How to Improve Your Spreadsheet Health 

Spreadsheets run on a diet of data and just like us, spreadsheet performance drops if all it consumes is unhealthy data. Manual processes affect the health of your spreadsheets with the risk of human error and time-consuming workflows. The result is slower reporting times and poor performance from inaccurate, outdated information slipping into your reporting.   

Let’s explore how to shape up your spreadsheets, which will allow you to focus your time elsewhere and significantly increase your output and organizational value.   

Fresh Data Makes for Healthier Spreadsheets  

When you rely on manual processes, period-end close can take days or even weeks. If your data is manually dumped into Excel, numbers could easily be entered incorrectly – and by the end of the process, your information is already outdated and inaccurate.  

Information goes stale quickly when it is collected and analyzed in a static Excel spreadsheet. One easy way to mitigate the damage of stale data is to implement a solution that allows you to generate fresher reports based on real-time information directly from your ERP and other core systems. Just refresh to feed the latest live data to your spreadsheets. With up to date and more accurate data, your reports will spring into action, and you can be confident with the results. 

The Cost of Sluggish Spreadsheets  

Hanover Research found more than half of finance teams are unable to fully execute tasks because of time-consuming, manual processes.  Why do teams waste time, slowly creating the same unhealthy spreadsheets every quarter? Automation tools, like Davisware Analytics, connect spreadsheets with quality, live data. The outcome is simple workflows, refreshable recurring reports populated with real-time data, and reports that distribute automatically to key personnel.   

Spending time reformatting, preparing data and last-minute reporting adjustments brings your financial close process down to the wire every month. That kind of stress isn’t good for anyone and hurts your company's productivity. A healthy spreadsheet should automatically do the work for you, freeing up time for business-critical analysis.  

Get your Reports a Fitness App  

Updating or creating custom, complex or ad-hoc reports often requires IT support or expensive external consultants. Slowing down time to respond to questions. This leaves little time to analyze the numbers, and no way to drill down to the finer details to make important decisions.  

Incorporating a solution like Davisware Analytics, which leverages the familiar interface of Excel, provides you with refreshable, drillable reports that give you greater visibility over your data. Like a fitness app that allows you to log workout times and nutritional information, you can highlight your spreadsheets’ health concerns and act.   

Works with any Industry  

Most industries use spreadsheets to help their business in one way or another. Davisware has over 30 years of experience delivering tailored solutions for field service management companies. If you are looking to improve your spreadsheets in your specific business, Davisware can help you. If you have any questions on whether we can help you and your company out with Davisware Analytics, click here to contact us. 

With Davisware Analytics, you can sort, group, and use a huge range of criteria in your analysis, making it easier to discover trends and areas that need improvement. This granular perspective on your live information allows you to provide valuable insights to stakeholders and decision-makers within your organization. Explore our reviews, testimonials, and customer stories to discover how our solutions have transformed businesses like yours. 

Davisware Analytics cleans up your spreadsheets’ data diet by establishing a dynamic connection to your Davisware ERP, and relational information. This automates the population of reports and streamlines analysis – all within Excel. With Davisware Analytics, you can create dynamic reports that can be refreshed for down-to-the-minute accuracy, all within a familiar interface.  

Schedule your demo today to see the many possibilities available with real-time reports and dashboards. Your organization can be on its way to measuring performance and driving sales with accurate, real-time clean data.   

This blog was written in collaboration with our partner, insightsoftware 

About insightsoftware:  insightsoftware is a global provider of comprehensive solutions for the Office of the CFO. We believe an actionable business strategy begins and ends with accessible financial data. With solutions across financial planning and analysis (FP&A), accounting, and operations, we transform how teams operate, empowering leaders to make timely and informed decisions. With data at the heart of everything we do, insightsoftware enables automated processes, delivers trusted insights, boosts predictability, and increases productivity. Learn more at insightsoftware.com.