It’s hard to imagine an industry or company today that doesn’t need to worry about change. In some cases, these changes are planned, such as an acquisition, while others are unplanned and more difficult to foresee, such as a pandemic (or other external global factors). Regardless of the type of change, businesses must be able to adapt.
In many instances, the ability of a business to adapt to change hinges on the scalability, flexibility, and accuracy of their spreadsheet models. Traditional spreadsheets can be prone to errors, difficult to maintain, and hard to scale.
To ensure the best future outcomes, organizations must be able to build complex models that are resilient during times of uncertainty. Quantrix offers this resiliency.
Multidimensional Structure
Unlike 2-Dimensional spreadsheets, Quantrix is a flexible multi-dimensional platform designed to put business modelers in control. With Quantrix, users can build a scalable model that reflects their business.
Users are able to maintain consistency within their models by linking categories.
For example, if a model has a linked category called “Region” with North, South, and East listed as the items, if a new item is added, such as West, then that new item will appear wherever that category is linked:
Formula Writing
A key component to any business model is the formula writing. Traditional spreadsheets generally rely on cell coordinates and significant copying & pasting. This can dramatically impact how easy it is to scale a model or how easy it is to review a calculation.
With Quantrix, users can write their formulas in Natural Language. Not only are these formulas easier to comprehend, they are designed to scale with your model.
For example, if we add a new region to our model, the existing formula (Gross Profit = Revenue – COGS) will continue to work. This holds true if we add a new year to a forecast model or a new product to a sales report.
Security & Auditing
A resilient model should be secure and auditable. Organizations should feel confident that their data is accurate and can be easily reviewed. It can be particularly difficult to manage this when a model is being shared between departments. New formulas can be added, structure can be changed, and it can be difficult to know who has the latest version.
Quantrix was designed with those concerns in mind.
Security: Quantrix affords model owners the ability to set permissions on the model. Roles can be created with varying levels of accessibility. This ensures that people are only able to access the information they need.
Auditing: There are a slew of tools and features within Quantrix that allow users the ability to easily audit a model for accuracy. To start, Natural Language Formulas are much easier to troubleshoot. A user can quickly understand “Gross Profit” compared to a cell coordinate like “B32.”
Additionally, if you’re having trouble with one or more of your formulas, you can open the Problems Pane to help identify the main cause of the issue.
One of the most popular tools in Quantrix is the dependency inspector. This tool allows users to visually trace a calculation (from beginning to end) throughout an entire model.
Another favorite tool among Quantrix users is the Audit Trail. When this tool is turned on, Quantrix will keep a running list of all the changes made to the model. Users will know who made changes and when.
Sharing Models
Once a business model has been created, it usually needs to be shared with key stakeholders. Quantrix models can be shared securely online with Qloud. With Qloud, users edit and collaborate on their models directly in their browser. Recipients can be granted varying levels of access. Most importantly, when models are shared with Qloud, businesses will be working from one source of truth. Users no longer need to worry about emailing their spreadsheets, hoping that their data is accurate, and the structure remains intact.
Summary
Building models that can stand the test of time and adapt to change shouldn’t be complicated.
The tools and features within Quantrix work together to help ensure that your models are resilient in an ever-changing business world.
If you’re struggling with spreadsheets and want to learn how Quantrix can improve your business modeling, get in touch! We offer a free 30-day trial and personalized demos.
