Creating Your First Project

Creating Your First Project in spaciv

This guide walks you through every step of creating your first spaciv project — from preparing your data file to viewing your finished headcount dashboard. Follow it alongside the video or use it independently as a step-by-step reference.

What you will need

• Access to your spaciv account
• The template CSV file provided with this lesson (or your own employee data formatted to match it)

Overview: What We Are Building

In this lesson you will create a simple headcount project. The goal is to visualise your employee data in a structured, filterable dashboard — broken down by team, department, location, or any other property in your file.

The process has four steps:

• Step 1 — Prepare your data file
• Step 2 — Upload it as an object layer in spaciv
• Step 3 — Create a layer stack
• Step 4 — Create a project using the Academy Level 1 template

Step 1: Prepare Your Data File

Every project in spaciv starts with data. Before uploading anything, your file needs to be clean, structured, and in the correct format.

File structure

Your CSV file should follow this structure:

• First column: name — the name of each employee. This becomes the object name in spaciv.
• Second column: id — a unique identifier for each employee. This can match the name if names are unique.
• Additional columns: properties — each column is a property. Common examples include department, team, location, role, working hours, and employment type.

The column headers in your file should match the preset property names in spaciv. This ensures the system can map them automatically on import.

Using the template file

A template CSV file is provided with this lesson. You can either:

• Use the template file directly by filling in your own employee data
• Format your existing data file to match the template structure

Note: The data prep step is always the most important one. A well-structured file makes every step after this faster and more reliable. Take the time to check that your file is correct before uploading.

Step 2: Upload Your Data as an Object Layer

Once your file is ready, you will upload it into spaciv as an object layer.

1. From the homepage, navigate to Object Layers in the account section of the sidebar.
2. Click Add New. Name your layer — for example, Employee List — and confirm.
3. Your new object layer will appear in the list. It is empty at this stage.
4. Hover over the layer and click View Entries to open it.
5. Click the upload button (the arrow pointing up) and select your CSV file.

Property mapping

After selecting your file, spaciv will display a mapping screen. This shows how the columns in your CSV are being matched to the preset properties in the system.

• If your column headers match the preset property names, the mapping will be done automatically
• Review each row to confirm the mapping looks correct
• If anything is mismatched, adjust it manually before continuing

Once you are satisfied with the mapping, click Confirm to complete the upload.

 Your employee list is now in spaciv. You will see all your entries listed row by row, with their properties in columns.

 Note: If a property in your file does not match any preset, spaciv will flag it. You can either correct the column name in your file and re-upload, or create a custom property for it. For this lesson, stick to the preset properties in the template.

Step 3: Create a Layer Stack

Before creating a project, you need to place your object layer inside a layer stack. Even a simple project with a single object layer requires a layer stack.

1. In the sidebar, navigate to Layer Stacks under your account.
2. Click Add New. Name your stack — for example, Headcount Scenario — and add a short description if you want.
3. Click Add Layer. Select Object Layer as the layer type.
4. Select Employee List from the list — the object layer you just created.
5. Save the layer stack.

Your layer stack now contains one layer: your employee list. That is all we need for this project.

Note: In more advanced projects, your layer stack would also include modification layers and a space rules layer. For this lesson, a single object layer is enough to generate a headcount visualisation.

Step 4: Create Your Project

With your layer stack ready, you can now create your first project.

1. From the homepage, click Add Project.
2. Name your project — for example, Level 1 Headcount Project. Add a description if you want.
3. Select the Academy Level 1 template. This template is designed for a simple headcount visualisation and requires minimal configuration.

Configuring the template

The template will ask you to provide a few pieces of information:

• Baseline scenario — select the layer stack you just created (Headcount Scenario). This is the data your project will use.
• Focus node — select Root. This tells spaciv to include all values in your data, with no filtering applied at the project level.

1. Review the property mapping screen. Confirm that all project variables are correctly matched to the properties from your layer stack.
2. Click Complete to finish the setup.

Your project is now live. spaciv will automatically generate dashboards based on your employee data.

5. Exploring Your Headcount Dashboard

Once your project is created, you will land on your dashboard. Here is what you can do:

• Filter by any property — break down your headcount by team, department, location, or any other property in your file
• Switch views — explore different visualisations of the same data
• Review totals — see overall headcount numbers and how they are distributed across your organisation

All of this comes from a single CSV file and a few configuration steps. The template handles the visualisation logic — your job was just to bring in clean, well-structured data.

6. What You Did — End to End

• Prepared a CSV file with your employee data, structured with name, ID, and property columns
• Uploaded the file as an object layer in spaciv and confirmed the property mapping
• Created a layer stack containing your object layer
• Created a project using the Academy Level 1 template, linked to your layer stack
• Explored your headcount dashboard, filterable by any property in your data

Note: This is the same process you will use for every project in spaciv. The steps stay the same — what changes is the complexity of your data, the number of layers in your stack, and the template you choose.