from spreadsheet hell to streamlined automation with quickbase

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

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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.

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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

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• 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

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Client Success Story 2:

Tata Chemicals NA (Green River Facility)

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• 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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• No visibility into approval status

• Paper process creates risk of document loss and lag time

• No accessible history of previous requests

Pain Points

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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


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Client Success Story 3:

Seagate

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• 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

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

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• 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


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• 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

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• 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?

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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!

#EMPOWER2015

Need help?

Alex Engel

[email protected]

720-310-0106

from spreadsheet hell to streamlined automation with quickbase

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