Knowledge base

What people build in Excel — and when it's too big for a file

Almost every business has an Excel file that carries more than anyone ever intended. It started as one person's list, and by now a whole process runs on it.

At that point you're usually told to buy a package. Sometimes that's right, but it isn't the only route. A file that has been built too loosely can be repaired; it can be rebuilt as a proper application, keeping the flexibility that made you choose Excel in the first place; or a package may fit better. Which route it should be depends on the setup, the risks and the work involved. We only say which once we have seen your file, and then with a cost estimate.

Reports from an ERP system

The most common assignment in thirty years. Data comes out of the ERP system, is assembled by hand, checked and formatted — every month again. We've had clients who spent five working days a month on that, and for whom the processing then took one click. The checking and approving remained; the manual work did not.

The reaction was always the same: we should have known this sooner.

Planning

Production planning, staff scheduling, project planning. Excel is strong here because every planning process has its own rules that no off-the-shelf package supports exactly. It breaks down once several people need to work in the planning at the same time, or once nobody knows any more which version is current.

Costing and pricing

Quote calculations, cost pricing, margins. This often holds years of knowledge, built up by someone who no longer works there. That's exactly why this is the type of file whose logic should be recorded rather than hidden in formulas.

Stock control

Reorder points, minimum stock levels, turnover rate. Almost every source on this topic recommends a stock management package. For some businesses that's the right advice — but not for those with their own way of working that doesn't fit into a standard package.

Quotes and order confirmations

A quote or order confirmation is a document that has to be error-free and look good, fed by data that lives elsewhere. Our own collaboration began with exactly this kind of system: Dennis had built one at his employer at the time and hired Ruud to turn it into a professional application.

Timesheets

Hours, projects, recharging. Small in scope, big in importance, because it touches invoicing and therefore money. This is one of the applications where input validation matters more than functionality.

Budgeting and forecasting

Several departments each filling in their own part, combined into a single whole. The challenge is rarely the arithmetic, but the combining: who submits when, which version is valid, and what happens when someone adds a row.

When a standalone Excel file is no longer enough

Let's be honest: sometimes a file isn't the answer. If you need to process hundreds of thousands of rows, need a permanent connection to external systems, or have dozens of people working on the same process at once — a workbook that is its own storage will not keep up.

Note what that says: it is about the standalone file, not about Excel as an interface. Once the data sits in a central database, that limit falls away — in our resource planning case, 7,500 people worldwide work in Excel on one database. Which of the three routes fits you is set out side by side in Three routes, and where they part company.

Sometimes the answer is a package after all, and then we say so. We make our living from custom work, but not from custom work that shouldn't have happened.

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