diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
index 206be5d..c5c1dc5 100644
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Copyright (c) <year> <owner> . All rights reserved.
+Copyright (c) 2017, Holger Frey . All rights reserved.
 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 
 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
diff --git a/arduino_timetable/__init__.py b/arduino_timetable/__init__.py
index 53a7d09..0ce8e4e 100644
--- a/arduino_timetable/__init__.py
+++ b/arduino_timetable/__init__.py
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@ from collections import namedtuple
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
 
+__version__ = '0.0.1'
+
+
 # example time table for the TrapControl
-example = ''' 
+example = '''
         00:00.0    close
         00:06.0    open
         00:08.0    close
@@ -36,12 +39,12 @@ def parse_time_table(timetable, available_commands):
 
     timetable:
         a textual representaion of time and commands like
-        
+
         00:12.0    close
         00:14.0    open
         00:16.0    close
         00:18.0    open
-        
+
     available_commands:
         a dictionary containing the available human readable commands as
         keys and the commands to send as values
@@ -56,7 +59,7 @@ def parse_time_table(timetable, available_commands):
     content_lines = (line.strip() for line in raw_lines)
     # remove empty lines
     lines = (line for line in content_lines if line)
-    
+
     timed_commands =[]
     for line in lines:
         # split the lines into time and command
@@ -113,7 +116,7 @@ def parse_command(command, available_commands):
         {'open': 0, 'close': 1}
 
     returns the command to send over serial
-    ''' 
+    '''
     try:
         cmd = available_commands[command.lower()]
     except KeyError:
@@ -173,7 +176,7 @@ def run(scheduled_commands, serial_connection):
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         loop.stop()
     loop.close()
-    
+
 
 class TimedCommands(object):
     ''' lightweight encapsulation of the functions in the module '''
@@ -187,13 +190,14 @@ class TimedCommands(object):
         ''' parses a time table and establishes a serial connection
 
         timetable:
+            a file path to an excel file or
             a textual representaion of time and commands like
-        
+
             00:12.0    close
             00:14.0    open
             00:16.0    close
             00:18.0    open
-        
+
         available_commands:
             a dictionary containing the available human readable commands
             as keys and the commands to send as values.
@@ -215,7 +219,10 @@ class TimedCommands(object):
         # make sure the available commands are a dictionary
         cmd_dict = self._ensure_command_dict(available_commands)
         # parse the time table into something suitable
-        self.commands = parse_time_table(timetable, cmd_dict)
+        if '.xls' in timetable:
+            self.commands = parse_excel_file(timetable, cmd_dict)
+        else:
+            self.commands = parse_time_table(timetable, cmd_dict)
 
         # establish the serial connection
         port = port or find_arduino_port()
@@ -232,7 +239,7 @@ class TimedCommands(object):
             items is used as a human readable command and the first
             character of this command will be sent over the wire
         '''
-        
+
         try:
             if isinstance(iterable, dict):
                 pairs = list(iterable.items())
@@ -247,7 +254,7 @@ class TimedCommands(object):
         except:
             msg = 'available commands should be a list or dict of strings'
             raise TypeError(msg)
-                    
+
 
     def run(self):
         ''' run the scheduled commands '''
@@ -256,8 +263,6 @@ class TimedCommands(object):
 
 class TrapControl(TimedCommands):
     ''' A simple, stripped down version for the magnetic plug trap '''
-    
+
     def __init__(self, timetable):
         super().__init__(timetable, ['open', 'close'])
-
-
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6a3a9d9..db19610 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ setup(
     # https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/requirements.html
     install_requires=[
         'pyserial',
+        'openpyxl',
     ],
 
     # List additional groups of dependencies here (e.g. development