Turn your spreadsheet into a database your whole team can use.

Signs your spreadsheet has outgrown Excel

• Several editors: the file is locked, or two people overwrite each other's changes.
• Versions by email: ‘Jobs_final_v3_new.xlsx’ sits in three inboxes and nobody knows which one is current.
• Broken lookups: a VLOOKUP points at a fixed range, new rows fall outside it, and the totals are wrong.
• No permissions: anyone who can open the file sees everything, including prices and contact details.
• No history: nobody can say who changed a job from ‘quoted’ to ‘invoiced’.
• Reports by hand: every month someone copies columns into a new sheet.

Spreadsheet or database: what changes

In OneDrive or SharePoint Online an Excel file can be co-authored, but Microsoft notes that an older Excel version can lock it for everyone and that the last saved change generally wins.

Demo: customers and jobs for a painting firm (in German)

In the database demo you manage the jobs of Kessler, a fictional painting and decorating firm. ‘Excel importieren’, then ‘Beispieldatei importieren’, loads a typical messy spreadsheet with 14 rows.

The import finds 27 corrections, such as dates in other formats, amounts written as text and stray spaces. Five cases are put to you for a decision: two duplicate jobs and three existing customers. 12 records are imported, each noting its source row. In the ‘Geselle’ (journeyman) role, amounts disappear and deleting is blocked.

The demo is a mock-up with fictional data, stored only in your browser. Import and CSV export really work, also with your own CSV file. Logins and several users at once come with a real project.

How the move works

1. 1Look at the spreadsheet: in the intro call you show us your file and who enters what.
2. 2Data model and prototype: columns become tables, such as customers, jobs and line items. You get a clickable prototype and a fixed price for each stage.
3. 3Import with an audit log: every correction is logged and you decide the doubtful cases. Details under data migration and cleansing.
4. 4Roles and reports: each role sees and changes only what it needs; lists, key figures and exports for your accountant.
5. 5Go-live: the old file stays as an archive. We host and maintain the application (hosting and maintenance, in German) or hand it over to your IT with documentation.

Typical projects

If the spreadsheet is fed by other programs, we connect them as integrations. If clients should see their own data, the database becomes a client portal.

• Customers and jobs: quotes, jobs, status and notes in one place, for trades and service businesses.
• Stock and materials: stock levels and minimum quantities instead of tally sheets.
• Courses and participants: dates, bookings and waiting lists for training providers and membership bodies.
• Grant records: applications, decisions, payments and monitoring for trusts. See our guide grant tracking spreadsheet for trusts.

Build a database or use a no-code tool?

Tools such as Airtable, SeaTable, Baserow, Microsoft Lists and Power Apps let you build tables, forms and views yourself. They suit teams with time to look after the tool and a process that fits its rules.

A custom application pays off when your process has its own rules (status changes, calculations, approvals), fine-grained permissions or data from other systems. If a ready-made tool is enough, we say so.

Data protection

If the spreadsheet holds personal data, the UK GDPR applies to the new system too. The move is a good moment to drop columns you do not need (ICO: data minimisation). If we host the application, it runs on servers in Germany (Hetzner, Nuremberg) with a data processing agreement. According to the ICO, Germany is covered by the UK's adequacy regulations. This is general information, not legal advice.

How the price is set

The effort depends mainly on the number of data types, roles, the state of the old data, reports and connections to other systems. After the intro call we quote a fixed price for each stage before any code is written: typically data model and import first, then permissions and reports, then integrations. You test each stage before the next one starts.