The Scenario
You are a finance analyst. Your company is migrating to SimpleKPI and the first blocker is measurement units. Revenue in USD, EUR, and GBP, headcount, satisfaction scores, and several percentage-based ratios. Twelve custom units need to exist before a single KPI can be configured.
You have the definitions in an Excel workbook: unit name in column A, entry format in column B, display format in column C.
The bad version:
- Open SimpleKPI, navigate to unit management
- Click "Add unit," enter name, formats, save
- Repeat for 11 more units
- Realize you swapped entry and display formats on unit 4 and have to edit
- Twenty-five minutes later you have 9 units and two of them are wrong.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI reads your units workbook and creates every measurement unit in SimpleKPI in one pass.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
Create a KPI unit in SimpleKPI for each row in the Units Setup tab using the unit name in column A, entry format in column B, and display format in column C. Write the returned unit ID or error into column D.
SheetXAI creates all 12 units and writes the IDs into column D. Those IDs are what column C in your KPI definitions workbook will reference next.
What You Get
A complete set of custom measurement units in SimpleKPI:
- 12 units created — one API call per row
- Column D filled — the SimpleKPI unit ID for each created unit, or the specific error
- A unit ID reference — the workbook now maps unit names to IDs for KPI creation
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Unit definitions come from finance specifications and accounting configs. They are rarely consistent.
When unit names have currency symbols already in them
Some units are named "USD Revenue," some are named "$Revenue." You want them standardized.
Normalize the unit names in column A of the Units Setup tab: replace "$" with "USD," "€" with "EUR," "£" with "GBP." Then create a SimpleKPI unit for each row using the normalized name, entry format in column B, and display format in column C. Write the unit ID into column D.
When entry and display formats need to be inferred from the unit type
Your workbook only has the unit name. You want SheetXAI to infer reasonable formats.
For each row in the Units Setup tab, infer a reasonable entry format and display format based on the unit name in column A. Currency units get a number format with two decimals; percentage units get a 0–100 entry format with a % display. Create the SimpleKPI unit with the inferred formats. Write the unit ID and formats used into columns B, C, and D.
When some units already exist and should not be duplicated
The account has a few units from initial setup. Only create the missing ones.
List all existing SimpleKPI units. Then for each row in column A of the Units Setup tab that does NOT already exist, create a new unit using entry format in column B and display format in column C. Write "Created — ID: [id]" or "Already exists — ID: [id]" into column D.
When you need units created and KPIs built in one pass
Your workbook has unit definitions in columns A through C and KPI definitions in columns E through H.
Create a SimpleKPI unit for each row using columns A, B, and C of the Units Setup tab. Write the returned unit IDs into column D. Then create a KPI for each row using the name in column E, description in column F, the unit ID from column D, and target in column H. Write each KPI ID into column I.
The pattern: create the dependencies first, capture their IDs, and use them immediately in the same prompt.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open your units setup workbook, then ask it to create the measurement units in SimpleKPI. The SimpleKPI integration is included in every SheetXAI plan. For related workflows, see how to bulk-create KPIs from a definition workbook or the SimpleKPI in Excel overview.