Morphit - Spreadsheets Evolved

© 2009 The Edge Software Consultancy Ltd

Morphit - SpreadsheetsEvolved

White Paper

Morphit: A new dimension in spreadsheets

by The Edge Software Consultancy Ltd

Morphit - Spreadsheets Evolved

White Paper

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Printed: October 2009 in Guildford, UK.



5Contents

5


Table of Contents

Part I Introduction 8

................................................................................................................................... 91 History of the Spreadsheet

................................................................................................................................... 122 The Problem with Spreadsheets

................................................................................................................................... 143 New Approaches

.......................................................................................................................................................... 14Lotus Improv

.......................................................................................................................................................... 15Quantrix Modeler

.......................................................................................................................................................... 16Spreadsheet 2000

.......................................................................................................................................................... 17Conclusion

................................................................................................................................... 174 Summary

Part II Why is Morphit different? 20

................................................................................................................................... 211 Familiarity

................................................................................................................................... 232 Single Table

................................................................................................................................... 293 Linked Tables

................................................................................................................................... 344 How does it help?

................................................................................................................................... 395 More advanced examples

.......................................................................................................................................................... 40Wine Production

.......................................................................................................................................................... 41Sales Forecast

.......................................................................................................................................................... 42Behaviour Score

.......................................................................................................................................................... 43Plate-based binding assay

.......................................................................................................................................................... 44Tumour Volume

Part III Conclusion 46

................................................................................................................................... 461 About the author

................................................................................................................................... 472 The Edge

................................................................................................................................... 473 Contact information

Part

I

Morphit - Spreadsheets Evolved8


1 Introduction

We hope after reading this article you will be as excited about 'Morphit', our new

spreadsheet technology, as we are and will want to first try and then buy a copy for your

work. Morphit will increase your productivity, help you minimise mistakes and give you a

real competitive advantage over your peers.

If you've heard enough already download Morphit now (http://www.edge-ka.com/

downloads). If not, then open your mind a little and read on.

Overview

To demonstrate just how little spreadsheet technology has developed in last 30 years,

let's take a brief look at the History of the Spreadsheet, and highlight some problems this

highly successful method of analysis can raise.

If you already know all this then read Why Morphit is different and learn how we have

evolved the 'classic' spreadsheet into a new type of application. You will then be ready to

download the evaluation pack and try out the examples yourself.

http://www.edge-ka.com/downloads


Introduction 9


1.1 History of the Spreadsheet

The first modern spreadsheet was VisiCalc from Software Arts created in 1979 for the

Apple Mac. This same design is common in spreadsheets today.

VisiCalc The first real spreasheet

This was quickly followed by spreadsheets for other platforms such as Lotus 1-2-3 and

SuperCalc.

"My first exposure was SuperCalc, on my Amstrad CPC 6128. Population dynamics on 10

columns of data could be carried out with a click of a button (plus 5 more clicks to

refresh the spreadsheet until all the calculations were executed). I was hooked on

spreadsheets and to be honest, have been ever since. Spreadsheets have given everyone

the capability to capture and analyse data without having to become a programmer or

hand over the analysis to the 'back-room-boys'.", Ted Hawkins, Morphit Product Manager.

SuperCalc

http://www.bricklin.com/history/sai.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperCalc

http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?st=1&c=111



Lotus 1-2-3

The Battle for Supremacy

Although Microsoft's Excel ultimately won the battle for the desktop spreadsheet it was

not because it was better or easier to use. Applications such as Quattro Pro from Corel

were faster and more reliable. However MS Excel was part of an integrated Office suite -

the data could be copied into MS Word and PowerPoint, and this transportability was

enough of a reason to put up with the quirks and relatively poor performance of the

early Excel versions.

It is now rare to see any spreadsheet in a business environment other than MS Excel.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/gb/en/Product/1207676528492?trkid=UKJun9WordPerfectOfficeAQGoQuattroProBrand#tabview=tab1

Introduction 11


Open source and online

Whilst the business use is almost exclusively served by MS Excel, in the home office

market the open source OpenOffice (Calc) is making real progress, being able to read

and write MS Excel files for interoperability and supporting VBA - the scripting language

that sits behind MS Excel.

A collection of spreadsheet technologies, old and new. And this inc ludes the new wave of on-line

spreadsheets.

There are also a new breed of online spreadsheets offered by companies such as Google

and Zoho, innovating not in the spreadsheet design but in how it is delivered to the user.

So are all the issues with spreadsheets solved? Let's discuss some of the problems with

traditional spreadsheets.

http://www.openoffice.org/



1.2 The Problem with Spreadsheets

The most noticeable thing about spreadsheets over the last 30 years has been the lack of

any real innovation. Charting has improved and pivot tables have been introduced, but

the current version of Excel (12) still operates in the same way as the first versions of

Excel back in the early 90s. Did Software Arts get it right the first time? Well pretty

much yes, but there is a large body of evidence that a sizable problem has developed.

For example, this reference http://www.eusprig.org/horror-stories.htm describes a set

of spreadsheet horror stories. Many examples involve cut-and-paste operations.

There are three broad categories of issues.

Accuracy

Anyone who has built an Excel workbook will be aware how difficult it is to get it right

the first time. Auditing a template is almost impossible. The first difficulty is that you

can either see the formulas or the cell values but not both together. Identifying mistakes

in the formula is almost impossible, they all look very similar and spotting a formula with

a reference to an incorrect row is tough. Other than the row and columns, there is no

inherent structure to a spreadsheet. Data can turn up anywhere and on any sheet and

this lack of structure makes it very difficult to know where to look for problems.

Most mistakes seem to be caused through transcription errors, copying and pasting

formula and values. The proportion of spreadsheets containing errors is almost definitely

worse than you can imagine. The often quoted figure of 91% comes from the

PricewaterhouseCoopers report of 2004 into the use of spreadsheets in relation to the

Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Between 30% and 90% of sampled workbooks suffered from at least

one major user error. There are plenty of other reports and examples available in the

literature.

Productivity

From our experience in pharmaceutical research, we have observed two distinct patterns

of usage of Excel workbook that negatively impact personal productivity.

· New build every time - While research experiments can be described in general

terms, scientists will build a new workbook more or less from scratch as the conditions

of the experiment make every spreadsheet a 'one-off'. This is obviously very time

consuming and error prone. A variation on this theme is to use an old, similar

workbook, remove the data, and put new data into it. This is always very risky as it is

very easy to lose the old data or pollute the new spreadsheet with old data.

· Conservation Area - Once a template or workbook has been proven to work, it can

become very resistant to change. Business processes crystallise around it forcing the

scientists to adopt fixed practices and constrain their research. While uniformity is

often seen as efficient, in real life we must be able to adapt quickly and efficiently to

change.

Support

A 'support issue' arises as soon as a spreadsheet is used by someone other than the

http://www.bricklin.com/history/sai.htm

http://www.eusprig.org/horror-stories.htm

http://www.pwc.com/images/gx/eng/fs/insu/rt5.pdf

Introduction 13


original author. How should the spreadsheet be used? Has the formula been protected? Is

there a password on the file?

The burden of supporting these documents becomes even more pressing when VBA has

been used to automate analysis. There is now un-managed code in a document and if a

bug is found, every copy of that document must be updated. While fixing a bug may be

trivial, locating the documents with that bug is not. MS Office documents can be like the

flu-virus, replicating and spreading uncontrollably through email and file servers.

Microsoft are making a brave attempt to rectify the 'code in document' problem with

VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Office), an interface from their development framework to

MS Office documents. The problem is that this runs counter to one if the main reasons

spreadsheets were so successful in the first place - they could be written and deployed

without an IT project.

Of course, the biggest issue occurs when the author of a document moves on to a

different job and leaves their templates and workbooks behind. Who wants to work out

how someone else's workbook works?



1.3 New Approaches

A number of companies have attempted to innovate the spreadsheet concept, most have

failed to attract the same mass user base as the original spreadsheets.

1.3.1 Lotus Improv

Lotus Improv was designed as a way of simplifying the process of building templates. Its

key feature was the disassociation of data, views, and formulas. The following are short

extracts from the Wikipedia entries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv).

Lotus Improv

"Once they were up and running sheets were simple to use, but many users found it very

difficult to imagine what the sheet needed to look like in order to get started."

"Perhaps the biggest problem for Improv was the fact that it was so different —

customers were so used to the way spreadsheets worked that no one actually used

Improv. Lotus eventually gave up on the product. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv)

Introduction 15


1.3.2 Quantrix Modeler

A similar product to Lotus Improv is the Quantrix Modeler.

The Quantrix Modeler

This makes use of the same approach of separating the formula from the cells. It also

combines analysis and visualisation capabilities to create a model. This is a definite

departure from the traditional spreadsheet focused on the professional business user.

Quantrix is proving more successful by targeting the professional analyst rather than the

general spreadsheet user. This is a realisation that these types of spreadsheet are

difficult to build and designed for professionals only, out of the reach of most users.

http://www.quantrix.com/



1.3.3 Spreadsheet 2000

Spreadsheet 2000, was a spreadsheet for the Apple Mac and offered an interesting take

on the problem but has since been withdrawn from sale.

Spreadsheet 2000 and its simple take on spreadsheets

This is another good attempt to innovate from the spreadsheet design but in ways that

are only useful for professional developers and analysts and inaccessible to most users

because they are such a departure from the traditional spreadsheet model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreadsheet_2000

Introduction 17


1.3.4 Conclusion

Lotus Improv and Quantrix Modeler remain closest to the original spreadsheet paradigm,

although neither of these products offer MS Excel users an option they can easily pick up

and use. For this reason, the Lotus Improv and Quantrix Modeler have failed to capture

any significant market share from MS Excel.

1.4 Summary

Spreadsheets remain remarkably resistant to change. The main advances have been in

peripherals such as improved charting, the pivot engine and Visual Basic for Applications

(VBA). MS Office has become the dominant office package making MS Excel the de

facto standard for spreadsheets.

While spreadsheets remain successful, they need to evolve to address the business issues

they also raise. Spreadsheets need to

· be easier to build

· minimise errors

· be simpler and faster to audit

· be flexible enough to eliminate the need for complex VBA code

This need to evolve can be illustrated by the following examples:

1. The 'Single table' problem - handling changes to the numbers of rows in a table

2. The 'Linked table' problem - linking changes in one table to another

For a new spreadsheet to be successful it must rise to these challenges and do so in a

manner which users of standard spreadsheets can understand and readily use. This is why

we consider Morphit an evolution, not a revolution, in spreadsheet design.

Part

II



2 Why is Morphit different?

Morphit is a new type of spreadsheet, and can be described as an evolution from the

familiar model of Excel, since it addresses issues such as the Single Table and Linked

Tables problems, whilst retaining the familiarity of Excel.

The more advanced features of Morphit are illustrated in a number of powerful

examples:

· Wine Production - capturing and analysing world-wide wine production data

· Sales forecast - recording and analysing sales and expenditure for a group of companies

· Behaviour Score - preparing a behavioural study and applying simple statistics and

charting to the results

· Plate-based binding assay - preparing and plating-out samples, capturing plate read

data and generating a curve fit data.

· Tumour Volume - preparation a tumour volume study, capturing the data and

presenting it graphically.

The evaluation pack contains all these example binders with application notes describing

how to use and build them.


Why is Morphit different? 21


2.1 Familiarity

There are a number of similarities between Morphit and classic spreadsheets -

· It is document based.

· The look and behaviour is like a traditional spreadsheet, with a formula bar, grids of

data etc.

· It includes a 'sheet' page-type which is a classic spreadsheet

· It shares a familiar formula language

· Data can be copied and pasted between Morphit and MS Excel and vice versa.

A morphit sheet is the equivalent of a c lassic two dimensional spreadsheet



Morphit contains over 100 common formula together with new functions only available in Morphit.

However, Morphit is more than a traditional spreadsheet, enabling you to deal with more

business problems.



2.2 Single Table

How can we change the number of rows in a hierarchical table? At first glance the

traditional spreadsheet should be able to do this, but let's look a little deeper. Here is an

example of a hierarchical table in Excel.

A single hierarchical table of data in Excel. Note that the data has to be replicated in every row so

that context is not lost, making analysis (such as filtering and pivoting) possible.

If we need to add a new Group then we would copy one of the groups and edit the

individual cells so that they contain the values (or formula). If we want to add a new

time point we can insert a row and update the formula and values accordingly.

Essentially, every operation requires an insert of rows and then a laborious and error-

prone transcription of data and formula.



Building the same spreadsheet in Morphit is much more straightforward.

A single table of data in Morphit.

Firstly, the structure of the Morphit table matches the data. The Groups and Treatments

are merged. Although merging can be achieved in Excel, this feature renders the data

very difficult to analyse. Secondly, there is no direct reference to cells in the formula -

instead they refer to ranges =average(range) (described as a field in Morphit). The

scope of the range is defined by the table structure. The screenshot below shows the

'Current Page' panel from Morphit which illustrates the structure of the table as a 'tree'.



The main difference between a Morphit table and a traditional spreadsheet can be seen

when we add new rows to the table, for example adding a new 'Dose' to group 'C'.

Adding a new 'Dose' to the table can be done on the right-c lick menu or throuth the keystroke [CTRL+I]. This

operation will expand the table.



A new dose has been added in the table. Formulas have automatically been applied but and new doses can be

added to each group individually. The 'Current Page' panel shows the structure of the table in a tree view

A new 'Dose' is inserted into group 'C' and any formula are automatically applied to the

new row. We can add new 'Groups', 'Doses' and 'Times' anywhere in the table and existing

formula are instantly applied.



We can also pivot the data by time using the pivot by field property.

The single morphit table pivoted around 'Time' and adding a new data point



We can add a summary row by using the 'Add Summary Row' property and choosing the

'average' aggregation function.

The summary row can be applied to any pivoted table. Here we can see a c lear difference between first and

second 'Time' treatments which seems to apply to both WonderDrug groups and the Placebo group.

Morphit allows you to deal with the 'Single Table' problem in a familiar way without the

need to transcribe formula, thus reducing errors. Good but is that all?



2.3 Linked Tables

The real complexity arises when we want to link one table with another. This could be to

control the structure and dimensions of our table, reduce data or simply to pass data

around the spreadsheet efficiently. To demonstrate this capability we solve the same

problem using a separate table to define the doses used in the study.

First we define a Doses table containing the different doses used, which will be

'borrowed' into the main table.

The doses are defined in a separate table with a description.



This time we shall add the Dose group using the "Add Field Header from Another Table"

feature.

The doses field has been borrowed into the main table under the 'Doses' group



The Times and Weights remain as separate groups. The mean weight for the dose is

calculated using the formula =Average(Weight) added to the 'Mean For Dose' field.

Here is the complete table. Pivoting is turned off for the moment.



If we add a new 'Dose' to the Doses table, a new dose will be added to each treatment

group, and any formula will be automatically updated and applied. This means that the

dimensions of the table are controlled by the number of rows in the Doses table.

The new dose has been added to all the 'Groups' simultaneously.



The Time dimension can also be added from a separate table called 'Times'. The Morphit

document then links three tables to define the table structure and dimensions effectively

combining three tables together. In this way complex problems can be addressed whilst

retaining the flexibility to increase and decrease the dimensions of the tables without

transcribing formula.

The table has been built by 'borrowing' in fields from other tables. Not only does the values come into the

table, but other fields in the source tables can be accessed.

The ability to link tables together using borrowing, combined with familiar spreadsheet

behaviour, sets Morphit apart from all other spreadsheets. Morphit has evolved from the

traditional spreadsheet, offering an evolution in spreadsheet design rather than a whole

new paradigm. This makes Morphit much easier to learn, and allows it to be accessible

for traditional spreadsheet users.



2.4 How does it help?

So how does Morphit address the problems with familiar spreadsheets?

Accuracy & Auditing

By associating formulae with fields, rather than the cells, a Morphit Binder is far easier

to audit than an Excel workbook as cells do not need to be individually checked. There

are a number of other features that simplify the process of auditing still further.

Trace Precedence

'Trace Precedence' will show the cells that are referenced in a target cell through its

formula.

The cells used in the calculation of the current cell are highlighted to simplify auditing



Show Field Properties

The formula being applied to a field can be made visible along with its data.

The formula applied to a cell can be displayed at the top for the field



Cell Deviation

An indicator is shown in cells where the formula in a cell differs from the field formula.

The field formula and values can be overriden by direct entry into the cells. When this occurs a red indicator

flag is displayed in the cell.

Field Level Formulae

Of course, the other big win in this area is that we can change the dimensionality of a

table without having to transcribe formulae, simply by adding rows to the borrowed

tables, thus removing the largest source of errors. Morphit also helps the user minimise

transcription errors by being able to access other fields through the links rather than just

the linked value. The link acts as a key against which data matching that data value can

be pulled into a new table. For example, with each dose we added a 'Description' field.

As the 'Dose' was borrowed into the Table, we can also bring in the Description matching

the doses through a formula.



The description field in the Doses table

Adding a new field in which we will retrieve the description for the Dose



The Dose's description is added through a formula which automatically takes advantage of the link established

through Dose to the Doses table.

By accessing data in this way, it only has to be entered once.

Productivity

Morphit provides a flexible framework for creating multi-dimensional spreadsheets. By

utilising features such as borrowing between tables, and the ability of tables to grow and

shrink on demand, we can not only build highly generic templates that can be used over

an incredibly wide range of conditions, but we can build them quickly too. On average a

Morphit binder can be created ten times faster than an equivalent traditional

spreadsheet addressing the same business problem.

Support

Many of the support issues are created by the inflexibility of Excel spreadsheets. Morphit

helps this situation by its tables being inherently flexible. This in turn allows the creation

of highly flexible templates, so that one version can have a huge level of re-use. In

addition VBA is not required to achieve this flexibility, reducing that support burden as

well.

By avoiding the need for VBA, Morphit simplifies the version control problem, although

since it is still document based this issue does not go away entirely. Our solution to this is

to stop sharing documents through email and file shares and to use instead an enterprise

system. You can read more about that topic on our website.

http://www.edge-ka.com/products/biorails



2.5 More advanced examples

While the One Times Table and Two Times Table examples are useful in explaining some

of the capabilities of Morphit, they are of course a huge simplification. We have covered

one borrowing use case with Linked Tables, however, there are 14 others! The

evaluation pack contains a number of more advanced examples taken from across a

range of industries from finance to pharmaceutical research.

All the examples below are available in the evaluation pack with full application notes

describing how to build and use the binders.




2.5.1 Wine Production

Beginners example

The 'Wine Production' binder is a simple example illustrating the power of linking data to

construct tables for data entry and analysis. The data can be pivoted in a variety of

ways. The user enters wine production by country, continent and time period. All are

controlled through source tables, using borrowing and linked drop downs. The data can

then be analysed by continent and period, and visualised in report-ready charts.

Wine-production binder illustrating the charting of wine production data by continent and time period.



2.5.2 Sales Forecast

Intermediate example

The 'Sales Forecast' binder shows how Morphit can be used to manage financial data,

recording company income and expenditure for a group of companies. The cash flow is

presented on a monthly basis for forecasting.

This demonstrates the versatility of the Morphit spreadsheet for analysing and

summarising data.

Summary rows are used to calculate monthly totals whilst annual data is calculated through a formula.



2.5.3 Behaviour Score

Intermediate example

This is a typical example of an in-vivo behaviour assay used during pharmaceutical

research and development. A study director can set up the treatment groups, randomise

them, and print off a scoring sheet. After the experiment observations can be

transcribed back into the binder which generates summary charts and determines if the

results are significantly different from the control.

Behaviour binder with reports summarising the experiment



2.5.4 Plate-based binding assay

Expert example

This binder is used in early drug discovery for plate-based dose-response assays run in

medium and low throughput. The user enters the biological 'target', starting

concentration, dilution factor and a set of effectors (or drugs). The binder automatically

creates the correct number of test plates and generates curves which are fitted and

plotted as the data is added.

A highly flexible binder used for dose response experiments

Traditional spreadsheets for this type of problem are very specific whereas this binder

can be used for a wide variety of conditions such as

· number of targets (such as receptors)

· number of effectors (or compounds)

· concentration ranges for each effector

· number of replicates for each concentration of an effector

· changes to the plate layout and size



2.5.5 Tumour Volume

Expert example

This binder was developed to help cancer research supporting tumour volume studies

which assess the effect of treatments on the rate of growth of an implanted tumour.

The key feature of this binder is its flexibility, allowing the study director to have an

open ended schedule for treatments, and vary the number and composition of

treatments. Changes are automatically applied to the data entry sheet. The data is then

instantaneously analysed and plotted in a summary chart.

Summary chart illustrating the results from the study

Part

III



3 Conclusion

Morphit delivers a new approach to capturing and analysing data in a familiar

spreadsheet environment. Morphit will increase your personal productivity, instill a more

disciplined approach to structured data and give you a huge competitive advantage over

your peers. Don't take our word for it, give it a try by downloading the evaluation pack.

3.1 About the author

Ted Hawkins has been working with spreadsheets since the late 80s in support of his

research and that of his clients. He has a BSc in Biology and a Masters in Pollution and

Environmental Control from Manchester University. His PhD was in Environmental Physics

and Entomology from Nottingham University. He has been delivering spreadsheets

professionally as a consultant ever since, working with leading pharmaceutical and

biotechnology companies from across the globe. Ted is one of the original founders of

The Edge where he is product manager for Morphit.


Conclusion 47


3.2 The Edge

The Edge Software Consultancy Ltd ("The Edge") was founded in 2005, providing

information technology consulting to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The

company focuses on providing products and services to increase the productivity of

scientists. Our products include Morphit and BioRails (an enterprise platform for

managing research data).

3.3 Contact information

The Edge Software Consultancy Ltd

Web: http://www.edge-ka.com/

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0) 2380 411098

Fax: +44 (0) 8715 210018

Corporate headquarters:

Suite 4,

77 Walnut Tree Close,

Guildford,

Surrey,

GU1 4UH UK

http://www.edge-ka.com

http://www.edge-ka.com/

mailto:[email protected]



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Morphit - Spreadsheets Evolved