Escaping Excel Hell – The Ultimate Add-In?

It’s easy to outgrow Excel’s capabilities for a specific application. The only option is often to replace Excel with a system designed properly for the specific job.

There are other occasions where by using an add-in, such as gauges, you can achieve something valuable which you can’t do with Excel alone.

But often it makes sense for familiarity to use Excel linked to a database, for analysis and reporting of data, and sometimes for data entry, . This allows a system to be multi-user, or overcome some other restriction of Excel. A database of some kind is probably the ultimate add-in, as it can unlock a whole raft of possibilities.

At the simpler end of the spectrum you can link Excel to a Microsoft Access database, requiring skills that a typical systems accountant can master with a bit of training. At the other end are sophisticated OLAP systems where proper programming is required.

There are also a range of applications backed by a database, such as business planning, where you only need to configure them to achieve the results. Administration can be done by anyone capable of using Excel formulae and pivot tables.

So if you are finding that one or more of your Excel applications is stretched beyond reasonable limits, do take a look at the options available. Give us a call if you would like some help.

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