Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#1

Post by crrashby » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 2:47 PM UTC

Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet
slateforexcel.com

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#2

Post by crrashby » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:19 PM UTC

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#3

Post by bjoerns » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:32 PM UTC

crrashby wrote: post #2

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

it's a great idea - much better than the old built-in formula dependency tracker. definitely loving your idea! I've been in the Excel business myself for years (having worked in finance) and always love when someone comes up with a fresh tool for the mighty Excel (yeah, I know most developer's views on Excel...). I've recently started www.spreadgit.com which is a GitHub-like service for spreadsheets. looking forward to playing around with your service!

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#4

Post by njx » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:42 PM UTC

crrashby wrote: post #2

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

Great idea! Do you have to upload the spreadsheet? If yes then a big downer. Better if you could release and sell as Excel Plugin

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#5

Post by bradleyland » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:45 PM UTC

crrashby wrote: post #2

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

Our product is a reverse auction procurement tool used by large business customers. As you can imagine, we work with a lot of spreadsheets. We have knowledge workers who receive (sometimes complex) Excel documents from customers. A not insignificant amount of time is spent interpreting these sheets so we can understand how a customer evaluates pricing data. This evaluation leads to a bid model, which we use to collect pricing on line items that roll up in to a total-value number.

Really looking forward to trying it out.

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#6

Post by crrashby » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:45 PM UTC

bjoerns wrote: post #3

crrashby wrote: post #2

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

it's a great idea - much better than the old built-in formula dependency tracker. definitely loving your idea! I've been in the Excel business myself for years (having worked in finance) and always love when someone comes up with a fresh tool for the mighty Excel (yeah, I know most developer's views on Excel...). I've recently started www.spreadgit.com which is a GitHub-like service for spreadsheets. looking forward…

It looks really cool, I think the two tools kind of go hand in hand. Sharing sheets and understanding them.

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#7

Post by bjoerns » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:47 PM UTC

njx wrote: post #4

crrashby wrote: post #2

I've been working on this myself and would really love to get some feedback. Would this be useful for the problems you have with Excel?

Great idea! Do you have to upload the spreadsheet? If yes then a big downer. Better if you could release and sell as Excel Plugin

hmm, what's wrong with uploading it? I would actually prefer the no-Addin solution: the Excel Addin 'deployment' is a bit messy (with references stuck in the Addin-manager) + no Addins in the Mac world (though I guess that >95% of Excel users are on windows)

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#8

Post by bjoerns » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:50 PM UTC

crrashby wrote: post #6

bjoerns wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a great idea - much better than the old built-in formula dependency tracker. definitely loving your idea! I've been in the Excel business myself for years (having worked in finance) and always love when someone comes up with a fresh tool for the mighty Excel (yeah, I know most developer's views on Excel...). I've recently started www.spreadgit.com which is a GitHub-like service for spreadsheets. looking forward…

It looks really cool, I think the two tools kind of go hand in hand. Sharing sheets and understanding them.

yup. feel free to drop me an email if you want to touch base (i've just done the sign-up)

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#9

Post by crrashby » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:55 PM UTC

bjoerns wrote: post #7

njx wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great idea! Do you have to upload the spreadsheet? If yes then a big downer. Better if you could release and sell as Excel Plugin

hmm, what's wrong with uploading it? I would actually prefer the no-Addin solution: the Excel Addin 'deployment' is a bit messy (with references stuck in the Addin-manager) + no Addins in the Mac world (though I guess that >95% of Excel users are on windows)

We were definitely pursuing the add-on route. Although add-ons can be clunky we felt people would want to switch between the two views quickly and often. For example, if you make a change in the spreadsheet view you might want to see what effect that had on the tree. What do you think?

Re: Visualise the structure of a spreadsheet

#10

Post by shorbaji » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 3:57 PM UTC

Interesting. As I understand it, you use a spreadsheet as input and then create the data flow diagram. I certainly see how seeing the data flow diagram means better clarity and error-finding. So here is a question for you? What if we take it a step further and have users actually entered their complex spreadsheets in a tidy graphical data flow diagram which mapped back?