> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.ardoq.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.ardoq.com/integrations/advanced-features/fully-qualified-path-double-colon-notation.md).
# Fully-qualified Path (Double-colon Notation)
Use the double-colon (::) format to quickly specify hierarchical relationships in your Excel import.
The colon notation expresses a parent-child relationship or, in notation form, `parent::child`. It is a quick way to define multiple components and their relationships from a single column.
As an example, examine the following table:
| Reference Source | Reference Target | Reference Type |
| ------------------- | ---------------------- | -------------- |
| Monetization::Sales | SaaS::Google Analytics | Owns |
Once imported, it forms the following relationships:
* Monetization → Parent of → Sales
* SaaS → Parent of → Google Analytics
* Sales → Realizes → Google Analytics
The key detail to note is that it is the children components that have the reference created between them:
## Example of Mapping using Double-colon Notation
As an example, we'll use the following table of Capabilities and Applications:
Capabilities and Applications are defined using the double-colon notation and specify that a capability has sub-capabilities and that individual applications are children to an application category type.
Instead of mapping these components separately in another sheet and establishing a Custom ID-based relationship mapping, we'll create components and establish relationships directly from this single sheet.
We'll start by defining the worksheet as a references worksheet and by creating a source and target workspace:
Then we'll set the **Capability** column to the **Source** column type with the following configuration:
* **Format**: Component path
* **Reference type**: Implicit
* **If source component is missing**: Create new component
Similarly, we'll set the Applications column to the Target column type with the following configuration:
* **Format**: Component path
* **If target component is missing**: Create new component
Finally, we'll set the **Type** column to the **Type** column type.
We'll then review our import and import our data, then look at our workspace:
You will notice that the relationships we defined with the double-colon notation are indeed replicated when imported into Ardoq (if a bit hard to see in the web of references). Specifically:
* Monetization → Parent of → Sales
* SaaS → Parent of → Google Analytics
* Sales → Realizes → Google Analytics
## Extended Examples
You can extend the parent-child relationship as much as you need by continuing to apply the `::` notation. For example, take a look at the following configuration:
When importing the relationship, Ardoq will create the following structure:
As expected, every component separated by a `::` will have a parent-child relationship and the final components in the chain will have relationship type defined by the **Type** column.
## Using a Custom Component Path
If your parent-child references are coming from third-party systems that use other notation to indicate the relationship, you can configure the notation form to use different characters with the Path separator field:
For example, you can import the following configuration:
By using the following reference path separator:
