If you have data that you've been keeping in the SPARC Parenting Time Tracker (PTT), you can easily import it into OPTIMAL by following the instructions below. (If you need to import data from another source, click here.)

1. Open up your SPARC Parenting Time Tracker spreadsheet and go to the month you would like to import into OPTIMAL.
   
   
2. Refer to the image below. Highlight the entire month of data by clicking and dragging with your mouse. Copy all of the data in the yellow area of the PTT including the orange 'hours' columns, but don't include any headers, sidebars, or extra cells.
   
   
   Highlight only the yellow portion of the spreadsheet.
   
   
3. A properly highlighted spreadsheet will look similar to the example below. Note that the 'starting' cell will remain yellow; this is normal.
   
   
   Example of a properly highlighted spreadsheet.
   
   
4. Once the correct portion of the spreadsheet is highlighted, copy the data. You can do this by selecting Edit, Copy from the Excel 'Edit' menu or by pressing Ctrl-C on your keyboard.
   
   
5. Log into your OPTIMAL account and go to the Print & Export page. Click the Import button to open up the Data Import page.
   
   
6. Click inside the Text Conversion Box on the Data Import page and paste the copied data into the box. You can do this by selecting Edit, Paste from your browser's Edit menu or by pressing Ctrl-V on your keyboard.
   
   
7. Excel often adds a blank line to the end of copied data, which you'll need to remove if present. Scroll to the end of the data in the Text Conversion Box (make sure you don't alter the data!). If there is a blank line present, delete it, but make sure you don't remove anything else, especially any tabs or spaces. The import process relies on tab-delimited data; removing any tabs will cause the import to fail.
   
   
8. Select the month and year you're importing from the drop-down lists.
   
   
9. Click the Check my data... button to check that your data is properly formatted. You'll be able to go back and make changes if necessary.
   
   
10. The importer now displays your data in a simulated Tracker layout; examine the data and verify that it looks the same as it does in the spreadsheet. Make sure that the start and stop times appear in the right places, and that any notes you've made appear in the Remarks column. (Only the first 255 characters of a note are shown, but the full text of the note will be imported, up to the Tracker limit of 2000 characters.)
    
    
11. If the data appears to be formatted properly, click the Import this data button. Your data is loaded into OPTIMAL, and a message is displayed summarizing the import results.
    
    
12. If you have any difficulty importing your data, contact us. If you prefer, we can also do the bulk import of your data for a small fee.