Ways Businesses Use Spreadsheets

The spreadsheet is a powerful business tool.

A clay tablet with columns of characters, a "Ben Franklin," a "ledger" or a "spread sheet" are ancestors of today's microcomputer spreadsheet software. Once the province of mainframe computer operators, personal computer speed, versatility and capacity places the power of the spreadsheet into any businessperson's hands. Businesses use spreadsheets for thinking, analyzing data, organizing projects, record keeping and basic accounting. The spreadsheet is a nearly universal business tool.

History of the Spreadsheet

Spreadsheets first came into use---albeit not under that name or concept---at the moment commerce and written language were joined together. Benjamin Franklin popularized the spreadsheet carrying his name when he used it for decision-making --writing an idea in one column, its benefits in a second and disadvantages in a third column. Spreadsheets were first computerized for mainframe accounting purposes in the 1960s. Visicalc, the first commercial microcomputer spreadsheet program was released in the 1980s. Later purchased by Lotus, the program became Lotus 1 2 3. Excel was first introduced for the Mac and, in 1987, was designed for DOS-based computers. Other early spreadsheets included SuperCalc and CalcStar. More recent programs are Quatro, Open Office and Google Apps.

Business Purposes of the Spreadsheet

Simply a tool designed to organize information placed on a row divided into columns of categories, spreadsheets are data collection tools. The data are only meaningful if the spreadsheet design accomplishes its objectives. Organizing financial and raw information and displaying the result as usable information is the spreadsheet's major business purpose. Properly designed, the spreadsheet can perform both mathematical and logical business calculations. Virtually all software programs organizing data and financial information are merely sophisticated versions of spreadsheets.

Accounting

Ledgers are naturally good as spreadsheets. Columns are used for date, description, account, debit and credit. Enhancements include adding logical lookup functions to automatically populate additional columns with information transferred from the debit or credit column into other categories. Multiple and related spreadsheets can be consolidated into multi-page workbooks or linked to external data.

Payroll and Human Resources

Used for both employee records and calculating paychecks, spreadsheets can be designed as timecards, records of billable and unbillable time and purchases or sales.

Travel Expenses

Tracking travel and other business expenses, spreadsheets can create forms containing dates, descriptions, purposes and costs. The underlying table can include travel advance calculations determining either repayment or reimbursement totals.

Decision-Making

Creating a "Ben Franklin" decision-making tool, the spreadsheet lists the considered decision in one column and then displays columns of advantages and disadvantages. Decision-making considers the side-by-side list of pros and cons.

Online Templates

Microsoft, Corel and other software publishers and consultancies are among the many sites offering pre-designed spreadsheets for business purposes. Nearly all spreadsheets offered by software publishers are free. Private consultancies offer free templates as incentives to sample their work prior to purchasing custom-designed templates.

References

• University of Maryland: Early History of Spreadsheets
• DSSResources.com: A Brief History of Spreadsheets
• Microsoft Office Templates: Industry-Specific Spreadsheets