How Should You Manage An Excel Development Project? (4 STEPS!)

Welcome back to the 30 Day Excel Analyst programme. The culmination of ‘from Analyst to Consultant’ week is a framework that ties together the techniques and approaches we’ve covered this week. The Business Analytics Methodology (Vidgen & Hindle 2018) provides a roadmap for selection and implementation of analytics projects generally. In 30 Day Excel Analyst, we apply this framework to the platform where most analytics is done – Excel!

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The Business Analytics Methodology comprises four steps. We’ve covered in detail the need for the Excel Analyst to view situations holistically and strategically. This is why the first step in the approach is the application of rich picturing. As we know from yesterday’s session, rich picturing forces us to take the right perspective on a potential Excel project by, for example, aligning a spreadsheet implementation with the industry dynamics and long-term trends that impact on the client business. It’s a great starting point.

Next, something new. The Business Model Canvas (Ostewalder / Pigneur 2010) helps us build an understanding of the nature of a client organization. By identifying the key parts of the business model, including the value proposition, customer groups and revenue streams, the Business Model Canvas highlights opportunities for spreadsheet development projects. Moreover, it reinforces our appreciation of the project context and forces us to consider how a spreadsheet might make people’s lives easier in the business. Since this, after all, is the job of the Excel Analyst!

The third step in Business Analytics Methodology is potential project selection. Rich Picturing and Business Model Canvas development should help you generate a long list of project ideas. The purpose of the third step is to critically evaluate the potential projects by categorizing them using the analytics opportunities matrix. This sounds complicated but, as we’ll see in the session, it’s a straightforward process. The aim, don’t forget, is to ensure we’re undertaking the ‘right project’ since, as we know, ‘it’s better to do the right thing wrong than the wrong thing right’.

The fourth step is project implementation. Here, finally, we can call on the technical skills we’ve learned previously in the 30 Day Excel Analyst programme. I hope today’s session helps bring everything together for you, whilst giving you a sense of how you might undertake a whole Excel development project in the real world.

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