i believe i found out the issue of importing and Excel workbook into the system. There is an issue that occurs when attempting to reference text in a cell. formula below for reference.

=IF(I7="N/A",'Ref_Emissions Factors'!$I$20,XLOOKUP(I7,'Ref_Emissions Factors'!C:C,'Ref_Emissions Factors'!I:I))

When the reference cell is a "N/A" it returns an error. the formula breaks when it is reconciling the bolded portion of the formula above. My assumption is it sees another "=" sign and is thinking its a new formula of some sort. Am i right in that thinking and is there a better way to reference text in a cell in a scenario like this?