diff --git a/backend/app/plan/router.py b/backend/app/plan/router.py
index cd73cce3..a0eca27a 100644
--- a/backend/app/plan/router.py
+++ b/backend/app/plan/router.py
@@ -2,19 +2,66 @@ import boto3
 import json
 import math
 from datetime import datetime
+from openpyxl import load_workbook
+from io import BytesIO
 
-import pandas as pd
 from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends
 from backend.app.dependencies import validate_token
 from backend.app.plan.schemas import PlanTriggerRequest
 from backend.app.config import get_settings
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 from utils.logger import setup_logger
-from utils.s3 import read_excel_from_s3
 from backend.app.db.connection import db_engine
 
 from backend.app.db.functions.recommendations_functions import create_scenario
 
+
+def read_excel_from_s3(bucket_name, file_key, header_row=0, drop_all_na=True, sheet_name=None):
+    """
+    Reads an Excel file from S3 and returns it as a list of dictionaries.
+
+    :param bucket_name: Name of the S3 bucket.
+    :param file_key: S3 key/path to the file.
+    :param header_row: Row number (0-indexed) to use as header.
+    :param drop_all_na: If True, drop columns where all values are None.
+    :param sheet_name: Name of the worksheet to read. Defaults to the first.
+    :return: List of dicts, one per row.
+    """
+    s3 = boto3.client("s3")
+    response = s3.get_object(Bucket=bucket_name, Key=file_key)
+    excel_buffer = BytesIO(response["Body"].read())
+
+    wb = load_workbook(filename=excel_buffer, data_only=True)
+    ws = wb[sheet_name] if sheet_name else wb.active
+
+    rows = list(ws.iter_rows(values_only=True))
+    if len(rows) <= header_row:
+        raise ValueError("Header row index is out of range.")
+
+    headers = [str(h).strip() if h is not None else f"__col_{i}" for i, h in enumerate(rows[header_row])]
+    data_rows = rows[header_row + 1:]
+
+    # Drop columns where all values are None if required
+    if drop_all_na:
+        # Transpose rows to get columns
+        col_data = list(zip(*data_rows))
+        keep_indices = [i for i, col in enumerate(col_data) if not all(v is None for v in col)]
+        headers = [h for i, h in enumerate(headers) if i in keep_indices]
+        data_rows = [
+            [row[i] for i in keep_indices]
+            for row in data_rows
+        ]
+
+    # Create list of dicts
+    result = [
+        {headers[i]: cell for i, cell in enumerate(row)}
+        for row in data_rows
+        if any(cell is not None for cell in row)  # skip fully empty rows
+    ]
+
+    return result
+
+
 logger = setup_logger()
 
 router = APIRouter(
@@ -45,11 +92,12 @@ async def trigger_plan_entrypoint(body: PlanTriggerRequest):
     # If file_format is domna_asset_list and type is xlsx, read and chunk it
     if data.get("file_format") == "domna_asset_list" and data.get("file_type") == "xlsx":
         try:
-            input_data: pd.DataFrame = read_excel_from_s3(
+
+            input_data = read_excel_from_s3(
                 bucket_name=settings.PLAN_TRIGGER_BUCKET,
                 file_key=data.get("trigger_file_path"),
                 sheet_name=data.get("sheet_name"),
-                header_row=0
+                header_row=0,
             )
 
             total_rows = len(input_data)
diff --git a/backend/app/plan/schemas.py b/backend/app/plan/schemas.py
index a6d21ae7..d5b92256 100644
--- a/backend/app/plan/schemas.py
+++ b/backend/app/plan/schemas.py
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ class PlanTriggerRequest(BaseModel):
     file_type: Optional[Literal["csv", "xlsx"]] = None
     file_format: Optional[Literal["domna_asset_list"]] = None
     sheet_name: Optional[str] = None
+    sheet_count: Optional[int] = None
     # If one of index_start or index_end is set, the other must be set too
     index_start: Optional[int] = None
     index_end: Optional[int] = None
diff --git a/backend/app/requirements/requirements.txt b/backend/app/requirements/requirements.txt
index ca9d0f32..14ec525f 100644
--- a/backend/app/requirements/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/app/requirements/requirements.txt
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ cryptography==43.0.3
 mangum==0.19.0
 # AWS
 boto3==1.35.44
-
+# Data
+openpyxl==3.1.2
diff --git a/backend/engine/handler.py b/backend/engine/handler.py
index fdf48db3..8fce7f16 100644
--- a/backend/engine/handler.py
+++ b/backend/engine/handler.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ def handler(event, context):
     """
     Lambda handler that triggers the model engine for each SQS message.
     """
+    logger.info("Received event: %s", json.dumps(event, indent=2))
     for record in event.get("Records", []):
         try:
             body_dict = json.loads(record["body"])