Excel to web app: turn your spreadsheet into a web application
We take the Excel workbook your business runs on and rebuild it as a web application, with the existing data imported and the calculations checked against the spreadsheet's own results.
At a glance
- Typical price
- £6,000 to £12,000
- Typical duration
- 3 to 6 weeks
- VAT
- Prices exclude VAT
Who this is for
Most businesses have one spreadsheet that matters more than the rest. It started as a quick way to price a job or plan a week, and over the years it became the system: tabs for customers, a sheet of rates, formulas that reach across all of them, perhaps a macro that produces the quote.
It works until it does not. Two people save over each other. A formula is overwritten with a typed number and nobody notices for a month. The file takes a minute to open. The one person who understands it goes on holiday.
None of this is a fault in Excel. The workbook is doing a job that needs a database, logins and a record of who changed what. Our page on replacing spreadsheets looks at when the move is worth making.
What you end up with
A web application that does what the workbook does, for several people at once. The data is held in a database, each person has a login, and the rules that lived in formulas are in code that cannot be overwritten by accident.
The workbook is the specification. It already contains every rule the business applies, including ones nobody remembers adding, so we read it closely instead of asking you to write requirements from scratch.
The calculations are then tested against it. We take real cases, run them through both and compare the answers. Where the two differ, either we have misread a rule or the spreadsheet has a mistake, and you decide which. Those cases become part of the acceptance checks agreed with the price.
Excel does not go away. Lists and reports export to it, so analysis and one-off questions carry on as before.
After the switch
The system and its source code are yours. Each project includes a short warranty period for defects against the agreed scope. Beyond that, hosting, support and changes are a separate monthly arrangement that you can take or leave, described under software maintenance.
A common next step is connecting the new system to accounting or other software so that nothing is typed twice. We scope that separately as a system integration.
Talk to us
Describe the system and what you need. You will hear back from someone who can answer technical questions.
Discuss this project 0800 433 7990What is included
- The workbook as the specification
- We read every sheet, formula and macro to establish what the workbook does, including the rules nobody wrote down.
- Existing data imported
- The records already in the workbook are loaded into a database, with errors and inconsistencies listed for you to resolve.
- Calculations reproduced and tested
- Prices, totals, schedules and other results are checked against the spreadsheet's own figures using real examples.
- Screens for the daily work
- Entry and lookup screens built around how people use the workbook now, with validation that stops bad data at the point of entry.
- Logins and a record of changes
- Each person has their own login, roles control who can change what, and the system records who changed a record and when.
- Export back to Excel
- Lists and reports export to Excel, so the people who analyse the data can carry on doing so.
How the project runs
Send us the workbook
We go through it with the person who knows it best and note what each sheet is for and which parts are still used.
Agree scope and price
A written scope covering the screens, the calculations, the data to import and the acceptance checks, with a single fixed price.
Build and compare
We build in steps you can try. Calculations are run against a set of real cases and compared with the spreadsheet's answers.
Import and trial
Your data is imported and a few users try the system on real work while the spreadsheet stays in use.
Switch over
A final import, the workbook is kept as a read-only archive and the team moves to the new system.
What moves the price
- The number of sheets and how complicated the formulas and macros are.
- How many different roles use it and how their permissions differ.
- The condition of the existing data and how much history needs importing.
- Outputs such as quotes or job sheets that have to be produced in a set layout.
Not included
- Hosting charges and support after the warranty period. These are a separate monthly arrangement.
- Connections to other systems such as accounting software. These are scoped as a separate integration.
- Functions the workbook does not perform today, unless they are written into the scope.
A good fit when
- One workbook runs quoting, scheduling, job tracking or stock, and the business would stop without it.
- Several people need to update it at once and versions keep diverging.
- Errors have reached customers or the accounts because a formula was overwritten or a row was missed.
- Only one person understands how it works.
Probably not for you if
- The spreadsheet is used for analysis that is different every time. Excel is the right tool for that.
- A packaged product already covers the process; we will tell you if we think one would.
- The process itself is still changing from week to week and cannot be described yet.
Questions we are asked
What if the spreadsheet contains mistakes?
It may well do, and comparing results is how they come to light. When the new system and the spreadsheet disagree, we show you the case and you decide which answer is right. The agreed answer goes into the acceptance checks.
Can we keep using the spreadsheet during the build?
Yes. We work from copies. The live workbook stays in use until the final import and is kept afterwards as a read-only archive.
Can we still analyse the data in Excel?
Yes. Lists and reports export to Excel, so pivot tables and one-off analysis carry on as before. The difference is that the master data lives in a database and Excel becomes a reporting tool.
The workbook has VBA macros. Does that matter?
It affects the size of the job, not whether it can be done. Macros usually hold business rules, so we read them, confirm with you what each one is for and reproduce the ones still in use.
Who owns the finished system?
You do, including the source code, once the project is paid for.
Tell us about your system
Say what it does, what it is built on and what is worrying you. We will reply with what we would look at first and whether we are the right people to help.