Challenge
A vehicle data company had developed a model for assessing collision damage. It existed as a set of spreadsheets that only its authors could operate.
The company wanted to offer the model to customers as a product. That meant software that others could use, and that could be updated when the analysts refined the model.
Approach
We turned the model into a web application and kept it in step with the analysts' work.
- Rebuild the calculations in code.
- Check the results against the spreadsheets, case by case.
- Load vehicle reference data into a database.
- Connect the tool to an auction data service.
- Update the application when the analysts revised the model.
Result
The company had a working product in place of a spreadsheet.
- Customers could use the model directly.
- Updates no longer depended on one person's copy of a file.
- Results that could be reproduced.
Our advice
When a spreadsheet becomes essential to your business, it is already software. Treat it that way before someone overwrites a formula.
Related service: Programming & API integrations.