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Excel: Part Master

The Plex part master as a refreshable Excel and Power BI table

easy ~5 min setup 2 components

Overview

The Plex part master as a refreshable Excel and Power BI table

The part master, one row per part and revision. Seventeen columns covering type, status, unit of measure, weight, lead-time days, minimum and maximum inventory, standard job and order quantities, default stock location, the note field, and the created and updated dates.

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 ?part_no=VALUE&status=VALUE.

InputWhat it does
part_nosubstring match on Part No or Part Name
statusexact match on Part Status, e.g. "Production"
max_rowskeep only the first N rows

What this installs

The Excel Data - Parts 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 17 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

Excel Data - Parts Script Primary
Excel Export - Parts ODBC Query

Use Cases

  • Keep a parts reference sheet without re-running an export
  • Look up lead times and order minimums without opening Plex
  • Feed a Power BI model that reloads on schedule
  • Filter a shared workbook to one product family by URL

Install This Recipe

Sign in to your DataMagik workspace to install this recipe.

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Benefits

  • Re-queries the source on refresh instead of holding an emailed copy
  • The .xlsx feed keeps leading zeros that CSV destroys
  • One saved query, so a new column reaches every workbook at once
  • Filter by URL parameter instead of maintaining a script per team

Configuration Steps

After installation, you'll configure:

  • Plex ODBC connection

Tags

excelpower bipower queryodbcplexreporting