When Duct Tape Won't Do...

At Wahupa we feel that Microsoft® Excel™ is the duct tape of software. It is impressively versatile, allowing almost anyone to address almost any computing issue in little time. We may go as far as say that second only to the invention of the personal computer did Excel boost productivity at companies large and small alike. At Wahupa we love Excel as we do duct tape.

The right tool for the right job

However, like duct tape, Excel is overused. Whenever you need a permanent, reliable solution Excel is rarely the right tool. This is especially true for business-critical functions such as demand, inventory, production, and supply planning. Of the many known issues with Excel, the two most damaging in our view are versioning issues and formula errors. Versioning issues occur when spreadsheets are emailed among people and plans are made on old or alternate versions, and changes made get lost. In case of formula errors, research has shown over 99% of Excel sheets have them. The more complex a spreadsheet is, the more likely errors are present. Considering that planning sheets are among the most complex in existence; errors are as much as guaranteed. If you love your business, you do not want to let Excel do the heavy lifting.

Throw out the bath water, keep the baby

We do feel Excel is a powerful and useful tool even in planning environments and have designed Wahupa SCM to play nice with it. Users can easily extract data for offline and ad hoc analysis. Similarly, certain data may be loaded into Wahupa SCM directly from Excel, naturally subject to predefined restrictions to prevent human error. Companies can rely on the power and quality of Wahupa SCM, whilst still allowing employees to use the tools they are most comfortable with.

Please note that Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand names on this page are property of Wahupa LLC.