Heres a way out.
You have been using this spreadsheet application for years. You have tuned it using formulae and macros. But now you have grown out of it. But building an application with some improvements that you want is daunting, because budgets and resources are limited and the effort is complex. There is a way out.
First, its worth looking at why have you outgrown the spreadsheet application. Here are some of the signs that its time to get a buildout done
The amount of data in the spreadsheet is now a monster and you have a hard time managing it
You have multiple versions of the sheet and many of the links between them end up broken
Sharing it with others especially if they have to to add or modify is hard since you are not sure if the others will follow the rules and not end up messing it up
You want some parts of the application to be secure and confidential when you share it
You are tired with delays with the sequential manner in which people give their updates, before you can putting together the results (e.g. their forecasts, or the latest employee data).
Collating results with integrity is also a huge task. It just takes too much effort
Reports are hard. You are not an IT person or an accountant, and it takes time to get out that nicely formatted report your boss wants.
It depends on you to keep it running. And you want to do something else.
Converting it into a cloud application for access to all those who use it would certainly be a better approach. If you are not getting much help from the budget or resource perspective
the way out is low code.
Low code platforms reduce effort by between 5x to 15x, is delivered faster, and costs are far more affordable because of this improvement in productivity. Most of the code involved in the application is automatically generated and that makes the difference. The first step is to determine the right low code platform. Here are the recomendations
Simple application, limited budgets: Try using Bubble, MS Powerapps or even some workflow tools
Complex application, well endowed budgets: Try the big boys of low code - Outsystems, Mendix, Service Now
Mid sized applications, limited budgets: There arent too many options out there and the recomendation is Stragiliti (www.Stragiliti.net)
Most spreadsheet apps are small footprint and if you are the type who built the spreadsheet yourself, you are definitely capable of figuring out the small footprint low code apps suite too. Get your hands dirty and you could be the office hero (just like when the spreadsheet was built years ago). But small footprint low code platforms have their limitations and you dont want to spend too much time on it if you know that you need a large footprint low code platform. Large footprint applications can be recognized when they have
many processes
many roles
Complex logic
complex workflow
many integrations
So if you have a large footprint application and have limited budgets, do get in touch with us at Stragiliti.
Disclaimer. This article is written by the founder of Stragiliti.
Do get in touch and we at Stragiliti are happy to organize a 1:1 free session to discuss the way to go.