The Business Still Runs On A Spreadsheet

Most businesses have a file that handles the scheduling or the invoicing, and only one person understands it. Nobody has a copy. It started as a convenience and has turned into an application.

What one day without it costs

Six lines people forget to add up. Put your own numbers in and the sheet does the rest. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere.

What one day without it costs
Wages still being paid The people who cannot do their job until the file is back, at what the hours cost you.
Work that was due out today The jobs that did not ship, get billed, or get filed, and do not simply move to tomorrow.
Orders that go elsewhere The customers who needed an answer today and found somebody else who had one.
Rebuilding it by hand What it takes to reconstruct the last version anybody trusts, from memory and from paper.
Overtime catching up The evenings and the weekend that put the week back where it was supposed to be.
The conversation afterward The one with the customer, the auditor, or the owner. Put a number on it, because it has one.
Cost of one day @SUM(D9..D14)	$0

Most owners have never added this up. It's the cheapest number to find out and the most expensive one to guess at.

What we look at first

Where the file lives, and how many copies of it there really are.
Who can change it, and whether anybody would notice if they did.
What happens to the work on the day the file isn't there.
Whether it should become a real application, or stay a spreadsheet that's properly looked after.

How it goes

1. We work out what the file does

We look at the job it has taken on and who depends on it, then put two numbers in writing side by side: what losing it would cost in hours, and what protecting or replacing it would cost.

2. You pick the honest option

Sometimes that's a proper application. Often it's the same spreadsheet, backed up with version history and no longer living on one laptop.

Enter your details

Tell us what the file does. You will get a straight read on it from a person, whether or not you hire us.

Type the numbers you already know. The cell that matters is the one at the bottom.

NumCalc