Excel Tool Development
Food for Thought:
Excel has been in place for more than 20 years – would a custom software application still be supported 20 years from now?
Further, would it help a rapidly changing team if the methodology a tool uses was fully transparent and easily changeable?
Finally, would your organization improve if there were some practical design concepts that team members were trained to use and actually followed?
We train clients to do better Excel development work, and we even train other consultants – who else does that?
For years, software development companies, large and small, rushed to develop custom software programs, then Apps that could run on a smart phone.
But the world of data and reporting is evolving rapidly, and these developers rarely were able to keep pace.
Over the past 20 years, only one form of calculation software has continuously remained viable: Microsoft Excel. So JBE responds to specific client needs by building tactical Excel-based solutions. Each time we do, we bring the lessons learned from all our previous projects into that effort.
The best part is that we don’t sell software, so our clients essentially get this work as the “report cover,” just a part of the delivery process. No licensing fees, and no restriction on their use.
Our team strives to build tools that are transparent and practical so our clients can assume control of them; and modify them as their needs change (or work with us to tune them up over time).
Finally, our experience has led us to a role as a client team and consultant trainer as a natural part of our business delivery process.
JBE Excel Tools Gallery
Problem/Challenge:
Training to Build Excel Collaborators
Solution:
After several on-site training classes for clients, we started providing public training sessions at conferences such as the 4-C Environmental Workshop(s).
The training process started with just a toolbox we created for our internal use.
Then we added a design section to address what we think about when we build.
We have been at this process for years now - and continue to build upon past experiences and lessons learned to develop customized solutions, tailored for our client’s needs.
Benefits:
Better organized workbooks save organizational time by reducing the effort for review and QA. They also reduce frustration among your team.
Rigorous formula use will decrease the chances things will break as changes are made over time
Time spent on design helps make sure that the designer won’t paint into a corner that later forces the workbook to be scrapped
Microsoft Excel tools have become common place in managing many of our everyday data analysis, tabulation and organization efforts.
In our years of creating robust tools for our clients, we have identified the following challenges that become a source of consternation for many of our clients:
Data validation and quality assurance
Difficulty managing advanced formulas
Splitting data across multiple workbooks
Management of change