From spreadsheet to database or app, without losing what works
Every business hits the point where the spreadsheet that ran everything starts to run out: too many people in it, too many versions, formulas nobody understands, data that can't be trusted. Moving to a database or an app fixes that, as long as it is done carefully.
How the work goes
The spreadsheet is usually right about what the business needs; it just can't enforce it. So I start there. I map what each column and tab is really for, what the rules are that everyone follows by habit, and what reports come out of it. That becomes the design for the data model, and the history comes across cleaned rather than copied as-is.
The destination depends on you: a SharePoint list with a Power App on top, Dataverse with a model-driven app, or, for the reporting side, a Power Query and Power Pivot model that keeps Excel as the front end but stops it being the database. Two of the case studies on this page are that last kind, where the answer was a better Excel rather than no Excel.
You keep working throughout. The move is staged, the old file stays available until the new system has earned trust, and you get documentation and a walkthrough at the end.
What it tends to cost
Every job of this kind gets scoped first: a short call, a written scope, then a fixed price before work starts. Small changes to an existing build are quoted on the spot, or you can have me by the hour at £80.
How I price, fixed or hourly, and where scope tends to creep →
Work like this
Sixty monthly tabs, rebuilt as one solar performance report
A UK solar company's site reports came out of a workbook that had grown by accretion since 2022. Rebuilt on a single daily-data table with Power Query and a Power Pivot data model, branded, exportable to PDF in one click, then extended with safety, security, spares and maintenance tracking.
Read the case studyA pricing job that was nearly a full-time role, down to an hour or two
A US food distributor rebuilt customer pricing sheets by hand from two suppliers' cost files, in whichever layout each customer expected. An Excel engine with Power Query imports and a one-click VBA refresh now does it in an hour or two.
Read the case studyRunning my own business on a CRM I built myself
Help Technical runs on a Power Platform CRM I built for myself: pipeline, projects, tasks and renewals in one place. The same kind of build I do for clients, dogfooded daily.
Read the case studyWhat clients said
Chris is a true professional, very clean work completed to spec. He offers input and suggestions which is huge in my situation. I will definitley be using his services regularly.
Chris was GREAT to work with and really knew his stuff! His professionalism and attention to detail exceeded all my expectations. Highly recommended for his proactive communication and timely delivery. 👍
Questions people ask
- Do we have to give up Excel?
- Not necessarily. Often the right move is to take the data out of Excel into a proper model and keep Excel as the reporting front end. Where people need to enter data, an app usually wins.
- What happens to the history in the spreadsheet?
- It comes across. Part of the job is cleaning it as it moves: fixing dates, splitting combined fields, de-duplicating, so the new system starts clean.
- How long does it take?
- A single tracker to a SharePoint list and app can be a week or two. A multi-tab system of record is longer and is scoped in stages, each with its own fixed price.
- Can we run both for a while?
- Yes, and I'd recommend it. The old file stays available until the new system has been through a full cycle and everyone trusts it.
Tell me what's slow
A sentence or two about the job is enough to start. I reply personally, usually the same day.
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