This "paper" illustrates the problems and risks when using Microsoft Excel for working together in business contexts and outlines the benefit of a professional database-based cost management system. The document was created collaboratively by CONJECT AG and me. I provided idea and content, CONJECT AG took care of design and realisation.

1. Exceleritis Realis Estatis
Stopping the spread of the disease
across Construction, Real Estate & Infrastructure

2. Terms of use:
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Disclaimer:
The contents of this document have been carefully researched and compiled. However, we
assume no liability for the correctness of the contents or errors resulting from the information
provided.
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© 2013 CONJECT

3. Introduction
1
So you are working in the construction, infrastructure and real Estate Industry and
are responsible for the commercial health of an asset, project, programme or
company. Your eyes are already rectangular or even cellular because you spend
most of your time in front of your computer with Excel or some other spreadsheet
applications. That causes you headaches and sleepless nights.
Well, that is a clear case of Exceleritis. Exceleritis Realis Estatis to be more precise.
That is bad but curable. You can believe us. We have extensive experience in this
area. In order to help you and to avoid the risk of infection for others, we have to
have a closer look at the infectious agents and their symptoms. Afterwards, we
can familiarise yourself with the therapies and the achievable results. Come on and
follow us.
Okay, we’re alone now.
Let’s be frank with each other.

4. The 8 most common
EXCELERITIS
infectious agents
2
01
Exceleritis
Fragilis 02
Exceleritis
Controlibis
03
Exceleritis
Inaccensis
04
Exceleritis
Comprehendis
05
Exceleritis
Inconsolidabilis
06
Exceleritis
Insecuris
07
Exceleritis
Inefficiensis
08
Exceleritis
Non Scalabilis

5. 01
ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
Exceleritis Fragilis
Excel has a very fragile nature. How quickly has an error crept into a
formula! How rapidly are cells referenced in the wrong way or values
summed up incorrectly! When duplicating areas, sheets or files these
errors are spreading continuously and almost virally. If various people
are collaborating on this basis there is also the danger of inadver-
tently destroying calculations.
You are really lucky if you are notified about an error with a friendly
#REF! notification.
If you forget a reference you typically won’t notice that at all.
[Fra-gi-lis: Infestation with instable structures that can hardly be
prevented by sheet protection vaccination ]
3

6. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
02
4
Exceleritis Controlibis
Once an Excel spreadsheet has been created, the real work starts. In
this context, adding more data is a comparably simple endeavour.
If the constructed logic has to be modified it is getting really compli-
cated.
You then have to check already created formulas, references and
sums in order that the accuracy of the established calculation can still
be guaranteed. A very time consuming and costly undertaking that
doesn’t generate any additional value for the business.
If checking is omitted due to lack of time this can have fatal conse-
quences.
[Con-tro-bi-lis: Labour-intensive process of continuous health
surveillance for sustaining the status-quo ]

7. Krankheitserreger |
ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
03
5
Exceleritis Inaccensis
The pressure is high. The purchase order has to be issued in order to
avoid delays.
The invoice has to be paid in order to realise the discount. Mr Blue is
on holiday, Mr Greene is on sick leave and the managing director is
on a business trip. What next?
How can you access the up-to-date information? Probably not at all.
The approval has to wait. It is bad enough if you notice that some-
thing remains unprocessed. It gets even worse though if you do not
notice at all that something got stuck and that deadlines are ex-
ceeded.
[In-ac-cen-sis: Inaccessible relevant information for the
control of the organism ]

8. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
04
6
Exceleritis Comprehendis
If you have received a new Excel file from somebody the detective
work starts straight away.
You realise quickly that the creator is perhaps the only person who
instantly comprehends the file in all its breadth and depth. Other
people have to familiarise themselves with the content and dig into
multiple sheets. If you lead a team you then have the challenge that
the same content is often labelled with different names. Consequent-
ly, even summaries and overviews are not immediately interpretable.
There is the danger of information silos. It is getting really critical if
“excel gurus” leave the organisation and take the detailed knowledge
with them.
[Com-pre-hen-dis: Nerve-stretching activities of deciphering alien
structures ]

9. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
05
7
Exceleritis Inconsolidabilis
Commercial data has the very characteristic that it has to be reported
at recurring intervals.
If information about a project or real estate asset is stored in various
locations this data has to be updated and gathered every time before
the current situation can be evaluated. This is cumbersome!
Something similar applies when projects and real estate assets have
to be consolidated in order to generate aggregated portfolio or
company views. In doing so, every recurring manual effort is multipli-
ed by the amount of reporting intervals.
This can easily eat up a couple of weeks per year.
[In-con-so-li-da-bi-lis: Structures that can’t be consolidated because
of dispersed infestation ]

10. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
06
8
Exceleritis Insecuris
Confidential business information in an Excel file?
Salary information, internal calculation parameters and specific
market information are frequently an essential part of spreadsheet
calculations and translate strategic competitive advantages into
numbers. This data is not safe in an Excel file.
The pretended locking of cells and disabling of sheets can easily be
bypassed after a quick research in the internet. It is getting particu-
larly disastrous if a file is sent to customers or analysts by mistake.
[In-se-cu-ris: Insecure storage of sensitive data in loose structures
]

11. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
07
9
Exceleritis Inefficiensis
With Excel you waste a lot of time and even more valuable resources.
Many colleagues are very skilled and have university degrees. And
they should really continuously align Excel sheets?
Is that modern application of information technology?
No way! Very often colleagues are involved in the debugging process,
which just wastes additional brainpower. If you take into account
what reasonable and value adding activities these people could have
done during that time the economic feasibility deteriorates even
further. Because it is tricky to value these opportunity costs the low
efficiency of these procedures are very often not completely per-
ceived.
[In-ef-fi-cien-sis: Waste of valuable intellectual work through
activities with no or low value creation ]

12. ExceleritisInfectiousAgents
08 Exceleritis Non Scalabilis
If spreadsheets grow significantly two main drawbacks arise:
(1) The performance is declining and (2) changes of the structure
are getting even more time-consuming and jeopardise the entire
creation. People still produce Excel files that only open within
minutes. Whoever dares to clean up these calculations needs a lot of
courage and time. Moreover, the usage and maintenance of stan-
dardises structures are impeded or even made impossible.
At this stage, it is worth to ask yourself if your own business model
doesn’t scale because it is built on non-scalable technical structures.
[Non Sca-la-bis: Impediments in flexibility and losses of efficiency
through inappropriate usage ]
10

13. TherapiesandResults
If you notice the symptoms mentioned above it is time to act. Don’t
meddle with Excel files any more! It is time for a professional solution
employing a database! If you shall run the application within your
own firewalls or in the cloud can be best decided after consulting a
qualified partner like CONJECT. You then even benefit from the
decades of international industry experience of the company and its
employees. Thus you can heal the current problems and ease the
daily pain.
Therapies and Results
11

14. TherapiesandResults The results, which can be achieved with the therapy fitting
your needs best, can be summarised as the following top 10.
Secure data entry
With a uniform and unchangeable user interface nothing can
go wrong or be broken while entering data.
Process compliance
Sanity checks and workflows guarantee that all required
limits and approval steps are being followed and every
employee stays within the authorised scope of action.
Low lead times
Consistent integrated data usage and status overviews show
the current stage, owner and defined deadlines. You can
therefore directly get involved and improve processes.
Integrated applications
With a structured and accurate data entry you have laid the
foundation for connection to other applications via inter-
faces and can realise system integration.
Rock-solid calculations
The logic for all calculations and reports is fixed and can’t be
changed. As a consequence, the results are correct and
traceable.
Up-to-date forecasts
As all information is entered into one single system all
planned and actual values can be easily reported with a
defined algorithm and used to calculate the forecast at
project end at any time.
Automatic consolidation
Data of single projects or real estate assets are automatically
consolidated according to their categories and can be
reported on portfolio or company level.
12

15. TherapiesandResults
For questions or direct exertion of the therapies please contact us
using the keyword „Exceleritis“ on www.conject.com.
Powerful reporting
Having data stored in appropriate database
structures enables you to run a flexible and
immediate reporting. The different requirements of
various recipients regarding content and depth can
be realised easily and quickly.
Standardisation
Consistently used fields and structures facilitate the
data entry and allow the determination of standar-
dised key performance indicators with which you
can calculate future projects.
Direct accessibility
Information is not spread over various computers
but available to the entire company. By employing
a roles and rights system all internal and external
participants can be seamlessly involved in all
processes.
13

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