diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index e5db17743..c1c99ca6a 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Imports:
     nleqslv,
     optparse,
     piamenv (>= 0.4.0),
-    piamInterfaces (>= 0.5.0),
+    piamInterfaces (>= 0.12.18),
     plotly,
     purrr,
     quitte (>= 0.3123.0),
diff --git a/scripts/output/export/xlsx_IIASA.R b/scripts/output/export/xlsx_IIASA.R
index 6152b2de5..485ba5c87 100644
--- a/scripts/output/export/xlsx_IIASA.R
+++ b/scripts/output/export/xlsx_IIASA.R
@@ -64,6 +64,12 @@ for (p in intersect(varnames, names(projectdata))) {
 lucode2::readArgs("outputdirs", "filename_prefix", "outputFilename", "model",
                   "mapping", "logFile", "removeFromScen", "addToScen", "iiasatemplate")
 
+if (is.null(mapping)) {
+  mapping <- gms::chooseFromList(names(piamInterfaces::templateNames()), type = "mapping template")
+}
+if (length(mapping) == 0 || ! all(file.exists(mapping) | mapping %in% names(templateNames())))
+  stop("mapping='", paste(mapping, collapse = ", "), "' not found.")
+}
 if (exists("iiasatemplate") && ! is.null(iiasatemplate) && ! file.exists(iiasatemplate)) {
   stop("iiasatemplate=", iiasatemplate, " not found.")
 }
@@ -71,17 +77,6 @@ if (exists("iiasatemplate") && ! is.null(iiasatemplate) && ! file.exists(iiasate
 # variables to be deleted although part of the template
 temporarydelete <- NULL # example: c("GDP|MER", "GDP|PPP")
 
-### select mapping
-
-mappingFile <- NULL
-if (length(mapping) == 1 && file.exists(mapping)) {
-  mappingFile <- mapping
-  mapping <- NULL
-} else if (! all(mapping %in% names(templateNames())) || length(mapping) == 0) {
-  message("# Mapping = '", paste(mapping, collapse = ","), "' exists neither as file nor mapping name.")
-  mapping <- gms::chooseFromList(names(piamInterfaces::templateNames()), type = "mapping template")
-}
-
 ### define filenames
 
 outputFolder <- file.path("output", "export")
@@ -140,7 +135,7 @@ withCallingHandlers({ # piping messages to logFile
   # message("\n### Generate joint mif, remind2 format: ", filename_remind2_mif)
   # write.mif(mifdata, filename_remind2_mif)
 
-  generateIIASASubmission(mifdata, mapping = mapping, model = model, mappingFile = mappingFile,
+  generateIIASASubmission(mifdata, mapping = mapping, model = model,
                           removeFromScen = removeFromScen, addToScen = addToScen,
                           outputDirectory = outputFolder,
                           logFile = logFile, outputFilename = basename(OUTPUT_xlsx),
diff --git a/tutorials/13_Submit_to_IIASA_database.md b/tutorials/13_Submit_to_IIASA_database.md
index bd35c3d2e..e2b497b5b 100644
--- a/tutorials/13_Submit_to_IIASA_database.md
+++ b/tutorials/13_Submit_to_IIASA_database.md
@@ -23,16 +23,14 @@ You can generate the file to be uploaded by either calling [`piamInterfaces::gen
 - `iiasatemplate`: optional path to the xlsx or yaml file obtained in the project with the variables and units that are accepted in the database
 - `addToScen`: optional string added in front of all scenario names
 - `removeFromScen`: optional regular expression of parts to be deleted from the scenario names, such as "C_|_bIT|_bit|_bIt"
-- you have to specify at least one of:
-  - `mappingFile`: filename of the csv file generated by [`piamInterfaces::generateMappingfile`](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/blob/master/R/generateMappingfile.R) that is used. If `mapping` is also supplied, this file is overwritten
-  - `mapping`: vector of templates from [this directory](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/tree/master/inst/templates) (such as `c("AR6", "AR6_NGFS")` or `c("NAVIGATE", "SHAPE")`) that then generates the template (and writes it to `mappingFile` if defined)
+- `mapping`: vector of templates from [this directory](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/tree/master/inst/templates) (such as `c("AR6", "AR6_NGFS")` or `c("NAVIGATE", "SHAPE")`) or a local file with identical structure.
 
 Usually, you will find the result in in the `output` subdirectory, but you can adapt this, see  [the function documentation](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/blob/master/R/generateIIASASubmission.R).
 
 Starting from your REMIND directory, you can start this process by running `./output.R`, then selecting `export` and `xlsx_IIASA`. Then choose the directories of the runs you would like to use. This works also for coupled runs, as the `REMIND_generic_*.mif` contains the MAgPIE output since [October 4, 2022](https://github.com/remindmodel/remind/pull/992).
 
 The script requires the inputs as above, expect that it lets you select the `mifs` from a list, and provides additional options:
-- mapping: either the path to a mapping file you generated using [`piamInterfaces::generateMappingfile`](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/blob/master/R/generateMappingfile.R), or a vector of templates such as `c("NAVIGATE", "SHAPE")` referring to the last part of the file names in [this piamInterfaces directory](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/tree/master/inst/templates)
+- mapping: either the path to a mapping template or a vector of template names such as `c("NAVIGATE", "SHAPE")` referring to the last part of the file names in [this piamInterfaces directory](https://github.com/pik-piam/piamInterfaces/tree/master/inst/templates)
 - filename_prefix: optional prefix of the resulting outputFile, such as your project name
 
 You can specify the information above in two ways: Either edit [`xlsx_IIASA.R`](../scripts/output/export/xlsx_IIASA.R) and add a project in a similar way to `NGFS_v4` or `ENGAGE_4p5`. You can then start the scripts with: