Excel is a powerful tool for complex calculations but lacks of version controls, collaboration and accessibility features. To overcome these limitations, and also to enhance data sharing, consider using specialized mobile applications designed for data management and analysis.
Problematic offline excel files
From an existing IT system, you’ve exported a spreadsheet with all important data for your team to make decisions. With these spreadsheets, you’re able to re-import them to different systems. The data still performs nicely and doesn’t need you to involve too much, as it shows exactly what you need.
However, if you’re saving your file offline, then definitely you will have a data.xlsx file, with the editing file named data v1.xlsx and then data final.xlsx.
Then, you’ve shared that file to team mates, for example, Paul, with a file named Copy of data final v2 – edits Paul.xlsx. All these spreadsheet files are likely to be sent to you at the same time.
With the above examples, you could see that the main issue here is that the spreadsheets are outdated, because the files are offline. Your team definitely will have to spend at least half of their time to find the latest version, make efforts to edit it, send the file to someone else, then the whole process starts all over again!
Saving offline files shows lots of problems, including complicated errors, old and corrupted data because of different software versions … with no expert available to solve these problems.
Excel is a formula spreadsheet, which means you really can ‘excel’ with MS excel, to perform lots of different and complicated calculations, but you aren’t able to share it to the right person. Another limitation is that you also can only access Excel on desktops, which limits your teammates to view the spreadsheet on different mobile devices.
In summary, the limitations of Excel are:
- Excellent for personal use with expert needs in formula and calculations
- Difficult to update real-time between teams
- Taking too much time to share and collaborate between teams
- Unable to view nicely on mobile devices.
How to convert the spreadsheet to app in the past?
Understanding the difficulties and problems with using offline Excel spreadsheets, lots of solutions are available continuously.
For example, both MS365 and Google Workspace have presented their Excel mobile app, which’s a bit easier to view the cloud-based data on mobile devices. Now users can also edit their Excel files on larger screens, for example, tablets or ipads, but editing on small-screen phones is still a huge issue, especially for remote workers.
There are also other solutions, like applying low-code development into making an easy app, to collaborate between teams. While low-code development simplifies app creation, it still requires some technical expertise, making it challenging for teams without developers.
Who needs to convert your spreadsheet to an app?
Frequent updates and to receive requests from other people, they are from different departments, including …
Inventory Management
Inventory managers are responsible for the warehouse management and performance, their daily tasks are to make sure that they’re always on top of their asset values, to ensure that their data is always secured and up to date.
This data is vital to business, as it shows how much the business owns in terms of goods. Performance.
By transforming your spreadsheet into an app, you can streamline inventory management processes and make better-informed decisions.
Budget and Finance Apps
Accountants need to move beyond spreadsheets. App-based solutions offer real-time updates, collaboration features, and advanced analytics capabilities that Excel files simply can't match.
With less complicated finance activities, for example, budget allocation or expense tracking, using mobile applications is easier to gather real-time information from different groups.
Tips: Use Google Sheets as your dynamic data source for real-time financial updates, as the data will be synchronized continuously, which doesn’t require fixing too frequently.
Sale Tracking Apps
Track customer status is one of the most important activities, to ensure that everyone’s on the same page of lead updates, to convert sales into revenue better.
Mobile apps play an important role to gather real-time updates, especially for large sale team. This is also the perfect tool to improve collaboration between members, to track progress of your sales team performance as a whole.
Also, salesmen normally travel to see lots of clients, therefore, you should enhance mobility ability, to manage sales on the go with an appropriate mobile app.
Task Tracking Apps
Spreadsheets are sometimes becoming cumbersome for managing complex projects. With project management, task tracking apps bring several advantages, as the right tools help all project members to collaborate real-time on the same project simultaneously.
Also, task tracking apps enable users to improve project visibility, to get a clear overview of project progress and deadlines.
Putting things into a spreadsheet is the easiest way to organize data, and so is putting data into task tracking apps, because the task tracking apps are synced simultaneously with spreadsheets.
This technique automates workflow, which reduces manual work, with highlighted features, like real-time notifications, to ping both app owners and end-users.
By transitioning from spreadsheets to dedicated task tracking apps, this is the best way to significantly improve efficiency and project outcomes.
Clock in Clock out Apps
Streamline your payroll process with an accurate clock in clock out tracking app. HR-ers now can eliminate manual calculations and ensure employees are paid correctly according to their working hours.
With the right mobile apps, the employees now can simply enter the time they enter/ leave for work via their mobile device. There are few tactics for HR-ers to cross-check this information, for example: location-tracking via GPS, or timestamp…
Event Planning Apps
The pain point of any event organizer is deadlines and checklists, which means that they need to monitor before-during-after events.
Setting up a right event planning apps help organizers to:
- Manage time and tasks better, along with deadlines, and budgets.
- Manage guest lists, schedules, and logistics
- Communicate better with real-time updates between team members and attendees.
- Enhance attendee experience with interactive features and real-time updates, especially helpful for reception and post-event survey
Why do you need to convert your spreadsheet to an app?
Above are the top 6 scenarios where you should use mobile apps instead of the traditional spreadsheet. Let’s discover further reasons for using this interactive, mobile-friendly solutions.
While spreadsheets offer basic data management, mobile apps provide a superior experience in several ways:
- Real-time Collaboration: People need real-time updates! Multiple users can access and update information simultaneously, fostering teamwork and efficiency.
- Advanced Features: Apps can incorporate features like GPS, camera, and push notifications, expanding capabilities beyond spreadsheets.
- Data Security: Mobile apps can implement robust security measures to protect sensitive information.
- Scalability: Apps can handle larger datasets and more complex operations compared to spreadsheets.
- Mobile friendliness: Stay connected and productive on the go. Mobile-friendly apps empower your team to work efficiently from anywhere.
- Avoid manual work: People hate manual work and duplicated data. Mobile apps are normally synced continuously with the spreadsheets.
- Avoid spreadsheet confusion with easy-to-use mobile apps. Mobile app' intuitive interface helps prevent data entry errors.
By transitioning from spreadsheet to apps, businesses can unlock new possibilities and gain a competitive edge.
No-code apps advantages
No-code apps are the key solution to convert spreadsheet to app, with multitude of benefits, including:
- Rapid development: Quickly build and deploy applications without coding delays.
- Cost-effective: Reduce development costs by eliminating the need for large development teams.
- Reach wider audience by mass accessibility: Empower non-technical app owners and users to create and use handmade applications.
- Enhanced team collaboration: Facilitate teamwork and knowledge sharing across departments.
- Faster Time-to-Market: Bring products and services to market quicker than traditional development methods.
By leveraging no-code platforms, businesses can unlock new opportunities and gain a competitive edge.
No-code automated workflow
The strongest advantage of no-code apps is that it provide the ready-made workflow to capture data easily, within three below steps:
- Prepare your data: With AppAlloy, or any other mobile app builders, you should clean your data to avoid cell errors.
- Check the workflow. Most apps today (especially AppAlloy) are AI-powered, which means that the app will automatically put all data in logical orders!
- Integrate and publish your app to use with the wider audience!
Check out: (Manual guide) Convert spreadsheet to web application in details … steps with AppAlloy - A manual guide
Convert spreadsheet to app with AppAlloy
In order to convert a spreadsheet to application, there are few definitions you should know, in order to make this process much easier!
Basic app definition
An application consists of connected well-organized data sources, a user interface, proper workflow with intergration.
These elements are connected with each other via navigation options, including buttons, gestures, and toggle switches to enhance user experience and engagement.
By default with AI-powered supported feature, AppAlloys normally adds basic interactions so the newly generated app can fulfill the requirements to ensure that the the end users can work with the data seamlessly:
- The end users should be able to add new records, or edit/delete their current record(s)
- Users can leave comments for collaboration
- Functions are specifically designed for each type of input field to collect data exactly.
Focus on core competencies
Allow teams to concentrate on their core business functions rather than IT development. The main thing to be worried about here is that a no-code development app is all about the user interfaces, to ensure that the workflow is working properly, to deliver features and contents.
Data input is automatically saved to your chosen source. All information entered into your app is stored directly, whether you import data from a spreadsheet or collect it through other types of input.
Furthermore, creating an effective app should also include integration with 3rd-party services for extended uses, all together to capture requests and leads, defined by the purpose of that app!
From spreadsheets to AppAlloy interfaces
When working with data source(s) within AppAlloy, users will have three basic actions: import data, look into specific data, and edit the data.
Based on these basic actions, AppAlloy builds 3 types of screens:
- A sum-up interface where you can see all records,
- A record view to see details of a single record
- A form view to add, edit, or delete data of a record.
‘Spreadsheet’ means ‘Table’
With whatever types of raw data source you’ve chosen to create, they’re formatted into spreadsheet within AppAlloy table, which converts:
- Columns into the form labels required by the app creator, to ask users to fill out their forms.
- Rows into individual record item, submitted by end users
‘A Column’ means ‘Input Field’
From a table to the app form, each column turns into an input field. The app creator then can modify (add/edit/delete) the columns as the input data fields for the end user to fill out in the end.
‘A Row’ means ‘New Record’
When tapping on a record item, users will be guided to the record view.
In the record view, the attributes from the separate columns now are vertically represented by unique components.
With the record view:
- The end users can get a closer look on what they’ve submitted on the app
- The app creator will have a user-friendly and intuitive screen to explore the record details, based on the predefined labels.
- ‘‘New Record’ is created in ‘Form View’
To create a ‘new record’ in the AppAlloy table, the end user can submit new data to add a form view. Or, they can adjust the current row by editing or deleting their existing record item.
Building your first app with AppAlloy today! Or, understand further on sheet to app functions and features.
FAQs
- Why should I convert my Excel spreadsheet into an app?
- Spreadsheets lack essential features like version control and real-time collaboration, which's difficult for team-based projects.
- Do I need coding skills to turn my spreadsheet into an app?
- No, but while no-code tools like AppAlloy, Bubble, and Google AppSheet have gained popularity, a basic understanding of coding, particularly spreadsheet formulas and PowerFX, can enhance app development capabilities.
- What is replacing Excel?
- Google Sheet, LibreOffice Calc, CryptPad Sheet and SmartSheet.