CIS database setup

I've been away from Cadence tools for about 6 years, and either things have changed a lot or my memory is poor, or maybe I've just been brainwashed from using Altium for so long. In any case I've started with a new company that uses Orcad Capture CIS and Allegro PCB and I could use some help. I was handed a schematic and associated layout file but no library or database files. I've created a .olb library from schematic and exported the symbols and padstacks from the layout into Excel. I followed the help documentation to try and create a new CIS database. When I try to load the Excel file from layout, a pop up message reads "no tables found in the database". I'm wondering if I simply need proper field headings in the excel file. At the moment they are "item number", "part reference", "value", "pcb footprint", and "source library".When I used Cadence 6 years ago, it was not the CIS version. I recall just pointing capture to where the symbol library is located and it would pull that information into the netlist. If there is a simple way to do this without bothering with the database, I would sure appreciate it if someone could tell me how. Thanks!