Dynamic Excel 365 Tracker Templates for Business
~ FLUID Excel Solutions for Business ~
If you run a business, you know there are certain data points you need to track to run your business properly. You may want to track sales, new hires, and even inventory. Anything that you want to track, should be built into a Microsoft Excel Tracker. Our custom Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates are built for businesses of any size. ( See Related posts ).
Trackers are one of the most common custom Excel business solutions we provide our clients. We have built dozens and dozens of Excel Trackers, of all sorts. In the past few years, we have focused on building Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers that leverage the power of Excel’s new Dynamic Array Functions with Power Query.
Built for the User: It is so easy to use, that anyone can easily enter data into our custom Excel Trackers. We make them with the user in mind; they are literally built for the user, sitting at the desk, entering the information.
Built for Management: The reports, now those are built for management. All our Excel Trackers have custom Excel Dashboards and Interactive Reporting built in.
Built by Excel and Access, LLC: Our firm has been building custom Excel Trackers since 2003. We have built trackers for most industries. We can build one for your organization too.
877-392-3539
Our new Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers leverage Power Query, Excel Tables, Dynamic Array Functions, and Excel Data Entry Forms. See Image below.
Excel Trackers tend to be smaller than financial workbooks. Trackers are usually built to track one specific type of data, such as sales.
Excel Tables make great Data Entry Forms. You can use them to add new records, even to recall and edit an existing record, with very little VBA.
Our Excel Trackers use Excel Tables and Data Entry Forms.
Need Help with your Excel Trackers?
If you or your organization need help building a custom Microsoft Excel Tracker, we are here to help. Contact us today at 877-392-3539 to schedule a complimentary Zoom consultation.
What exactly is an Excel Tracker?
An Excel Tracker is a Microsoft Excel workbook that is used to track a very specific set of data, such as sales or expenses. Trackers are nothing new, they are as old as Excel itself. What has changed however is how custom Excel Trackers are built. In the past few years, the Excel Team at Microsoft has made so many changes and additions to Microsoft Excel, that it is now programmed and used differently. Excel is now dynamic, and so should be your Excel Trackers.
Our older Trackers used User Forms, Excel Tables as Forms, and such. More of the old-school designs. We no longer build Trackers this way. Excel went Dynamic, if you have not heard.
Excel Trackers can be built in any version of Microsoft Excel. The older the version, the less dynamic it will be.
What is a Dynamic Excel 365 Tracker?
Excel has changed dramatically since 2018. In 2018, Microsoft Excel went Dynamic.
As a result, how one programs and how one uses Excel is quite different than just 2-3 years ago. And that means that the new Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers have changed. Excel has never been easier to use. Excel has never been more powerful.
So how can we leverage that power in our Excel Tracker Templates? Simple, we use Best Practices in Design for Excel 365. That means Excel Tables, Power Query, Dynamic Array Functions, Pivots, and some VBA.
Custom Microsoft Excel 365 Tracker with Power Query
Excel is Dynamic, Excel functions are Dynamic, use Dropdowns and CheckBoxes to make it Interactive.
How one programs Microsoft Excel changed with the release of Excel 365.
Entering Data into an Excel Tracker has Never Been Easier
Excel Tables allow you to use CheckBoxes, Dropdowns, Slicers, Functions, or free type. Use Data Validation, maybe some Conditional Formatting, and VBA to take it to the next level.
Excel Tables are the perfect data entry tool for an Excel 365 Tracker.
Excel Tables and Power Query Tables are a great tool when it comes to Data Entry in Excel.
How do you want to enter your data into your tracker?
Drop-Down Lists, Check Boxes, Manually Type. Excel Tables combined with Data Validation make Excel 365 Tables the perfect data entry tool in Dynamic Excel Trackers.
If you protect the Tab, you can use the Table as a form, and after you enter one cell, it will go to the next available, unprotected cell, for you to enter more data. Like a web page.
we absolutely LOVE the new Excel CheckBox feature. Built to enhance interactivity between the user and the Excel Tracker.
Our Excel 365 Trackers are Now FULLY Integrated with QuickBooks
As amazing as it sounds, yes, it is true, you can fully integrate Microsoft Excel 365 with QuickBooks. You can read/write to QuickBooks. That is HUGE!
You can pull your QuickBooks data into your Excel Tracker, programmatically. You can revise your data, and send it back into QuickBooks, from inside your Excel Tracker. No VBA needed. Now that is power.
Forget working with QuickBooks downloads. Why download a Report when you need a Table? Integrate Excel with QuickBooks instead. Make your Tracker pop.
Watch the video below, you will see an Excel user select a Table from QuickBooks, and import the full table, on the fly, no vba or functions were used in our programming.
In 2024 we added QuickBooks Integration to our custom Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers. It is one of our favorite bells and whistles.
Use of Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers for Business
By their very essence, Excel Trackers should be easy to use, intuitive, and interactive. Trackers should not be all that large or complicated. They have a very specific use. So when we build a new custom tracker in Excel for our clients, we use all the bells and whistles, we pull out all of the stops, and we make a solution our clients enjoy using. Ease of use is front and center. Fully dynamic.
Track custom orders with this easy-to-use Excel 365 Tracker. So intuitive and easy to use.
Excel Trackers are workbooks that allow an organization to track certain aspects of their business, such as sales, customer base, inventory, etc. The use of Trackers is simple, type data, select from a drop-down list, check a CheckBox, run a macro. No need to know what an Excel formula is, no need to know what Conditional Formatting is, just enter your data and then view the Reports and Dashboard.
As easy to use as an Access database, our Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates are built for Business. If your organization has something to track, then an Excel Tracker built by Excel and Access, LLC is the way to go.
We have built custom Trackers in Excel 365 for most industries and business types. We have built hundreds of solutions where a Tracker was at the center of the application. People track the strangest things. If you can imagine it, someone is probably tracking it.
Since 2004 many amazing institutions have hired our firm, Excel and Access, LLC
Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates for Business
Many businesses use Excel to track things, but they do not call them Trackers. No matter what you call your workbooks, ease of use should be front and center.
Common uses of Excel 365 Trackers for Business:
- Sales
- Expenses
- Hours
- Tasks
- Certifications
- College Units
- Apartment Units
- Contests
- Promotions
- Anything that you need to track.
Trackers are not that hard to make, if you make them day after day. The key is how to blend the user experience with power. You want the file to be dynamic, automated, integrated, and interactive. But you also want it to be simple to use. Most of all, it needs to be intuitive. Anyhow should be able to look at the file, say this is how it works, and then use it, without being a programmer.
Ease of use Features in a Tracker:
The goal is to make data entry as simple as possible for the user.
- New CheckBox
- Drop-Down List
- Slicers
- Macros
- Conditional Formatting
- TimeLine
- Dynamic Reports for quick data verification.
- GroupBy Report
- PivotBy Report
- Dashboard
- Pivot Tables
- Pivot Charts
- PivotBy Reports
As new functions and features become available in Microsoft’s Excel 365, we will be adding them to our custom Excel Trackers for Business.
If you need help with Excel, with Trackers, Dashboards, Power Query or QuickBooks integration, please, give us a call, we are here to help. Professional programming and training services for any organization.
877-392-3539 – Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates for Business, Call Today
Example Dynamic Excel 365 Tracker for Business
The images below are from an example of a demo tracker we made, simply to show the various components involved, and how they work. We will give some explanation on each.
For our demo Tracker we are tracking dogs that are in the rescue process. There are tens of thousands of dog rescues in the US alone. There are a lot of dogs to track, and this demo is an app they can use.
Cover Sheet. There is Indy, aka, the Black Raptor.
Excel Trackers should be user focused and user friendly
Make it easy for the user to manipulate the file. Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates for Business should always be easy to use.
- Protect, unprotect the workbook
- Create a backup copy of the workbook
- Refresh the workbook
- Show who opened the file
- Show the date, time and location of the backup
- Allow the user to set overrides
If you want the user to do something, make it as easy as possible for them to do.
Always use Excel Tables in your Excel Trackers to Store your Data
Data should be stored in Excel Tables, hopefully protected Tables. You can also use Excel Tables to add data to another Table; you can use Excel Tables as data entry forms.
You can also use Excel Tables as a method to feed input variables into Power Query. Some of these tables have just one cell, and in that cell, there is a drop-down list. Maybe a list of years, or people, or products, etc. When the query runs, their input dictates the output.
Power Query Tables are very similar to Excel Tables, but they are different. Delete the data in an Excel Table and hit RefreshAll, did your data come back? In a Power Query Table it would have. They are not the same thing. One is the data source of the other; one is read-only.
Power Query is in my opinion, where all of the power is in Excel. All of my custom Excel solutions utilize Power Query as a main component. In the image below, you can see Power Query Inputs, that the user gets to set. The queries will use these filters when it runs. No need for fancy functions or vba, just Excel Tables and Power Query.
Make it easy on the user to set the variables, as well as to designate the path for a datasource. What could be easier.
We use Mark’s Excel Off the Grid Power Query tools in all of our custom Excel solutions. Go to his website and check them out. Tell Mark we sent you.
Make it easy for the user to enter data into your Tracker
Excel Tables are the center of properly built Excel solutions. Excel Tables make programming Excel much easier than if you were using ranges.
Excel Tables are also the best way to type data into an Excel Tracker. Add DropDown Lists, CheckBoxes, Calculations, Conditional Formatting, and a few simple macros and you have a powerful data entry tool.
Excel UserForms are problematic. They crash, they have so much code, so many settings, they are a thing of the past. Use Excel Tables as Data Entry Forms instead.
Conditional Formatting is one of the most used bells and whistles in Excel. For good reason.
The use of Power Query simplifies Editing Existing Records and Resubmitting to the base Table
If the user wants to edit an existing record, but you do not want to allow the user access to the Table, use a Power Query Table for the edit. Power Query is read-only, as such it works perfectly in this role.
Recall a record, edit the record, resubmit the record, in a Table that the user cannot access. perfect solution.
The only thing on the screen is what they need to see. Clean, simple layout.
Use Dynamic Array Functions for Tracker Reporting
Use the PivotBy and GroupBy Functions for quick data analysis in your Excel Tracker. Add DropDown Lists for user-selected filters, some Conditional Formatting, and you have an interactive analysis tab. ( See demo below ).
The new Dynamic Array Functions have forever changed the way Microsoft Excel will be programmed. With or without the #.
Excel Trackers should have a Dashboard
Trackers track data, dashboards summarize data. Hence the use of Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts, in custom Excel 365 Dashboards. Add Slicers, Conditional Formatting, and you have a nice Dashboard.
Dashboards usually have at least one Pivot Table, and one or more Pivot Charts. But they also have Reports and analysis. What you put in your Dashboard will depend on your needs.
Our Approach: Use an Excel Table as a data entry form, to add data into your Excel Tracker. Load the Table into Power Query, transform the data, and load that directly into a Pivot Table. Use as few moving parts as possible.
Excel Trackers use Lists
When you build an Excel Tracker, you often include the use of dropdown lists, so that the user can select an item. Those lists are often based on a single column Excel Table, as in the image below. Any item in these Tables, will appear in the dropdown lists. Add an item to the list below, it will instantly be available in the dropdown lists. This is the new, Dynamic Excel, in Excel 365.
Users love lists. Make it easy for them to add, remove, or change items in the list, in the fly.
Trackers love pre-filtered Tables
You can have your formula point to a historical data table to find the data it needs, or you can use Power Query to return a filtered result set, in a Table format. Now all of the data you need, and only the data you need, is available. It changes how you access that data; it changes the way you write your formula.
We are strong believers in using Power Query to filter the result set to the period involved. Only give me the data that I need for this period’s reporting.
Use Power Query to Import External Data into your Excel Tracker
Power Query loves to get your data for you. Allow it to do so. Pull in external data via Power Query, and your Tracker becomes even easier to use. Programmatically manipulating data is the ideal way to go; type as little data as possible. When you do have to type data, do so in a controlled environment. Lock it down, simplify it.
I LOVE Power Query. Power Query simplifies Excel programming and usage. If you want to master Excel, you must master Power Query.
Conclusion – Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates for Business
We have been building custom trackers in Excel for business since 2004. We have made hundreds of these. Trackers are some of our favorite projects. They are small, compact, yet powerful. They are simple to use, easy to understand.
If you want them to be seamless as possible, make your Excel Trackers, Dynamic Excel 365 Trackers.
Contact Us – Dynamic Excel Tracker Templates for Business
We specialize in programming Dynamic Excel Trackers for Business, Government, and Education. Our team of expert Excel consultants can custom program an Excel Tracker for your organization.
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