[GRYD] is an Excel add-in. There's no separate desktop app, no cloud upload, and nothing to install on a server. If you can install an add-in from AppSource, you can install [GRYD]. The full installation-to-first-screening flow is about ten minutes.
1. Install the add-in
[GRYD] works in Excel Desktop (Windows & Mac) and Excel for Web. Choose the path that matches how your team uses Excel:
- Open Excel and go to Insert → Get Add-ins.
- Search
GRYDin the Office Add-ins store. - Click Add. The [GRYD] tab will appear in the Excel ribbon.
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center as a Global or Office Apps admin.
- Navigate to Settings → Integrated apps → Get apps.
- Search
GRYD, click Get it now, and assign to the users or groups who need access. - The add-in will appear on next Excel launch for assigned users — no per-user install required.
2. Sign in with Microsoft Entra
Open the [GRYD] task pane from the Excel ribbon and click Sign In. You'll be redirected to your organization's normal Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure AD) sign-in flow. If your firm enforces MFA or conditional access, those policies apply transparently — [GRYD] never sees your password.
First-time sign-ins from a tenant that hasn't approved the [GRYD] app will need a tenant admin to grant consent. The consent prompt requests:
openid,profile,email— basic sign-in identity (no mailbox or file access)offline_access— for silent token refresh so you don't get re-prompted mid-session
That's the entire permission scope. [GRYD] never asks for Mail.Read, Files.Read.All, or any other tenant data permission.
3. Your first screening run
With the add-in installed and signed in, here's the shortest path from a fresh lab EDD to an exceedance report:
- Open your workbook with the lab data on a sheet. [GRYD] reads what's in the workbook — no upload step.
- Click the [GRYD] tab in the ribbon and choose New Screening Run.
- Select your guideline pack — for example, AB Tier 2A v2026.04 + CCME v2024.09. The version is stamped into the audit trail.
- Map columns — [GRYD] auto-detects most fields. Confirm the analyte, depth, well, and unit columns.
- Choose land use, soil texture, and pathway — defaults are sensible, but tune as the site requires.
- Run — the screening completes in seconds and writes the results to a new sheet.
4. Reading the output
Every run produces three sheets:
- Exceedance Report — the analytes that breach the active guideline, ranked by severity, with sample IDs and depth context.
- Run Metadata — the audit-trail entry: run ID, timestamp, user, guideline pack version, pathway, ND policy, background source.
- Source Data Snapshot — an immutable copy of the analytical data the run was based on, so the run is reproducible even if you later edit the working sheet.
For interpretation, open the Ask GRYD panel and ask questions like “which wells need urgent attention?” or “summarize the salinity story.” The agent is grounded in the exceedance report you just generated — not a generic web search.
Conversion Analysis
Four sub-modules — Lab Analysis Scope/EDD, Salinity, Hydrocarbon, Spatial. See the Features page for the full description of each, and the Changelog for which modules shipped in which release.
Salinity engine
Salinity diagnostics on agricultural and oil & gas land. Depth-bin P95 background calibration, EC/SAR distributions, Salt Fingerprint, Brine Meter, Clay Sponge, Fertilizer Finder. The blog post on Alberta's Tier framework walks through how the salinity output integrates with Tier 1 vs. Tier 2A screening.
Visual Forensics
25+ specialty charts grouped by job-to-be-done: water chemistry & classification (Piper, Stiff, Schoeller, Wilcox, Gibbs), salinity diagnostics, source discrimination (PAH Cross-Plot, Source Discriminator, PHC Chromatogram, Metal Correlation), degradation tracking (Decay Tracker), geological context, and compliance views. The forensic hydrogeochemistry blog post is a decision tree for picking the right diagram.
GIS & Volume Calculator
Excel-native GIS with ATS overlay, pre-defined site area zones, traffic-light borehole markers, and switchable basemaps. The volume calculator computes m³ of impacted soil per contour band and exceedance threshold — see the excavation-volumes blog post for a worked example.
Ask GRYD AI co-pilot
The Ask GRYD agent reads your active screening run and answers questions grounded in that data, with row-level citations. Org-wide, the inference path is configurable: on-device, private endpoint, or off. See the Security page for the privacy posture and the AI interpretation blog post for what grounded vs. ungrounded looks like in practice.
Working offline
[GRYD] is built for field consultants who are not always online. On first load with internet, the regulatory packs are downloaded and cached in IndexedDB. After that, you can screen, generate charts, and run the AI co-pilot (if configured for on-device inference) entirely offline. Sign-in tokens are also cached for the duration set by your Entra tenant's policy.
Troubleshooting
"The [GRYD] tab doesn't appear in my ribbon"
The most common cause is that the add-in isn't enabled for your Excel install. In Excel: File → Options → Add-ins → Manage: COM Add-ins / Office Add-ins → Go, and make sure [GRYD] is checked. For IT-deployed installs, ensure the app is assigned to your user in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
"Sign-in fails with consent required"
Your Microsoft Entra tenant requires an admin to consent to the [GRYD] application before any user can sign in. Forward the security page to your IT admin and ask them to grant tenant consent — the only scopes requested are openid, profile, email, and offline_access.
"My EDD isn't being recognized"
The Conversion Analysis EDD detector covers the major Canadian commercial labs, but custom or older formats may need manual column mapping. If your lab's EDD isn't supported, email us at support@grydlogic.com with a redacted sample and we'll usually add detection support within a release cycle.
"The volume calculator returns 0 m³"
Most commonly this means the active contour band's lower bound is above the maximum value in your dataset. Check the contour configuration and confirm the threshold values are below your peak observed concentrations.
"I see different exceedances after a regulatory pack update"
Expected behaviour. The Run History panel lets you re-open a prior run with the pack version it used at the time, so prior closures stay reproducible. See the Security page on the audit trail.