Project spreadsheet-make-workbook-set-import-ready · revised 11 October 2026
Project
Make one set of messy workbooks clean enough to import, analyse or hand over
A defined set of inherited workbooks is repaired, flattened and date-fixed into consistent tables that pass a column-by-column readiness check you can use before any import.
This asks for a proposal by email. Nothing is charged, and nothing starts, until you have agreed the list, the price, the terms and a secure way to hand the files over in writing. No upload portal exists yet; if we cannot offer a way you are comfortable with, we decline and nothing is charged.
The result you are buying
Inherited workbooks carry several kinds of damage at once: formulas that return errors, layouts built for printing with merged cells and subtotal rows, dates and numbers in mixed formats and duplicate entries. Fixing them one at a time, in no particular order, leaves each fix at risk from the next, and nobody can say whether the finished tables are ready for the system that will receive them.
Who it’s for: A finance administrator, operations lead or small-business owner who must consolidate several inherited workbooks before a move to new software, a database or a proper pivot analysis.
Usually starts when: A migration or a reporting project is waiting on spreadsheets that nobody dares touch, and earlier import attempts failed on the first bad row.
The result: You buy the finished set, not the individual repairs. Each workbook in the agreed list becomes a flat, consistent table with one header row, real dates and numbers and no formula errors, backed by a readiness sheet that reports, column by column, what the data now holds.
How the work fits together
You accept the finished set, not each internal step. The project is complete when every workbook in the agreed list has been through the steps it needs, its readiness sheet and reconciliations have passed the agreed checks and you have accepted the table, or the workbook is removed from the list in writing. A workbook that needs no flattening, for example, simply skips that step.
Repair the broken formulas in one Excel workbook so its totals check out Job First
The error values and wrong totals in one workbook are traced and fixed until your agreed check cases return the answers you calculated by hand, with every change listed.
One for each workbook that returns error values
If a workbook's formulas return errors we repair them first, so later steps can be checked.
Turn a merged-cell Excel report into a flat table you can sort and pivot Job Each time it fires
One sheet of merged cells, repeated headings and subtotal rows becomes a flat table with one row per record, whose row count and totals reconcile with the original.
One for each distinct print-style layout in the agreed list
Used only on workbooks that are laid out for printing, after any formula repair.
After: Repair broken Excel formulas
Fix mixed date and decimal formats in one spreadsheet or CSV export Job Each time it fires
Dates typed as text, day-first and month-first entries mixed together, and comma or point decimals become real dates and numbers. Ambiguous rows are listed, not guessed.
One for each workbook with mixed date or number formats
Used only on workbooks with mixed formats, after any flattening.
After: Flatten a merged-cell report
Merge duplicate rows in one product, part, asset or company list, with a review file Job Optional
One list of items, parts, assets or companies, with no personal data, is checked against written rules. Clear duplicates are merged with a log; uncertain pairs stay separate for you to decide.
Only for product, parts, asset or company lists that hold no personal data
Never used on lists of people.
After: Normalise mixed dates and numbers
How an engagement works
The price covers the agreed list only. Workbooks added later are quoted separately, and any that turn out to be bigger jobs are re-scoped with you.
How it starts
You send a list of the workbooks and what they must feed, not the workbooks themselves.
We read the list and propose the workbooks to include, the order of work, a fixed price and the checks.
You agree the list, price, terms and a secure way to hand the files over in writing. Nothing starts before then, and if we cannot offer a way you are comfortable with we decline and nothing is charged.
We work through the workbooks, sending each cleaned table with its reconciliation and readiness sheet for your review.
We send the combined summary and hand over anything left open.
Who decides what
You decide what each column and key means and accept each table. Loading the data into any system is yours to do under your own checks.
Handover
Each cleaned workbook arrives with its change log and readiness sheet through the agreed secure route. Anything unfinished is handed back with notes.
Sharing your product safely. Send a description of each workbook, never the workbook or any personal data. No upload portal exists yet. After you agree the project, files travel only by the secure route set out in the proposal.
What is included, and what is not
- A cleaned copy of each workbook in the agreed list, with the originals untouched
- A readiness sheet for each table, and a combined summary
- The change logs, reconciliations and ambiguity lists from each step
- A short note of the rules applied
Included
- An agreed list of up to eight workbooks, with a fixed inventory settled after we have read it
- Repairs and clean-up in one fixed order: formulas first where they return errors, then layout, then dates and numbers, then duplicates for product, parts, asset or company lists that hold no personal data. Each workbook gets only the steps it needs
- A readiness sheet per table: each column's type, blank count, distinct count and whether the agreed key is unique
- Checks against the target's published import template or column list if you supply one, run on copies only
Not included
- Loading the data into any live system, database or accounting package; that is yours to do
- Deciding which figures are correct, or any tax, accounting or financial advice
- Macros, add-ins or live data connections
- Workbooks that hold personal data about individuals, such as lists of people with names, email addresses or phone numbers: this project does not take them
- Workbooks added after the price is agreed, unless you add them in writing
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
For every workbook in the agreed list, the cleaned table has one header row, no merged cells, and every date and number column holds real values or its rows are on a listed exception.
Evidence: The readiness sheet for each table and the exception lists.
For each step on each workbook, the reconciliation shows record counts and numeric column totals equal to the original under the agreed rules, with every difference listed.
Evidence: The reconciliations from each step.
Where you supplied a target column list, each table has exactly those columns in that order, and the agreed key is unique or its duplicates are listed.
Evidence: The readiness sheet's column comparison and key check.
Your named person accepts each cleaned table or removes the workbook from the list in writing.
Evidence: The written acceptance for each table.
Sign-off. You open each cleaned table beside its original, read the readiness sheet and the logs and accept each table or send it back with comments, then accept the finished set.
If it fails. A workbook we cannot clean is named with the reason and what it would take, and is taken off the list with a matching change to the price. Nothing is billed as delivered that you have not accepted.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- The workbooks are ordinary Excel or CSV files that you may share with a contractor and that hold no personal data about individuals
- You can name the key that identifies a record in each table, and a person who decides questions about meaning
- If you supply a target import template, it is a published or documented column list, not access to the live system
- We agree with you in writing, before any workbook is sent, a secure way to hand the files over
We stop and tell you if
- The results depend on macros or live connections that we cannot see
- Nobody can say what a column or a key means, and the choices would be guesses
- The set is really a large system migration, so we propose a different scope
- A workbook holds personal data about individuals
- No secure way to hand the workbooks over can be agreed in writing; nothing starts and nothing is charged
What could go wrong
Your originals are never changed, so the project can be discarded without effect. Each step's log lists what changed, and each cleaned table keeps the original values beside any converted ones.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| A repair in one step is undone or distorted by the next. | Steps run in a fixed order, and counts and totals are reconciled after each one. |
| A table passes the readiness sheet but still fails in the target system. | The readiness sheet checks the columns and the key against the template you supply. It cannot prove the target system will accept the data, and loading stays under your own checks. |
| A workbook holds more personal data than you expected. | Nothing is sent in the first enquiry and you confirm in writing that no workbook holds personal data. If personal data appears we stop, do not process it and agree with you how the file is returned or deleted. |
Each cleaned table is reviewed separately from the work that produced it, and you accept every table. No human supervisor is included unless your proposal names one. At launch much of the work is automated, and we say so.
Stays with a person
- You decide the meaning of columns and keys
- You accept each cleaned table
Access we would need
- Secure copies of the workbooks, agreed in writing
- No access to the systems the data will be loaded into
Questions
Do you load the data into our system?
No. You receive clean tables and a readiness sheet. Loading is yours to do, under your own checks, on a copy first.
What if only some workbooks need all of the steps?
That is normal. Each workbook gets the steps it needs, and the proposal prices each workbook separately before you agree. A workbook that needs only one step costs less than one that needs several.
How is this different from buying the single jobs?
Each single job fixes one kind of damage in one file. The project runs them in a safe order on a whole set, and ends with a readiness sheet for every table.
Can you clean a workbook that lists customers, members or staff with their names and emails?
Not under this project. Workbooks of people's details are not covered, and no secure upload route exists yet. Please do not send one.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- A list of the workbooks: what each is for, the number of sheets and rows, and the problems you can see
- What the tables will feed, such as a named import or a pivot analysis
- No workbooks in the first enquiry
Later, once you agree
- The workbooks through the secure handover route we agree in writing before any file moves, with your confirmation that they hold no personal data and that you may share them
- The key for each table, the target column list if there is one, and independently calculated check cases for formulas that matter
- A named person to answer questions and accept the result
You keep ownership of every file we work on and of what we return. No upload portal exists yet, and the first enquiry never includes documents: send a description, counts and an invented or redacted sample only. Work can start only after we have agreed with you, in writing, a secure way to hand the files over, who may see them, how long we keep them and how we delete them. If we cannot offer a way you are comfortable with, we decline and nothing is charged. Files may be handled by automated software, including services run by other companies, and we tell you which in writing before any file moves. We work on copies, never on your only original, and we do not send, publish or contact anyone for you.
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