Just wondering again if there are more dimensions Like one is definitely if the method and tool can be used as such or if code writing or scipting is needed or if in fact the tool is actually a development tool. Another is the set up required. In the ideal world if you ask for the names and codes of the 20 top level units and their subunits on an Excel sheet you are likely to get the results at least in 20 different formats even if you have supplied the form. What I mean is the time after you have made the Excel sheet into one single format and start getting your tool ready to process the Excel data until you hit go. Data size could another dimension. For a single record manual edit might be the fastest way, but if you have thousands of records then I've used Excel formulas and mail merge. So that leads to combining data size to set up: set up time per record. But then again that leaves still the data size a candidate for a dimension: the XOG.client GUI can't handle throusands of records. Another aspect of the is if the method and tool can process one record at a time so that there is not practical limit to the data size of will it load it all in memory when there is a limit. Another thing to consider is that will the method and tool just create sort of XML, syntax checked XML or will it do the actual transfer as well. That brings it back to the user: does the user need to understand more than to be able to read an Excel sheet and differentiate between a successfull run a failed run, or also XML, syntax checking, client set up, java VM tuning and code generation with various development tools. Then again, can it all be flattened to one dimension: On one end there is OOTB as no method and at the other end is a tool with user friendly GUI which will take several different types of input, allow WYSIWYG editing, automatically checks XML schema and syntax, does the transfer for any amount of data without crashing the environment and which doesnot exist or emerge in the foreseeable future. Everything else is between those to, exactly where between those two depends which method is chosen and which skills does the user have. Then again apparently it cannot be flattened to one dimension. Martti K.