Your spreadsheet has turned into your business software

Signs the file is no longer enough

• One person has the file open and everyone else waits, or works on a copy that someone later merges by hand.
• The shared folder holds orders_FINAL_v3.xlsx and orders_FINAL_v3_Mark.xlsx.
• A formula broke and nobody knows when.
• Only one person knows how it works. When they are on holiday, things wait.
• A price changed and there is no way to find out who changed it.

If two of these sound familiar, the file is already doing the job of business software, with all the risks of a spreadsheet.

What it becomes

The sheets become tables in a database. The columns become fields with their own checks: a date is a date, and the same customer can't be typed in two different ways. The formulas become calculations inside the app, and they don't break when someone deletes a column.

Everyone logs in with their own account and sees what they need. The app can keep track of who changed what, and when. It runs in the browser, in the office and on the phone, and several people work on the same data at once.

How the switch works

1. We go through the file together: sheets, formulas, colours that mean something, exceptions written in the notes. This first analysis is free.
2. I write a script that imports the data from the file. It can run again without creating duplicates, so you keep working in the spreadsheet until the app is ready.
3. We start with the part that wastes the most time; the rest follows, step by step.
4. On switch-over day I run the import one last time, and the spreadsheet becomes an archive.

An example

The CRM I use for my own business replaced a spreadsheet with 18 sheets: invoices, payments, hosting and domain renewals. Payments are now matched from the bank statement, and renewals also show up in Google Calendar.

In the Dracartys CRM, Excel stayed where it is useful: the supplier's price lists still arrive in that format, and the app imports them with a preview before any price changes.

When a spreadsheet is enough

If one person uses the file and it works, keep it. If you need invoicing software like everyone else's, buy it: it costs less than custom software. Custom business software pays off when the rules are yours and the file is struggling to hold them together.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to throw the spreadsheet away?

No. The data is imported into the app and the file stays in an archive as it was. In my own CRM the 18 sheets of the old spreadsheet still open, with their original formulas.

Can I still export data to Excel?

Yes. A button that downloads a list as Excel or CSV takes little work to add, and it often comes in handy for the accountant or for anyone who wants to run their own numbers.

How much does it cost to move from a spreadsheet to a business app?

It depends on how much the file does today. The first analysis is free, and big projects are split into milestones paid one at a time: we start with the part that wastes the most time.

Do I own the software?

Yes. If you ask, I give you the code and the database, for example to move to another provider.

Read more

• The service: Custom business web apps
• Work of this kind: CRM gokalex
• Work of this kind: CRM Dracartys
• More pages like this: Moving off spreadsheets and old software