Solution
The business tool built for you
A shared file has ended up carrying an entire process, and every edit puts that process at stake. Replacing it doesn’t mean rewriting everything: it means giving that process a database, permissions and a history.
From shared file to application
Several people at once
A workbook locks the moment two people open it. An application takes the whole team, and everyone sees the real state rather than last week’s copy.
Every change leaves a trace
Who entered what, when, and what was there before. That’s what lets you answer a question long after the fact without reconstructing the story from memory.
The rules live in the tool
Input checks, required fields and calculations verified on write. A typing error no longer travels all the way to the month-end report.
A process the tool carries
The logic is written, tested and documented rather than held by whoever knows the formulas. The code and the documentation belong to you.
In practice
- Taking over the existing file: columns, formulas and special cases catalogued before anything is rewritten
- A database with constraints, rather than a sheet where everything is allowed
- Roles and permissions: who enters, who approves, who sees only part of it
- A full change history, readable without writing a query
- Import and export in the formats already in use, so habits do not break overnight
- Automated tests on the calculation rules, run on every change
Systems involved
- Existing Excel and CSV files, both in and out
- Accounting and ERP over APIs or exchange files
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for identity
- Mail, for notifications and approvals
- A BI tool, when the data also has to feed a dashboard
Service lineApplications and integration →
Which processes
The same work, against each sector’s own constraints. Every card opens the full sector.
Logistics and supply chain
Planning taken out of the spreadsheet
The workbook that allocates the rounds becomes a multi-user application, with the entry rules and the history in the tool.
Manufacturing
Production tracking out of the workbook
The shared file carrying work orders and scrap becomes an application with permissions, entry checks and a readable history.
How it runs
Survey
We read the file as it stands, with the people who use it. The special cases written down nowhere surface at this point.
Model
The data takes shape: what is an entity, what is a field, and what was only a column of convenience.
First version
A usable application on a narrow scope, running alongside the file, long enough to compare the results.
Switchover
History migrated, the team trained, and the file goes read-only rather than into the bin.
Dependencies and next steps
Test the fit: The business tool built for you
Describe the context, constraints and decision you need to make. The first conversation qualifies scope, boundaries and the next useful step.
Describe the situation