Besides building financial model templates, I also end up doing work for clients that involve me jumping into spreadsheets where there are multiple people doing various things. I don't do it quite as much now as I used to, but it still happens from time to time. So, I'll try to share some things that may help reduce some of the headaches that will inevitably pop up.
If your spreadsheet is really complicated and has lots of moving parts as well as ongoing work that is happening with formulas and logic that may need to be preserved, consider having a master copy that has everything working. If things go south, you can refer to that. This makes a lot of sense if you are using any of the financial models and templates here on the site. When you download them, be sure to have a master version that you have not touched and a second version that you edit and input your data / assumptions into.
If you are doing this in a Google Sheets, there is a version history that allows you to go back to a previous version at a given date. You can also keep master copies for a sheet with a different link. Also note, G sheets has a version history for each cell, so you can easily see who last changed something and when.
Workflow Tips
- Let's say you are working with a few other people on a project. You (as the spreadsheet builder) go in and start performing requested deliverables. Your clients or colleagues then go in and try to use it, adjust, and comment or give back a list of changes.
- In the above situation, you should stay very organized. Label tabs very specifically and label logic and changes specifically. The cleaner you can build, the easier it is to communicate. It will take time to be neat and tidy, but that saves time in the future.
- You also want to make it clear what parts of the spreadsheet each person should be editing. You don't want a situation where multiple people are changing the same things because when one goes back to do something, the formulas may not work the same and they have no way of knowing what happened or if anything happened.
- Generally, when I go back and forth with multiple Excel models for a client, each time I make a change, I give the client an email of all areas that were effected and what the changes were exactly. The more specific, the better.
- Reconciliation is important. If you do something, and someone else does something, are you still on the same page about how things are functioning? You may need to store outputs somewhere and make sure they still make sense after adjustments.
- Having a manually written version history can make life easier when things get messy. When someone does something of note, try and write down the change and how it affects the model or functionality. You want to try and keep this high level but still useful.
- If you are doing Google sheet comments, try to make sure all comments have been addressed and resolved. If not, whoever has the final say on the comment should try to close it out in one way or another as it makes sense to the project. The comment could be irrelevant or require more work, so comment management is a good way to identify changes for a spreadsheet and keep track of those changes. Excel doesn't have quite as good of a system, and you will likely have to manually track changes via email back and forth or a tab with change logs.
- Another big thing is to avoid trying to change too many things at once. That applies moreso to larger projects that may be taking months or more. I find it helpful to get one thing perfectly working and then move on to the next area where possible.
