plex reporting connection. The install wizard asks for it once and applies it to the query. If you do not have one yet, create it first in Script Engine → Credentials with type odbc.
What's Included
Use Cases
- Translate a customer PO line to an internal part number
- Audit the cross reference before an EDI go-live
- Join customer part numbers onto a shipment sheet
- Find internal parts with no customer mapping
Benefits
- Re-queries the source on refresh instead of holding an emailed copy
- Search matches either side of the mapping
- The .xlsx feed keeps leading zeros on both part numbers
- Filter to one customer by URL
Configuration Steps
After installation, you'll configure:
- Plex ODBC connection