1. An apparatus for loading data from a spreadsheet dataset, having data in the form of one or more records, into a database comprising: a) a control file containing a set of rules, each rule having a condition; b) a spreadsheet loader having as inputs the spreadsheet dataset and the control file, wherein: i) each rule in the control file is evaluated for each record to determine if the condition is true for the record, and the records being parsed if the condition is true; and ii) the spreadsheet loader sends the parsed data to the database.