But one problem kept reoccurring – why did all solutions have to involve Excel? It’s a fantastic app, but I hated the vulnerable scripts needed to pull the data out, making it difficult to maintain. Besides, with more than a single user, there was always tons of manual work needed. And I HATE manual work.
I had started a consultancy and for several of our clients we had hacked together solutions around planning, forecasting, simulations and other data entry stuff that the real data stack tools didn’t handle. But I felt it could be done better and we decided to give it a shot.
I imagined a tool that would plug neatly into the data stack by using the same data structure (a star schema model). Secondly, it should feature a simple and easy-to-use interface for end users, so everyone needed easily could be involved without a lot of training. Thirdly, it should be a living model, like spreadsheets, where formulas are calculated immediately.