The ExcelCube Blog

Consolidate in Excel – Not for the Faint of Heart

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So much time gets spent when there is a need to merge or consolidate information across Excel files.

Individual cells are linked to cells in other worksheets with formulas using file names, worksheet names, and specific cell references.   Every single cell needs a linking formula.  Not the hardest thing to do while you are consolidating a few files with a few rows and columns.  But if your application is growing larger and changing, using consolidating in Excel can become very challenging.

What are the issues?

First, it’s the linking formulas themselves.  Linking formulas used to consolidate in Excel across worksheets and workbooks pose limitations.  As you link more than a handful of Excel files, the links become larger and more complex and require a real effort in writing these linking formulas.

Next is what happens if you want to make changes…   change formulas, add lines and columns.   How many spreadsheets or Excel files do you have to open and change?  How many mistakes will be made?   How many linking formulas are going to end up being broken?

How complicated are those systems going to be?  With no structure or consistency, the challenge of determining exactly what went wrong can be next to impossible.

Finally, with all that in place are you really doing consolidation or just merging Excel files?  Are calculations being done in the correct order of operation? 

Ultimately, what’s needed is a framework and structure outside of the Excel files to properly consolidate. 

So, what do you do when you need to consolidate Excel files without giving up on Excel?

You take a look at ExcelCube.   Here’s why.   

1. ExcelCube consolidates entire Excel workbooks without writing or maintaining links.   Just drag and drop to modify consolidation structures.
2. Report across workbooks at any level of consolidation without having to open dozens of files to access key metrics.
3. ExcelCube’s Centralized Maintenance function allows changes to be made only once and then replicated to all the workbooks, saving time and reducing the chance of error.
4. Load data into the Excel workbooks from a single file, using your own entity and account codes.
5. ExcelCube checks the integrity of all the workbooks by simply clicking a button, ensuring that no unauthorized changes have been made.

What that means is enormous time savings in consolidating Excel files. 

Here’s just to examples of the very tangible benefits to our customers:

• A large insurance company saves 2 weeks a quarter in one department using ExcelCube
• A major public university does in 2 hours with ExcelCube what used to take 2 days using other processes.

Take a closer look at ExcelCube.   www.excelcube.com