Business Features 

• Empower your team with template-based report generation from within your Excel-based assessment tools

• Create, deploy, manage, and monitor Excel-based tools that are used by multiple users. 

Many organizations have Excel workbooks (assessment tools) that they share with multiple users but have limitations related to version control, security, usage monitoring, ease of use, and updating output reports. Our Business features enable you to create, deploy, manage, and monitor Excel-based tools that are used by multiple users.  These additional features allow you to use or author your own Excel workbooks and template-based Word and PowerPoint output reports.  You administer the features via the Admin Console (part of the add-in). AnalysisPlace hosts the solution and provides usage data.

It is a very cost-effective solution designed specifically for organizations that want to publish Excel-based tools to multiple users. Customers report dramatic improvements to assessment quality and productivity. The solution enables you to overcome the challenges of existing Excel-based tools with features like Document Generation, Version Control, Access Control, Usage Analytics, and Data Protection.

The Business features help in 3 ways:

• Cloud Reports – Create Word and PowerPoint reports from templates, then continue to update content as Excel content changes
• Auto-Open - Embed the add-in within Excel for easy deployment and access
• Restore Defaults - Restore modified values back to their original/default values and formulas
• Data Migration – Easily transfer data from one workbook to another (e.g. for version upgrades)

3.  Manage & Monitor Usage

Secure, manage and monitor your Excel-based tools

• Workbook Management – multiple workbook tools can be managed independently. For example, each workbook can have separate report templates.
• Version Control – notify users if a new version is available (or required). Optionally restrict usage for obsolete/unsupported versions.
• Access Control – limit access based on email domain or user list
• Data Capture & Analytics – capture data inputs and/or calculated results for later analysis. Analyze how your users are using the tool and reports.
• Data Refresh – refresh frequently-updated data (such as pricing or exchanges) every time a user opens the workbook. Avoid publishing a new version of the workbook.
• Data Protection – protect sensitive spreadsheet data and calculations. Limit access to signed-in users.
• Administrator Controls – easily configure features from within the add-in
• Usage Reporting & Analytics – view and analyze usage statistics. Understand who is using the tools and how much

Key Benefits

• Support and manage multiple Excel-based tools; each tool can have multiple report templates
• Powerful and flexible Word and PowerPoint reporting
• Easy to convert and automate existing Excel spreadsheets and Word/PowerPoint reports
• Flexible, cost-effective subscription options (fixed or active user)
• Compatible with Windows and Macs (requires Office 365 subscription)
• Easy to configure user options using the Admin Console
• No software to install – only requires the user to sign in to the existing Excel-to-Word Document Automation Add-In 

30-day Free Trial

AnalysisPlace offers unlimited usage for your team to evaluate the solution.

We will provide 1 hour of free support to get you started.

An administrator will have access to the Admin tools to configure all feature options

User access is very simple. All users of designated business domains (email@domain.com) have access to the tool.  Simply tell us which domain(s) and all users who register with validated emails belonging to that domain will have immediate access.

Get Started

Key Features

Cloud Reports (Template-based Report Generation)

Cloud Reports are perhaps the most powerful Business feature.

It enables users to create personalized Word and PowerPoint reports from templates that are stored in the cloud. Users select/create the reports from a drop-down list in the Excel add-in.  The templates are simply Word/PowerPoint documents created by authors/administrators and Linked using the add-in.

Benefits:

• Supports multiple report templates per workbook (and each managed workbook can have multiple reports)
• Very easy to use – users simply open the Excel workbook, make changes, then create reports from a drop-down list
• Administrators can update the templates at any time (via the “Admin” tab in the add-in), so users have access to the most current output reports

Process to create report templates (Administrators)

1. Create your Word/PowerPoint documents
2. Link the documents to the Excel workbook using the add-in
3. Name and upload the documents via the Admin tab (they are stored on our servers). You can have multiple report templates per workbook.

Process to create/update reports (Users)

1. User modifies Excel workbook input cells
2. User selects the desired report from the Report drop-down list in the add-in.  User clicks “Create Report”
3. Within seconds, the report is created on our servers and enables the user to download it via the “Download Report” button.
4. If desired, the user can then continue to update the links in the document.  The user can make changes to the document (for example delete sections, add/modify static content, etc.) and modify input in the Excel tool. The user can then “Submit Content” from the Excel add-in, then “Update Document” in the Word or PowerPoint document.

Admin Tab

The “Admin” tab is a tab within the add-in (appears in Excel only). It is available to designated Administrators signed into the add-in.  It allows the administrator to modify any “Admin” setting.

The solution allows flexible administration of features for multi-user environments. It can support administrator-managed tool(s), user-managed tools, or a mix. 

Example Multi-Workbook Scenario

*The workbook tool contains a unique DocumentID. Features and reports are configured specifically for that workbook.

Auto-Open

Auto-Open enables the add-in to open along with the workbook – the user does not need to activate the add-in from the menu.

It allows the add-in to automatically open whenever a user opens the enabled workbook, improving user experience. Auto-Open is initiated only after the user first installs/activates the add-in.

A more advanced version of Auto-Open is also possible. It does not require the user to initially install the add-in – it opens the add-in anytime a user opens the enabled workbook.  A consultation with AnalysisPlace is required to enable this (requires OpenXML manipulation of the Excel file).

Manage Input Cells

This feature creates a hidden list of the input cells in the workbook. It also names those cells (with an “_m” prefix). This can be very beneficial if multiple people conduct their own assessments using the workbook and you only want them to modify specific "input" cells. The input cells are typically unlocked (to allow editing) while other cells remain locked.

"Managed Input Cells" are necessary for features such as Restore Defaults and Data Migration. Those features only work with cells that are “Managed”.

Restore Default Values/Formulas

It allows users to restore modified cells back to their original/default values and formulas. Users can restore individual cells or the entire workbook. 

This requires “Managed Input Cells”.

Workbook Protection

Protect parts of your workbook you don't want users to modify (e.g. titles and formulas) and hide sheets/sections you don't want users to see (e.g. reference sheets and side calculations).

This is a “modeling helper” to make it easier for tool authors to convert a spreadsheet to a tool that can be distributed to multiple users.

Data Migration (Save & Load Changes)

Enables users to save changes made to managed input cells and to load saved changes into a different workbook. This feature is particularly useful when upgrading to a new version of a workbook. It temporarily saves the data to AnalysisPlace servers.

Workbook Management

Workbook Management allows you to control which workbooks to apply specific settings to.

These settings help to make workbooks "managed" and to enable other dependent features. Managed workbooks can be identified with a Document ID.  The ID is used by this add-in to determine what settings/features/restrictions to apply to specific workbooks when users open them along with this add-in.

There are 2 ways to manage workbooks:

1. Apply settings to all workbooks opened along with the add-in
2. Assign different settings to different workbooks (identified by the Document ID)

Workbook Management also applies version information to workbooks.

Version Control

One of the biggest issues with using Excel-based tools is Version Control. It can be very difficult to ensure users are using the current version of a workbook. This feature is intended to address this major spreadsheet limitation.

Version control allows you to display notifications to your users if their workbook version is outdated or unsupported (and optionally require them to obtain the newest version). It also allows you to restrict usage if the user is using an unsupported version.

Workbook Data Protection

This advanced feature protects lookup data or calculated results unless an authorized user is successfully signed into the add-in. Results will appear as 0's or blank otherwise. This helps protect workbook contents from unauthorized recipients of the workbook. This feature requires consultation with AnalysisPlace to configure.

Reference Data Refresh

This advanced feature refreshes frequently updated lookup data in the workbook whenever the workbook is opened by an authorized user. This is useful to ensure users are using the most up-to-date data, such as product prices and exchange rates. This avoids the need to republish a new version of the workbook every time the data needs to be updated in the workbook.

Usage Data Capture & Analytics

This feature helps to understand how your users are using the workbook and reports. In Excel, whenever a user creates a report or submits data for an update, this feature collects specified data (named ranges) so you can analyze the data later. Example input fields to capture: case ID, customer/client name, quantity specified, dataset name. Example output fields: total cost, ROI, products recommended.

Process to create/manage a workbook tool:

Admin-managed: 

1. Create/convert the workbook 

• Subject matter experts create a new workbook or convert an existing workbook (Excel spreadsheet) along with Word and/or PowerPoint reports.

2. Apply a DocumentID (Admin)

• Admin applies a DocumentID to the workbook using the Admin tab of the add-in

3. Configure settings (Admin)

• Some settings are applied to the workbook (e.g. Auto-Open, Document Protection). These must be set prior to providing the workbook to users.
• Some are saved to the cloud, then applied each time a user opens the workbook
• Some settings require both - for example, Version Control has the version # set in the workbook (e.g. 2.100) and the newest (e.g. 2.410) and oldest supported (e.g. 2.000) versions are downloaded each time the workbook is opened)

4. Provide the workbook to users (Admin)

• The workbook can simply be emailed to users or can be published in a shared network/cloud drive or intranet site.

5. Conduct assessments (users)

• Users then use the workbook with the add-in.  In most cases (if Auto-Open is enabled), the add-in will automatically open whenever the user opens the workbook

6. Modify settings (Admin)

• Admin can modify various settings that will apply when a user opens the workbook
• For example, if the Admin modifies the version of the newest available workbook, the user will see a notification indicating that a new version is available for them to download.

User-Managed:

If the workbook is not “managed” (no DocumentID applied), then users can create workbooks and link them to reports the same as anyone can without the “Business” features.