Home/What we build/Replacing spreadsheets
Replacing the spreadsheet that the business actually runs on
Nearly every business we work with has one: a workbook that started as a list and became the system of record. It works, right up until two people need it at once, or the person who built it is away.
How it usually works today
- One workbook holds the real numbers, and one person truly understands it.
- Two people editing means one of them loses their changes.
- Every month starts with copying last month's tab and clearing it out.
- A formula broke at some point and nobody is certain when.
What replaces it
- The same information, with several people able to work at once.
- History kept, so you can see what changed and when.
- The rules written down in the system instead of living in one head.
- A backup that is not a file called final-v4 on somebody's desktop.
The spreadsheet is usually right — that is the problem
We are not going to tell you the spreadsheet is bad. It is generally an accurate model of the business, built by the person who understands it best, and that is exactly why it is worth replacing carefully. The job is to carry the logic across without losing the judgement baked into it, which is why we start by drawing how the business works rather than by picking software.
What we look at first
Where two people need the same file. Where a number gets typed twice. Where the process depends on somebody remembering. Those three usually account for most of the pain, and they are also the parts that are cheapest to fix first — which matters, because a first phase that pays for itself is what makes the second phase an easy decision.
This is a real job below our usual band
Our build phases run five thousand to twenty-five thousand and up, but one process, one report or one recurring problem is a genuine piece of work below that, and it is how several of our engagements started. If you have one file that is causing most of the trouble, that is a conversation worth having.
Tell us what your business runs on.
We start by drawing how the work actually moves through your business. That drawing is yours whether or not you build with us.
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