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From Spreadsheet Hell to Streamlined AutomationUsing QuickBase to Increase Process Efficiency
Alex Engel
Solution Consulting Lead, Advantage Integrated Solutions
#EMPOWER2015
① Introduction
② When Do Spreadsheets Fail?
③ Client Success Stories
④ Tools for Escaping Spreadsheet Hell
AGENDA
Introduction1
#EMPOWER2015
Advantage Integrated Solutions
Advantage has unique capabilities and experience delivering Enterprise-scale
solutions that enable broader, more complex, and valuable QuickBase use.
Our management, consulting and development staff come from Fortune 500
companies and consultants to Fortune 500 companies.
Our backgrounds fuel our desire to understand client operations, help optimize
workflows and processes, and use QuickBase-based solutions as the system support
for those improved workflows.
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As Lead Solution Consultant, Alex drives Advantage’s consulting and solution delivery
excellence. He works with our industry-leading clients to develop and deliver new best practice use
of QuickBase + process to solve business needs and optimize business operations. Alex came to
Advantage from Accenture, where he managed concurrent projects in multiple industries including,
healthcare and telecommunications. Alex holds a dual M.E.M. (Masters of Engineering and
Management) degree from Case Western Reserve University.
BIO –Alex Engel
#EMPOWER2015
Spreadsheets are excellent for individual productivity.
They get over-used, trying to make them work for
group productivity, and they fail. Here we’ll show you
Advantage client successes in migrating broken
spreadsheet use into optimal workflows with
QuickBase, and how to get these improvements in
your business.
When Do Spreadsheets Fail?2
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When do Spreadsheets Fail?
Manage
r
VP
Complete
Submit
Reject Approve
Validate
Approve
Spreadsheets have trouble with detailed or multi-step workflows.
#EMPOWER2015
When do Spreadsheets Fail?Designing data validation and standardization for spreadsheets can be time-consuming
and frustrating.
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• When your data is more complex than a flat list, one-to-many relationships needed
• When you need collaboration with permissions control
• When edits, updates, and history need to be tracked
• When robust reporting and dashboarding is needed
• When individual spreadsheets are fragmented
• When users need to be notified of important changes
When do Spreadsheets Fail?
Client Success Stories3
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Client Success Story 1
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Spreadsheet Workflow
• Sales Deal Sheet, used to
configure bids for
prospective clients
• Configure margins, use
calculator worksheets to
determine prices
• All hours and prices
entered manually
Company 1 Overview
• Data services and consulting
company
• Global sales and delivery of
internal and co-provider
services
• ~300 sales and delivery
employees in North America
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Spreadsheet Hell – Company 1
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• Difficulty in validating and restricting data
• Lack of built-in approval process
• No version control for quote calculators
• “Black Box” sales process
Pain Points
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Client Success Story – Company 1
A B C
A
B
C
A
B
C
Section 1
Section 2
Section 1
Section 2
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Client Success Story – Company 1
Deal Sheet
View in Different
Currency
Scoping and
Customer Risk
Profile
Proposal with
pricing
Proposal without
Pricing
#EMPOWER2015
• Increased usability and velocity of bid creation
• Full version control and data validation at all steps of service
and bid scoping
• Reporting and monitoring of trends and performance
analytics
• Increased collaboration across functional groups
Streamlined Automation Result
#EMPOWER2015
Client Success Story 2:
Tata Chemicals NA (Green River Facility)
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Spreadsheet Workflow
• Sales Stock Inventory (SSI)
Requests
• Workers request parts to
be stocked, removed from
inventory, obsoleted
• Each request goes through
a linear 8-person approval
process
Company Overview
• North American wing of one
of largest companies in India
• Soda ash mining and
processing
• 24-hour operations
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Spreadsheet Hell – Tata Chemicals
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Spreadsheet Hell – Tata Chemicals
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• No visibility into approval status
• Paper process creates risk of document loss and lag time
• No accessible history of previous requests
Pain Points
#EMPOWER2015
Client Success Story – Tata Chemicals
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Client Success Story – Tata Chemicals
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• Streamlined approval workflow
• Historical tracking of all requests
• Visible work queue for all approvers
Streamlined Automation Result
#EMPOWER2015
Client Success Story 3:
Seagate
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Spreadsheet Workflow
• VP of Information
Technology sends
personalized birthday and
work anniversary greetings
to 450 employees
• Need to track departures,
new arrivals, birthdays,
start dates, manager
comments
Company Overview
• Global computer hard drive
manufacturer
• ~58,000 employees
• Developed the first 5.25”
(desktop) hard drive
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Spreadsheet Hell - Seagate
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Spreadsheet Hell - Seagate
#EMPOWER2015
Spreadsheet Hell - Seagate
VP
Sr. Director
Director
Manager
Director
Manager
Employee
Manager
Employee
Employee
Sr. Director
Director Director
Manager
Employee
Employee
VP
Sr. Director
Director
Manager
Director
Manager
Employee
Manager
Employee
Employee
Sr. Director
Director Director
Manager
Employee
Employee
VP
Sr. Director
Director
Manager
Director
Manager
Employee
Manager
Employee
Employee
Sr. Director
Director Director
Manager
Employee VP
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• Extremely time-consuming manual operation
• Delays in supervisor feedback leads to missed birthday
greetings
• No insight into added/removed employees for some time
after event
Pain Points
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Client Success Story - Seagate
#EMPOWER2015
Client Success Story - Seagate
#EMPOWER2015
Client Success Story - Seagate
#EMPOWER2015
• Easy access to employee details and history
• Automatic notifications to supervisors and VP re: birthdays
and anniversaries
• No lag time due to manual effort
• Tracking of employee goals to supplement supervisor
information
Streamlined Automation Result
#EMPOWER2015
• Track management tools gifted to Directors and Senior
Directors
• Track anniversary/birthday gifts given to employees
• Refine new hire/departed tracking to automatically update
org chart
Future Vision
Tools for Escaping Spreadsheet Hell4
#EMPOWER2015
• Identify your organization’s “Pain Point Spreadsheets;” which spreadsheets are often lost,
emailed back and forth, filled with non-standard data?
Step One: Define the Problem
• Define your target spreadsheet’s process as well as its data.
Sta
rt
Finish
#EMPOWER2015
• Sales Forecasting and Budgeting (multiple data owners with consolidation)
• On-Hand Inventory (constant updates and tracking/reporting)
• Procurement Order Tracking (shared visibility, incl. vendor interaction)
• Cost/Pricing Calculators (version control)
• Project Tracking (collaboration and workflow)
• Modeling Spreadsheets (data validation)
Step One: Define the Problem
Where are your problem spreadsheets?
#EMPOWER2015
• Identify the data owners and key people in your processes. Ask for help with putting
together the details of their individual process steps.
• Create a mockup of the process and send to your process owners for feedback.
• Avoid assumptions and validate everything.
• Plan for application cutover: who, what, when?
Step Two: Get Help!
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• Start your app with static data. Clean up your data before importing (if possible).
• Add tables to normalize data, meaning each data point is stored in only one location. Use
relationships to relate these datasets to one another.
• Use QuickBase Formula Fields to replicate Excel formulas and lookups.
Step Three: Build Your App
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content/uploads/2014/01/image3.jpg
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raising.html
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content/uploads/2015/03/the-seaside-barn-house-plan-
84162.jpg
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Instead of all your sales or
field reps filling out and
emailing in lots of these
individual spreadsheet
forecasts…
Sample Solution: Sales Forecasting
You have a single table QuickBase
to collect and roll them all up in
real-time, in one place.
#EMPOWER2015
Instead of all the spreadsheets
trying to keep up with what you have
in inventory, what you’ve ordered,
order statuses, etc. that are
outdated as soon as they emailed
around…
Sample Solution: Inventory & Order Tracking
You have it all in a QuickBase that keeps
everyone up-to-date with a single system of
record: keeps history, keeps order flows,
without relying on email.
#EMPOWER2015
• Use QuickBase functionality to make your processes efficient, repeatable, collaborative, and
standardized.
• Create notifications, reminders, and work queue reports for individual workflows.
• Design roles and permissions for approvals, restricted access, and privileged data entry.
• Create dashboards for reporting, shortcuts, searches, and contextual data.
• Design form rules for data-specific workflows and if/then actions.
• And much more!
Step Four: Build Your Processes
Questions?
THANK YOU!
