Spreadsheets contain knowledge

I’ve often considered how, throughout the world, spreadsheets contain vast amounts of knowledge. Wrapped up in formulas and data is a wealth of curated information and specialist knowledge in the form of logic.

Recently, I came across another example of this in a tweet[1] shared by Dave Kellogg. It included a link to the equity calculator[2] by SaaSoptics.

[1]The original tweet from SaaSOptics :

Download our new Equity Calculator template that helps you understand what the impact to your #equity will be if you were to raise or sell today based on critical inputs around #SaaS company's performance & the cost of #capital. https://t.co/N2i3F6NSEK pic.twitter.com/HnUAkQhl6H

— SaaSOptics (@saasoptics) August 3, 2022

Squirrel Scenarios

We have received more positive feedback about the new scenario component in Squirrel version 1.11 than any other single feature I can remember. With Squirrel scenarios, designers can give their end-users the ability to save sets of inputs (i.e. scenarios) for later retrieval.

For the end users this means a simple, one-click method of saving their current thinking as they use a published model. Perhaps to save high/medium/low forecasts, or different configurations of a product or even different funding options for building a wood pellet factory (as we shall see later).

This eager reception is not surprising.  Simpler, more controlled and more engaging sharing of spreadsheets is a key use for Squirrel. Scenarios take this to the next level (certainly when compared to the same functionality in Excel).

(if you don’t know what Squirrel can do, there are a number of examples here. Remember each one of these is a just a different view of a spreadsheet)

Taking Scenarios to a New Level

Compared to the scenario manager In Excel, Squirrel scenarios are much simpler to use. Simpler for both for the spreadsheet creator and those viewing the resulting model.

Finding the scenario manager in Excel is the first issue. It is tucked away under “What-if Analysis” on the “Data” ribbon.

Once you find it, you have to work through a number of dialogs. Unfortunately, these mix the needs of the spreadsheet creator and those of the end-user.

First is the overall dialog. This has good options for the spreadsheet creator but rather too many for the end-user:

Next, one to define the cells to be saved. This is key for the spreadsheet creator but really the end-user should never see it:

Finally the values for each of these cells. Both creators and users will find this a a fairly basic way to interact with the model.

On the other hand, Squirrel splits these two activities so they are simpler for both parties.

First, the desinger simply drags the Squirrel scenario component into the project:

and then specifies the ranges to save. (Note: unlike in Excel, these ranges can be from different sheets in the workbook)

That is it, that is all the desinger needs to do !

In the published project the end-user adjusts the values using interactive controls (sliders etc.). Then clicking on the Squirrel scenrios’s “save” button provides an easy interface to save their current state:

The loading process is just as easy:

Much soother for both creators and end users.

Getting Started With Squirrel

Are you still sharing your spreadsheets the old-fashioned way? Perhaps scenarios will give you another reason to switch to Squirrel.

Get a free account for Squirrel (complete with scenarios) by clicking on the “Get Started For Free” button in the middle of our home page.

For inspiration, look at the wood pellet example referred to above. The folks from Future Metrics have created many Squirrel projects to highlight their expertise in the wood pellet market. The latest one looks at funding options for building a wood pellet factory and includes a scenarios capability. You can find it here. You can also fins a complete catalog of their public Squirrel project by scrolling down their home page

–We’re sorry but this competition has now closed–

Join us at the Global Excel Summit

We are excited to be attending and presenting at the Global Excel Summit again this year. Squirrel will be amongst an array of Microsoft MVPs, Excel masterclasses and technical presentations. It’s an event not to miss, so if you fancy attending–read on!

Your chance to win a ticket!

We are giving away a ticket (worth £150) to one lucky winner! This is a Professional Ticket–Ideal for Professionals, aspiring Entrepreneurs and Freelancers looking to bolster their skillset with robust data analysis and powerful business intelligence tools that transform workflows. 

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is sign up for a Free Squirrel account (if you haven’t already) and build something from a spreadsheet. You can build anything you like! But the more impressive you make it the more chance you have of winning.

To submit your entry, simply share your published Squirrel project link on social media. Make sure you tag us so we will see it:

Linked in: @squirrel365
Facebook: @Squirrel365.io
Twitter: @squirrel_365
Instagram: @squirrel365.io 

The closing date is Friday 4th Feb. We’ll be choosing the best project and notifying the winner shortly after.

Good luck!

–We’re sorry but this competition has now closed–

Not details from the talk, you will have to attend the conference for those.

No, what I want to share here are three things I was able to add to my presentation using Squirrel365.

As shown in the short video below they are:

An image animation
To match the data leaders website I wanted to have their animating background graphic in my title slide. There are probably other ways I could have done this in PowerPoint but given how easy it was in Squirrel I did it there (Squirrel components used: Timer, Image)

A live and interactive embedded web page
To make a point in my presentation I wanted to show and interact with a web-based weather forecast, I could have alt-tabbed out to a browser to do this but it is much cleaner to do it without leaving my presentation. The Squirrel Web View component allowed me to do this in under a minute (Squirrel components used: Web View)

An interactive calculator based on a spreadsheet.
If the first two uses are not quite what you would think of using Squirrel for, this one is completely mainstream. I wanted to demonstrate how much time could be saved using one method of solving a problem compared to another. I built a simple spreadsheet calculator to explain this then quickly create a Squirrel project based on it and embedded it (live and interactive) in my presentation

The video below shows each of these three uses in action, if you are interested in doing something similar yourself, you can download a trial of Sqirrel365 at https://squirrel365.io/

#dataleadersworldcongress #ineractivepresentation #spreadsheets #squirrel365

In this blog, we’ll explore the different types of value calculators and we’ll help you understand the problems they solve. Watch the full webinar to see how you can design and build these calculators without the need for a development team.  

A value calculator for every occasion

Examples of value calculators include ROI calculators, pricing, and configuration calculators. They do different things but they share the same four key value propositions: 

• Articulate value
  They help prospects understand the value you bring. 
  
• Deepen understanding
  They provide an in-depth understanding of your product or service. The deeper an understanding, the more likely a prospect will connect to your offering. In turn, this leads to quicker and higher value sales.
• Foster collaboration
  Going through a calculator with your prospect is a structured way of collaborating which deepens the relationship and level of engagement. 
• Engage prospects
  The interactive nature of value calculators combined with the above benefits will engage your prospects and your sales team. The whole process becomes more streamlined leading to improved sales promotion and higher value sales. 

Let’s now look at what’s possible and how easy it is to do yourself. The following examples haven’t been built by a team of developers, they’re do-it-yourself calculators, designed with clicks not code, and using your spreadsheet skills.  

And because they have been built in Squirrel365 they can be easily shared with colleagues, clients, or business partners.

Example one: FutureMetrics CO2 Footprint Calculator 

FutureMetrics is a consulting organisation that helps customers understand their carbon footprint. This CO2 Footprint Calculator sits amongst a selection of interactive models on the homepage; the models are not so much about ROI, but about articulating the expertise that FutreMetrics has in this market.  

The CO2 Footprint calculator lets someone understand their CO2 savings when they move from coal to wood pellets. 

Easy to use interface 

The customer doesn’t have to understand the complexity of the model, they just need to understand that what they put in affects the outputs. In other words, the CO2 savings they’ll make from a move to pellets. 

FutureMetrics built the calculator from an existing spreadsheet and encapsulated their knowledge of the industry by putting a front end on it with Squirrel365.  

Example two: InfoBurst Cost Justification Calculator 

InfoSol Inc delivers effective and compelling business intelligence and custom applications. Its product InfoBurst allows people to drive greater value from their existing business intelligence deployment.  

The InfoBurst Cost Justification Calculator lets potential customers estimate their ROI when implementing InfoBurst into their organisation. The ‘How’ button (bottom right) provides a detailed breakdown, and the ‘PDF’ button prints a simplified view of the outputs. It’s useful for giving an ROI overview to a steering committee. 

Users can also choose which InfoBurst product they want details for, either InfoBurst Tab or IB Publish.  

Like the FutureMetrics calculator, it’s a type of future value calculator that allows the end-user to forecast costs easily. There’s no need to dig around for numbers in a spreadsheet, instant information is obtained from simply moving a slider or clicking a button.  

Example three: Smartsheet Productivity Benefit Calculator

Smartsheet is an online workspace that lets teams manage projects, automate workflows, and build new solutions. It’s a no-code platform based on a spreadsheet/database hybrid.  

Squirrel’s CSO Donald MacCormick built the calculator based on Forrester’s impact study which looks at the benefits of Smartsheet in terms of individual productivity. 

The Smartsheet Productivity Benefit Calculator shows how much you will save over a three-year period. Enter the number of collaborators and watch the figures change as you plan for more growth or if you lower the risk factor. 

There is a settings dialogue box that lets you save your scenario back to an underlying Smartsheet data source. If you go into your data source and refresh the Smartsheet in the background, you’ll see the scenario you’ve just put into the Squirrel calculator.

Customers and prospects can save different scenarios in real-time which gives you an opportunity to understand what people are looking for. 

Example four: AWS Lambda ‘Ballpark’ Cost Calculator 

For more complex sales, configuration calculators are useful. They help answer questions such as “how much hardware and software are needed?” and “How many consulting days?” Packaging these configurations into a calculator which is easy to use can reduce friction in the sales cycle. 

Donald MacCormick built a configuration calculator to help Squirrel decide whether to move cloud computing capabilities to AWS Lambda.  

Donald took the numbers out of AWS’s online documentation and put them into a calculator that we could better understand. We could now choose different data centres to see how the monthly cost changed. Also, by interacting with the sliders and adjusting the inputs, we could see what the monthly cost would be to Squirrel.  

Playing with the scenarios gave us answers that would be hard to find within AWS’s online documentation. Another helpful feature was the explanatory text which appeared when we clicked on the question mark. It meant we didn’t need to have documentation to hand.  

Example five: TechData Trade-in Calculator 

Squirrel365 customer Manning and McKenna built this calculator for a client TechData. It’s an example of how pricing calculators can be used as self-help tools so sales teams can better understand the options available to their clients. 

TechData has a trade-in program for old and new technology that stores and displays possible replacement options for different types of trade-ins. This calculator helps TechData’s salespeople get to grips with the huge number of trade-in possibilities for their customers.  

The sales team simply selects a product option, e.g., Disk or Tape, then chooses the type of product being traded and what it’s being replaced with. The calculator stores and returns the best deal from hundreds of thousands of possible scenarios. It’s an amazing piece of technology that instantly helps TechData generate more trades and revenue.  

Why you should consider a value calculator 

Self-service adds value 

Users can get a deeper understanding with ‘click to view more’ or ‘how’ buttons. Self-service allows people to understand the value quickly which in turn, strengthens the relationship between customer and salesperson. 

Marketing from inside the tool gives new insights 

If you want to engage customers, give them a tool so they can gain new insights for themselves. People will be encouraged to have a play and find out more about a product. It deepens the collaborative approach to the selling process. 

Calculators built with clicks not code 

There is one key thing that all these value calculators have in common — they’ve all been built with clicks not code using Squirrel365 and spreadsheet knowledge, something that almost all of us have. 

With Squirrel365 you can build these types of sales calculators in hours and days, rather than weeks or months and you can share them on the web, via a link, or in a PowerPoint presentation.  

The beauty of Squirrel is you can pick it up and get going straight away. No extensive training is required which gives you an alternative option to finding a coding expert or paying another company to do it for you. 

See how easy it is 

Watch Donald MacCormick build a simple calculator for the crafting industry, the calculator lets customers work out how much they should charge for a crafted product. The methods Donald uses can be applied to any calculator built with Squirrel, no matter how simple or complex. Donald’s easy-to-follow instructions can be found at 19.30 minutes into his webinar Create ROI calculators to engage your customers, build stronger business cases, and drive more sales. 

You can also check out our blog How to make a calculator app in Squirrel365.

Why not try Squirrel365 for yourself with our free 30-day trial. 

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