Architecture of Application

Tabular consists of two components:

Tabular Folder (Component B) – A folder that can be placed on your local PC / a file server.

A simple representation of this is below (click to enlarge)

A more complex representation of each component, sub-elements, how they interaction and some system pre-requisites are included here (click to enlarge)

Excel Add-In (Component A)

The component that’s running as an application within MS Excel and introduced as a tab in the MS Excel Ribbon is called the ‘Tabular Excel Add-in’. It acts as the primary user interface where all of Tabular’s features can be accessed and configured. All report customisation and data manipulation options are also found here.

This component is delivered via an .msi installer. The .msi installer contains an executable program that installs Tabular for the user who is currently logged in to the computer. We can also provide an installer for all users on the machine if required.

Since the Tabular Add-In is an application-level extension of Excel, it will run at every time Microsoft Excel is opened, however the functionality is only available if you have opened a Tabular return xlsm file.

The Tabular Add-in is responsible for guiding the user through using all of the available features in the application. It communicates with the Database (which is contained within Component B) where required. This component is also responsible for managing the creation of new returns and saving them into Component B for future use.

The Tabular Folder ( Component B )

The ‘Tabular Folder” is a system folder containing the database, your Excel workbooks, and other critical system files required to run Tabular.

This Excel file ‘Tabular.xlsm’ is the entry point of the system. It is a standard .xlsm file and is used to create new returns and perform other administration tasks.

ProgramData folder contains a number of different supporting files . This includes our filesystem based database (.sdf file), export templates, narrative reporting templates. These are all system files and are not used directly by the users.

A number of XBRL mapping files are contained with the ProgramData folder. These are all system files and are not used directly by the users.

Contained within the Tabular folder is the filesystem based database (Tabular.sdf file). This type of database is used so that no complex setup or configuration tasks are required to support the installation.

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