top of page

Examples & Client Impact

Templates & Formulas

  • Files with common needs built in

    • Create templates that capture the most standard use cases for your team and allow flexibility for common situations that may also happen. Based on the client's needs and project cycle, schedule annual updates to incorporate desired changes and ideas from the previous year’s projects. 

    • Real Client Impact: One initial overhaul allowed a team to use templates for 10+ years with only annual updates for efficiency and new features for flexibility.

  • Complex charts

    • Build complex charts to meet your data needs and design a template to simplify populating the data when you need it, without having to remember every setting, such as dual axis charts or overlaying two charts to build something specific to your work. Create custom chart labels that display what and how you want beyond Excel defaults.

    • Real Client Impact: Reduces a 20 minute, multi-step process to less than 15 seconds, allowing a team to replace charts quickly when data updates are needed. 

  • Data cleaning and flagging

    • Create formulas and conditional formatting to help identify common issues specific to the client’s data based on their domain knowledge. Allows data to be cleaned more efficiently and prevents data issues later in the client’s work.

    • Real Client Impact: Saves staff time and effort, reducing error later in projects.

  • Formatting

    • Use strategic formatting on tables of data to make them more readable, this can be difficult for clients themselves to step back and see how to organize it for better impact. If data needs to be copied from one file to another, such as assembling a report or rolling up monthly data for an annual summary, the template can be designed to make that process more efficient.

    • Real client impact: Improves readability of cost summary data, reducing follow up questions on projects and simplifying the assembly of reports.

  • Calculating compliance

    • Create forms in Excel to calculate compliance with a specific policy, regulation, law, or standard required by the client. Examples include new hire pay placement, federal pay compliance, and fulfillment of grant requirements.

    • Real client impact: Reduces staff time on replicating calculations, ensured compliance, and provided print/PDF-friendly format for saving or sharing individual records.

  • Custom functions for use in cell formulas

    • Create functions using VBA so your workbook has access to advanced calculations that would otherwise be very long or impossible with built-in functions. Allows you to use them with =FunctionName() just like other cell functions such as Sum, If, Count. 

    • Real Client Impact: Reduces the need for multi-line formulas, improving readability and maintenance.

  • Complex lookups and conditional formulas

    • Write double Xlookups, improve existing Vlookup or Hlookup, or create a custom IndexMatch function to meet business needs.

    • Nest Ifs, apply And/Or/Not, and create array formulas to extend Excel, such as combining Median and If. Catch all cases that may occur in your data, including showing a useful error if something unexpected happens.

    • Real Client Impact: Ensures calculations accomplish client needs, without manual checking or alterations, reduced error.

  • Settings control box

    • Design a cohesive space for all settings that may change in a file (e.g., commissions, bonuses, pay raise percentages, product markups, fees). Allows a user to make large scale changes to a file without manually editing individual formulas and filling them to applicable cells.

    • Real Client Impact: Prevents manual alterations to individual formulas that could introduce errors; allowed quick comparisons between models using different settings.

  • Podcast metrics template​

    • Create template for tracking metrics for a podcast including documentation of the process. Includes designated areas for client to paste in data from multiple exports from podcast platforms and receive summary statistics for use in their media kit.

    • Real Client Impact: Allows client to quickly review trends, update their media kit, and work with possible ad sponsors.

VBA/Macros

  • Combining repeated steps

    • Run pivot tables based on user input and combine with formula-driven tables to create a new worksheet automatically named based on a set protocol, without staff needing to memorize multiple steps. Worksheet is left ready to PDF, print, or copy to a document. 

    • Real Client Impact: Reduces a 15 minute, error-prone process to less than 10 seconds, ensuring accuracy and quick turnaround for developing reports. 

  • Email generation

    • Use a list in Excel to customize and generate emails in Outlook based on a template (to, CC, subject, body text, or attachments). The macro can leave the emails open in Outlook for customization or send in the background. No need for mail merge, Word, or field matching.

    • Real Client Impact: Automates bulk invoicing, follow up emails, and monthly status updates, saving minutes and error on individual emails and 1-4 days in overall staff time for each email batch.

  • Batch updates to data

    • Improve the process of cleaning data when find and replace are not quite enough. A macro can provide a de-duplicated list with designated places for updates and spell-check, allowing comparison before and after of your changes before applying them to the dataset.

    • Real Client Impact: Reduces time on data cleaning, improved consistency, and allowed for more thorough review before applying to the dataset.

  • Setting up project folders

    • Streamline the setup of projects that use similar files by using templated folders and files along with a macro to copy folders to the designated location and update file names and data in files with the project title.

    • Real Client Impact: Reduces error and manual entry of project titles in 5-15 files per project (for 175+ projects per year), ensured all projects begin with all possible files that could be needed.

  • Creating PDFs from Word or Excel

    • Write macros to generate a PDF of a document, worksheet, or multiple sheets together with preset settings/sizing, and a default filename pre-filled for standardization and default location based on original file location or user specification.

    • Real Client Impact: Speeds up the processing of reports to send to clients, reduce error in save location or filenames, and have Word generate PDF bookmarks based on formatting applied.

  • Pull data from external Excel or CSV file

    • Create a macro to open a source (e.g., single source of truth) and copy relevant data to a project’s file so that the project has the latest data without undoing work already done in that file. 

    • Real Client Impact: Maintains original data while updating individual files. Allowed more staff access compared to requiring it to be staff with specific training in Access databases.

  • Update Word template via user or Excel input

    • Replace multiple find and replace steps with a macro to update every instance of a client name, abbreviation, or time frame in a report template, then save the new template in a designated project folder. Another macro can renumber exhibits in the reports based on the number of tables and charts added when the user was done writing the report.

    • Real Client Impact: Over the course of 150+ reports each year, reduces errors from typos, saving in the wrong location, and misnumbering exhibits manually.

  • Remove comments and formulas in file copy

    • Automate the creation of a file without cell notes/comments and with most formulas removed (or all depending on project type). This “clean” copy was saved to the relevant project folder with standardized filenames for sending to stakeholders.

    • Real Client Impact: Prevents clients or stakeholders from receiving proprietary formulas or connections to proprietary files

Processes

  • Onboard department with Smartsheet

    • Implement Smartsheet task management software for a department of 16 consultants and analysts. Design templates and reports to meet department needs, and create documentation and training for new processes to be used.

    • Real Client Impact: Improve department organization, efficiency, and communication by implementing task/project management software.

  • Onboard team with DocuSign

    • Support a team moving to DocuSign by creating templates in that system then planning and documenting processes that incorporated their previous successful workflow. Adapt processes to work with 3 different agreement types that may be used.

    • Real Client Impact: Allows compliance with requests from general counsel while ensuring processes work for the specific team.

  • Implement web-based surveys

    • Move from multiple, email-based surveys with attachments to web-based surveys where participants can resume the survey easily and reminders can be sent automatically based on whether their survey has been completed.

    • Real Client Impact:  Improves participation by 10-25% across various surveys and reduce reliance on other teams for survey follow-ups.

  • Documentation for invoicing 

    • Create documentation of a membership invoicing process, providing alignment between the corporate finance department and the client team's admin support and analyst; this included creating and documenting a macro used to generate emails containing the membership invoice and agreement for more than 1,000 members annually.

    • Real Client Impact:  Allows the hand-off of task as staff changes occur while saving time compared to the team's prior process of generating emails from a template and manually updating contacts and attachment.

bottom of page