Column matching may be overwhelming at times, especially for new Brainbase users. In this guide, we will provide several useful tips on how you should match your columns for the best-detailed end result. Read below for some crucial tips on how to best column match to get the best results in your sales reports. 

Note: If you are unfamiliar with column matching for uploading sales reports entirely, see our step-by-step guide HERE, then consider returning to this article to learn more about the best methods and tips. 

Before submitting a sales report, it is recommended that you compare your sales report to the associated contract uploaded into Brainbase. This way, you will be able to make any necessary adjustments to your sales report spreadsheet to be compatible with the data within the contract. This will also prevent you from going back to fix the spreadsheet in the middle of the upload process, which will save a lot of time.

The most crucial data points that should be compared between contracts and sales reports are:

You can find these terms below the 'Rights' section of the 'Contract Details' view. For example, when comparing the contract to the sales report, it is important to make sure that the category trees are valid with the ones in the sales report. If you find that a category is included within a sales report that is not in the contract, you will need to adjust the report accordingly or utilize the 'Resolve' feature mentioned below this article. 

Here is an example of the contract's rights terms in the 'Contract Details' view.

Here is an example of a sales report associated with the contract above. All data points within the columns are valid since they are included in the list of options shown within the contract terms above.

Minor differences or grammatical errors in names or terms in your spreadsheet will not have to be fixed manually within the spreadsheet. That would be a huge pain! Luckily for you, Brainbase offers a resolve feature within the sales reporting process. If Brainbase detects that there are any discrepancies between the sales report and contract, the resolve component will appear and allow you to match the unidentified data point as an alias or a replacement to one found within the contract. This feature is especially useful with large spreadsheets that may have hundreds or even thousands of rows that may not have the exact naming convention within the contract. No need to worry about fixing each word individually - we have the 'Resolve' feature for that!

The moment you land on the 'Column Matching' page, you should focus on matching the required data points that are located at the top of the column matching component shown in the image below. This list of data points is crucial for generating an accurate sales report and moving forward to the next step. 

Once you have matched these columns, all other columns that you matched thereafter will be used for a more detailed report. That being said, if a sales report contains a column that you are unsure about or if you find redundant, feel free to click on the ‘Skip’ option. It is common for the skip option to be used often during this process, so don’t hesitate to use it for optional columns.

Some column types may appear consistently within your sales reports that may be ignored altogether. Here are the two that are commonly included that may be ignored within the column matching process: