Along with designing and programming websites, my main area of skill is using the Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet software. While Microsoft Excel® is powerful in itself, if the client requires, I can use the VBA language to modify it into a "spreadsheet application"...

A spreadsheet application is an application running on a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet platform but that may not necessarily behave like a spreadsheet. For example, the user might only ever see data entry forms and not the spreadsheet cells "underneath" the forms.

The advantages of this to a business are potentially huge, and include (but are not limited to):

• Auto-Reports: A spreadsheet application can be designed to handle data from disparate sources and to combine it into a meaningful report, either a spreadsheet report in Microsoft Excel® itself, or a more text- or graphic-based approach in Microsoft Word.

• Templates: These are files that can be pre-designed to client specifications (perhaps featuring calculations and/or the company logo) before being saved to a PC. These can then be opened as and when a structured environment (such as an invoice form or a spreadsheet for calculating certain costs, etc.) is required. For ease of use and consistency, templates are a hugely powerful tool. Available in Microsoft Excel® or Microsoft Word.

• Add-Ins: These are small programs that can be attached to your copy of a Microsoft Office application (in an ongoing capacity if you wish, though they can easily be disabled again if required). They can provide additional functionality to your copy of a program. An example would be additional buttons at the top of the screen that perform tasks customized to your business requirements.

• Custom Formulas: Microsoft Excel® boasts a number of useful formulas such as SUM, AVERAGE, VLOOKUP, etc., but what if your business requires a bespoke one, as there are calculations to be done that are unique to your business? I can design and implement these for you.

• "Intelligent" Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets can be made to do some tasks, such as checking data against other data, themselves. This removes the scope for human error and is far quicker than relying on human brainpower and concentration.

• Self-Reading Files: These creations are aware of the data inputted on themselves and can react accordingly: they could eMail the boss when a sales figure over a certain amount is reached, for instance.

• Self-eMailing Files/eMail Generator Files: Files can eMail themselves at certain times of the day or week, or they can take information entered onto themselves to create eMails with no further input from the user. A perfect example of this would be a Microsoft Excel® file with a list of your customers on, along with how much money they owe you and when it should have been paid. The file could go down the list, generating eMails to each customer requesting payment (perhaps with the eMail content changing depending upon the amount owed and the time overdue). Each eMail would look personalized, with the customer's name and details, but would have been generated programmatically in an instant. Such a solution would be far quicker than ringing each customer up (or eMailing each manually) to request payment of outstanding fees.

• "Intelligent" Input Forms: A form could be used to automatically update information held on other files on a PC or network, or could eMail the data entered onto it to another party. It would be "intelligent" in that it would be aware if information was missing, or of the wrong type, etc.

• Automated Invoices: You enter the basic data into a spreadsheet (which serves as the database for all your invoices, and a click of a button automatically generates an electronic invoice for the relevant customer, and attaches this to an eMail, ready to send.

• User Interface: Microsoft Excel® applications can be programmed to accept data in a user-friendly manner and store it in a database (either internal to the file itself, or external)

• Presentation: A Microsoft Excel® application can be configured to be a powerful presentation tool, either on its own or in conjunction with Microsoft PowerPoint®: