Overview
This articles provides answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) and best practices regarding the use of SmartView when entering and submitting data and using forms.
Essential Information
- These instructions are intended only for department budget preparers/approvers and a subset of Resource Commitment Tracking Tool users who have access to Oracle Planning and Budgeting (EPBCS).
- If you are unsure whether or not you should have access to this tool, please connect with a fiscal contact in your VC office.
- Budget preparers must have approved access to their Financial Units within EPBCS, to verify, login to the EPBCS web application.
- Budget preparers who wish to use SmartView should work with their IT contacts to complete the software installation process, please refer to KB0033251: How to Download and Install Smart View Excel Add-In.
- Oracle doesn’t support a Mac-compatible version at this point. The proposed workaround for Mac users is to use a virtual machine running Windows.
Next Steps & FAQ's
Q: How do I delete a Private Connection in Smart View?
A: Follow this process outlined below:
- In the Smart View Panel, select Private Connections:
2. Click the small down-facing arrow next to the larger right facing arrow:
3. Select Delete Connection URLs from the drop-down list:
4. In the Delete Connection URLs dialog box, select the check box next to the URLs to delete, and then click Delete:
5. To accept the deletions, click OK:
NOTE: CLICKING DELETE ONLY DOES NOT FULLY DELETE THE CONNECTION OR EXTENSION UPDATE URLS. You must click OK to accept the deletions.
Script Error Popup
Q: When logging into SmartView, after Duo authentication, there a Script Error dialog box, is something wrong?
A: This Script Error dialog box is expected behavior and displays due to the interaction of SmartView with UCSD's SSO configuration and duo authentication, click Yes to proceed.
Filtering/Formatting Form Data
Q: In SmartView, when I filter data on a form and refresh the page, my filters are gone, what is going on?
A:
- Whenever the user is within an active form, no formatting or filtering will be saved once refresh is selected.
- Within a form, there is an active connection to the EPBCS database, that in the background, feeds the form and once refresh is selected, the form repopulates the full form as that’s how the system works.
- Best Practice: Create a copy of the form and filter/format on the copy, leaving the active form in its original state.
Flex Forms
Q: How do I open a flex form and use sort/filter with it?
A: Once connected to the desired EPBCS environment, follow the process outlined below.
Opening a Flex Form
1. In the Panel, select '+' next to the Library folder to expand its contents, then select '+' next to the relevant task list (e.g. the Staffing Model folder to access the list of Staffing Forms):
2. Locate the desired form (e.g. 1.2 Manage Existing Staff Positions), right click on it, then select the 'Open Flex Form' option from menu:
3. With the form rendered, ensure the desired POV selections are populated. If any changes are made in the POV, refresh the sheet before proceeding to step 4:
4. Navigate to 'Planning' tab in the ribbon, select 'Apply' in the 'Formatting' section, then select 'Cell Styles':
5. On the sheet, select row 1 and drag your mouse to row 4:
6. Right click on either row number (with rows 1-4 still highlighted) and select Unhide' from the action menu:
Sorting a Flex Form
1. Select row 4 and drag your mouse to the last row with content on your sheet:
2. Within the Home tab, select 'Sort & Filter' in the 'Editing' section, and choose 'Custom Sort':
3. Within the Sort dialogue box that appears, expand the Column 'Sort by' dropdown and select 'Column C' (to sort by Fund), then Select 'OK' on the Sort window:
4. Select 'Refresh' on the ribbon:
Filtering a Flex Form
1. Highlight the entire workbook by clicking on the 'Select All' icon in upper left hand corner of the sheet (above row 1, to the left of column A):
2. Select the Home tab, then select 'Sort & Filter' in the 'Editing' section, then select 'Filter':
3. Click on the Filter icon in column C, uncheck the box to the left of 'Select All', then select 'Blanks' at the very bottom of the list and one non-core fund and Select 'OK':
SmartView Ribbon Disappears
Q: My SmartView has been working as intended, but now when I start up Excel, the SmartView ribbon no longer displays, why?
A:
- Based on prior issue resolutions, this is related to running an outdated version of the SmartView Add-In for Excel.
- Best Practice: install latest version of the SmartView for Excel add-in, please refer to KB0033433: How-to Check Current Smart View Version and Install Latest Update.
- An immediate, yet temporary solution would be to reselect the SmartView add-in.
- In Excel, select File, then select Options.
e. Select Add-Ins, at the bottom of the dialog box, click the arrow next to Manage: Excel Add-Ins, select COM Add-ins, then click Go.
f. If the user selects this Option, the above steps will need to be repeated every time Excel is opened until the latest version of SmartView is installed.
Using SmartView Efficiently
Q: How can I get the most out of my SmartView experience when working with forms?
A:
- One of the benefits of using SmartView over the web app, specifically when working with forms, is the ability to have more than one form open at a time.
- This is achieved by creating a separate tab for each form, like in a Task List.
POV Displaying Incorrectly
Q: When placing my POV above the active sheet, it is too large, how do I fix this?
A: To fix, at the bottom of the Excel window, locate Display Settings and select Optimize for compatibility (application restart required) then restart Excel.
Flickering POV
Q: How can I stop flickering POV?
A:
- This is a known issue to Oracle, and can be resolved by disabling two default settings on the users machine.
- To resolve, follow the instructions for each setting: Disable Window Transitions & Disable Office Animation.
Disable Window Transitions
1. Click Start, click Run, in the Open box, to open the Registry Editor, enter regedit, then click OK.
2. Locate and then select the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Toolbars
3. From the Edit menu, select New, and then select DWORD Value.
4. Enter DisableWindowTransitionsOnAddinTaskPanes, and then press Enter.
5. In the Details pane, right-click DisableWindowTransitionsOnAddinTaskPanes, and then select Modify.
6. In the Value data box, enter 1, and click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor
8. Restart Excel
Disable Office Animations
1. Click Start, click Run, in the Open box, to open the Registry Editor, enter regedit, then click OK.
2. Locate and then select the following Registry Subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Office\16.0\Common\
3. From the Edit menu, select New, and then select Key.
4. Enter Graphics, and then press Enter.
5. From the Edit menu, select New, and then select DWORD Value.
6. Enter DisableAnimations, and then press Enter.
7. In the Details pane, right-click DisableAnimations, and then click Modify.
8. In the Value data box, enter 00000001, and then click OK.
9. Exit Registry Editor
10. Restart Excel
Slow Performance
Q: SmartView works on my machine, but it's slow and tedious, is there anything I can do to make it run faster?
A:
- While there are a multitude of reasons this could be happening, disabling hardware graphic acceleration will have a positive impact on slow performance.
- Hardware graphics acceleration is enabled by default, which moves all graphics and text rendering from CPU to GPU (a chip on your graphics card) for getting better performance, but it may also increase the burden on the graphic card.
- If you experienced crash, slowness, blurred text and cursor hanging when running Office, turning off hardware graphics acceleration should solve the problem.
1. In the Excel Ribbon, select File.
2. In the left-hand pane, select Options.
3. Select Advanced, navigate to Display and ensure the box next to Disable hardware graphics acceleration is checked.
4. Click OK