How Does a Spreadsheet Template Save Time?
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Time-Wise Spreadsheets
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If you work in an office that requires lots of data tracking, you've probably had to use a spreadsheet program in order to keep that information handy. Spreadsheets can be very useful tools, especially when it comes to tracking things like expenditures or productivity. Yet spreadsheets can be very time-consuming to construct, especially when you deal with new products or programs. But having templates can cut the amount of time it takes to input and categorize spreadsheet data.
Saving Data, Saving Time
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Let's say your company requires a spreadsheet to track 400 different customers, 20 different products sold to them and how much money each customer spent within a given time frame. You'd have to make a good-sized spreadsheet to track that initial data, with room to add more data as that information compiles. Let's say that your company moves you to another branch and the company needs a spreadsheet that tracks 700 customers, 27 products and an even longer time frame to track it, as long as any discounts that were given for each product. If you started that spreadsheet from scratch, it could take you just as long (or longer) than when you did it from the original spreadsheet. But by creating a template out of the original spreadsheet before moving offices, you could increase your productivity by a considerable amount. You could create a template by keeping the rows, columns and structure in tact but erasing all the variable data. All you would have to do for the new information is pulling up the template and add columns as needed. For example, some of the products or customers may be the same ones from the other branch. There may even be some of the same products sold. Instead of reinventing the wheel, you could keep that info and add the rest as needed. Even if you go from selling baked goods to 200 grandmothers to selling diapers to 300 new mothers, you can still keep the "customer" and "product" columns and just change the name.
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Templates Mean Higher Productivity
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The template concept can be applied to almost any office that has to track data. If you are in charge of tracking employees' timecards, a template can be used to create timecards for each new employee. Or maybe you track the shipping times for your company's products. By creating a template spreadsheet that you can modify for each product or shipping method, you can save hours of time by making new ones for each method of shipping and their accompanying variables.
Templates are also handy because it saves training time for new employees. If an employee is not very familiar with your spreadsheet program, using templates to serve as training tools can help them get used to inputting and modifying data as opposed to creating new spreadsheets from scratch. Or what if you have to hand over the reins to another employee as you move up in the corporate ladder? Having template spreadsheets can save you from answering questions from your old job site while you work at your new job, thus increasing your productivity.
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