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Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

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Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#361

Post by joshmn »

sheetjs wrote: post #147
ajlburke wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be a Lotus Notes specialist, and one interesting thing I noticed is that from the earliest versions it was designed specifically to be a "step up" from a spreadsheet (Lotus of course also made Lotus 1-2-3, which was the original killer-app spreadsheet before Excel took over). Notes still let you see data as rows and columns and had very spreadsheet-like functions, many of which could be transferred directly…

> my career in business software has still mostly been about converting spreadsheets into more "proper" applications. Still true for many people in 2017. @patio11 probably said it best: > Every spreadsheet shared in a business is an angel announcing another SaaS app still needs to be built. https://twitter.com/patio11/status/655674551615942657 FWIW we ended up in business software after one of our open source librari…

> Every spreadsheet shared in a business is an angel announcing another SaaS app still needs to be built.

With new (or prospective) clients that are SMBs, one of the first things I ask is, "so, what are you still using spreadsheets for?"

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#362

Post by _rerr »

ellius wrote: post #329
fjsolwmv wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. An domain-specific SaaS app takes all the power away from the people writing their spreadsheet programs. Only one app is needed, a hosted spreadsheet with backup and versioning an replication. The only domain-specific business is in writing plugins.

I wrote this in another thread, but I think the next move should be to create an Excel-compatible spreadsheet program with a few additional constraints inspired by programming. Make primary keys required, each column needs a type, etc. These are concepts I’ve successfully explained to non-technical coworkers to great effect. By enforcing them in a tool, I think you would get about 80% of the benefits of true software…

This actually exists inside excel since 2010, it is called get & transform (known before as power query) and lives in the data tab. It allows the user to mash data from different sources (databases, csv, excel files, current workbook) and perform sql-like opérations : filter, join, etc. In a wisiwyg-record-macro fashion. I find it very intuitive and the steps are easily reproducible as each transformation step is translated into a language derived from F#. It is a game-changer for business users that dare using it, as it is rigorous and precise like a classical SQL flavor, but also usable with zero training.

Since it was a very powerful tool but struggled getting traction, they are using it as the core query tool for power BI (alongside DAX for great dashboarding).

Well done Microsoft.

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#363

Post by spynxic »

mabbo wrote: post #18

I would argue that the most commonly used programming language is Excel. But few of the people using it realize they're programming. It's a brilliant reactive data programming model that makes intuitive sense to non-technical users. They feel empowered to use it to solve problems right now with a computer. They experiment with it, try things, Google how to do more things- just like any programmer does. And they feel…

"[Excel's non-VBA interface is] a brilliant reactive data programming model.."

Also known as functional programming

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#364

Post by skinnymuch »

sheetjs wrote: post #293
jstandard wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every spreadsheet shared in a business is an angel announcing another SaaS app still needs to be built. It's a pithy quote, you'll get a very different reaction from a finance or small to med-sized business professional. Excel is the ultimate maker studio that actually lives up to the promise of "build your own mini-app". I'm not saying it can't be improved on. It's just that the core model of flexibility is so com…

Excel is an incredible swiss army knife when dealing with one person in one location on one computer, but the warts start showing up when any of those assumptions break. One computer: once you decide you want to use your smartphone, for all but the most basic sheets there are problems with Excel mobile preview, even with Microsoft's official apps. One location: Excel's lack of a universal time (showing different time…

What's with all talk wrt Office 365 and web versions and syncing that goes on with that? Is none of that actually the case? I wouldn't be surprised, just don't know.

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#365

Post by bbarn »

djhworld wrote: post #204
bbarn wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trello. In the last few jobs I've had there's almost always been a developer who has their own personal to do list on a trello board, even if we had robust tracking systems like jira and rally.

Is that such a bad thing though? Having tickets in JIRA is for the team to track and plan work that needs to be done, not for storing personal garbage.

No, but in smaller groups, it's been a tool to get things organized for teams, then big ERP rollouts happen and managers start saying "stop using trello, use this instead".

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#366

Post by petervandijck »

In our 150-people team as part of a 1,500 people company, we use a ton of Excel, but a significant part of our structured data is in https://airtable.com, which I can't recommend high enough.

It combines the structured-ness of a database with the ease of use of a spreadsheet. And it lets you slowly evolve your datamodel (we adjust fields/tables every few months and it usually only takes 15 minutes).

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#367

Post by nickbauman »

dalbasal wrote: post #62
GiorgioG wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I consulted at a health insurance company (a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee with 1000 employees, 200 IT staff) about 10 years ago, I was absolutely horrified that the system of record for health care plan data was Excel spreadsheets. They had staff who would update the claims processing system based on thousands of spreadsheets. When you called customer service, the CSR app would auto-open the member's plan inf…

There are upsides to excel in cases like that… The health insurance people of various sorts who use this setup are the ones with domain knowledge. With an excel program, they can (1) understand how it works (2) add to it, modify it (3) create a copy and break it (4) debug it (5) have ideas about how it could work differently… I’m not saying that excel is the tool for the job (sounds like it is definitely not), and th…

| I am saying that we should be curious at why they are doing it this way.

If you hand a caveman a machine gun, he will club you to death with it. IOW, the casual ability for domain experts to screw up a spreadsheet is enough of a reason to decide that excel is a terrible solution to this problem.

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#369

Post by hden »

mabbo wrote: post #18

I would argue that the most commonly used programming language is Excel. But few of the people using it realize they're programming. It's a brilliant reactive data programming model that makes intuitive sense to non-technical users. They feel empowered to use it to solve problems right now with a computer. They experiment with it, try things, Google how to do more things- just like any programmer does. And they feel…

> I would argue that the most commonly used programming language is Excel. But few of the people using it realize they're programming.

Indeed, I'd also argue that the most commonly used database is Excel. Although few people using it realize they're designing schema.

Re: Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

#370

Post by dbg31415 »

fpisfun wrote: post #368

I hate Excel, can't quite put my finger on why, but I'm a big Google sheets fan when it's used with their apps scripts. You can do a lot using the sheet as a data store combined with functional JavaScript.

Look, I hear you... I love Google Docs over Microsoft Word... and for simple things I like Google Sheets.

But given how much shit is in Excel, and how many edges cases have just been worked out already in Excel... man sometimes it's just nice to have Excel.

Want to de-dupe a list? There's a button for that in Excel. (I know there are tools... but look my point is just that it's so much easier in Excel.)

Want to convert some list of dates that were saved based on a 1904 calendar over? Easy, Excel even offers to do it when you paste. Google docs? Yeah not so much. You're left doing this by hand... 4 years and 1 day off... ugh.

Want to see all the formulas and know how they work? You get only so much visibility into the apps for Google Sheets... I don't really want to run code / grant access to things unless I know what they are doing. Not keen on adding 3rd party functionality that may be sending my data back to the mother ship.

I love me some Google Sheets... but just saying when I need to get shit done, Excel is usually a slightly more robust experience.

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