The Boardwalk Collaboration Platform (BCP) is a technology breakthrough that does for tabular data what relational databases did for file systems. It creates an enterprise-class database environment for spreadsheet data that includes the BCP Server and uses/employs Excel as the user interface. The data, formulas, and layout that you use in Excel today, whether originating in a spreasdheet or from a backend enterprise application, is used to create and drive the BCP patented tabular database. This means you don't have to "migrate" your data or change your existing processes-- BCP can literally be molded to your existing process.

In fact, you can continue to work in Excel on the desktop, but now there is a single version of the truth for the data along with enterprise-class access control, audit trail, and versioning – all at the cell level. Data from ERP, SCM, CRM and other enterprise systems can be pulled into the BCP environment enabling controlled access to this data. Users can collaborate without leaving Excel on the desktop as part of workflows used to collect and “mature” the data before it is ready for input back into the systems of record.

BCP serves as an intelligent link between user workflows on the desktop and enterprise core systems of record.

Key Features

Multi-user, cell-level collaboration

Multiple users can work on the same range (or multiple ranges) of spreadsheet-based data at the same time on their desktop while working within Excel. There’s no checking out & checking in the shared data nor locking out input from other users. Users continue to work in Excel on their desktop. Much like with email, they can refresh their local data at any time to bring in changes made by others. And, when these changes are brought in, only the cells that have been updated are changed--- all your current data that has not changed is not overwritten. Users can then make their own updates and, when ready, submit their changes to the BCP Server which captures and validates the updates to data and business logic (formulas) automatically. All other users participating in the collaboration can then refresh their local Excel desktop version and see the changes made by other users show up right in the cells of the spreadsheet they are collaborating over. By enabling multiple users to work at the same time on the same spreadsheet-based data without leaving their desktop-based Excel, you can realize significant time savings and reduce errors since you can eliminate the traditional “cut & paste, update, save-as, email, and repeat” collaborative spreadsheet process.

Users make changes within Excel just like they do today. For example, the user above is changing the value in Jun 07 FCT from 75 to a formula which points back to the May forecast and increases that amount by 20%. When the user submits their changes, the changes update the BCP Server with just the cells that have been changed (as opposed to the entire worksheet).

When other users click on Refresh Plan in their spreadsheets on the desktop, BCP compares their local data with what's on the server. In this case, the change by the VP sales in shown. This makes it easy for all collaboration participants to see changes made by others.

When other users Refresh their local copy, the cell-level changes are brought into their spreadsheet and it's only the cells that have been changed. As shown above, the new column shows up as does the change to the Jun 07 FCT cell and Excel's comment feature is used to highlight the changes.

Automatic multi-level consolidation

BCP lets you set up consolidation hierarchies based on your specific spreadsheet process like sales reps & distributors reporting up to a sales manager. BCP automatically rolls updates made by users through multiple hierarchies giving you a consolidated up view of your data on-demand.  If a user adds a new row into the spreadsheet they are working with on their desktop, when they submit their changes to the BCP Server, other users above these individual in the process hierarchy (or peers seeing the same data) will automatically see the rows show up in their spreadsheets when they refresh. Of course, since BCP supports two-way, cell-level collaboration, if any changes are made to the consolidated spreadsheet and submitted, those changes would show up in the spreadsheets of all the collaboration participants.

BCP automatically consolidates input from multiple users into your spreadsheet-- including new rows and columns. You can see above that a new row has been added by Bill Franks in his spreadsheet which automatically shows up in the VP's consolidated spreadsheet. Likewise, changes by other reps all show up in the consolidated spreadsheet on the VP's desktop.

Change management

BCP’s cell-level persistence means updates from other users or backend systems refresh, rather than replace, only changes the cells in your desktop spreadsheet that have been updated so you can easily see what’s changed. In most other systems, changes by others overwrite ALL the values you have in your local spreadsheet which makes change management and collaboration difficult. With BCP, you can see the most recent update in your spreadsheet using Excel's comment feature. In addition, you can look at a cell history for every cell to see who has made changed to the shared value, when, and why-- including changes to formulas. You can also compare any change to any other change using BCP's powerful change management capabilities. BCP also updates all pivot reports automatically.

One of the biggest issues with spreadsheets is understanding what's changed from version to version. With BCP, all changes at the cell level are automatically versioned using the patent pending BCP Server technology. This means as changes are made, only the changed cells are updated in the spreadsheet on your desktop and Excel's comment feature is used to indicate the changes to the cell. After a cycle of changes, you can easily clear the comment boxes.

Automatic version control and full audit trail of all changes

Once your spreadsheet data is shared through BCP, all changes to all cells to this single version of the truth are continuously versioned enabling data comparisons at any point in time down to the cell level. This versioning capability means you have a complete audit trail of all changes which can be used to analyze data and insure regulatory compliance.

All updates by all users to the shared range of data are versioned in BCP. This means you can look at the changes and see if they added or deleted rows or columns. You can tell if they just updated cells or changed formulas. And, you can actually look at the changes for a specific user in a report or compare changes between any users.

A detailed change report for every cell is just a click away. You can see who has made changes to the cell including formula changes. And, since BCP versions all changes, if multiple users need to access the same cells at the same time, you can easily see if there have been multiple updates and let the process decide which data value should be accepted. Unlike other systems that rely on a check-in/check-out model where only one value can "win"-- all participants can work collaboratively with BCP concurrently and all updates are captured.

Cell-level access control & security

BCP provides adaptive, role-appropriate access control down to the cell level leveraging your existing security infrastructure. You can specify which users can see which data. For example, you can specify which that users only see specific rows and columns and that some data is "read-only" data (like actual sales from previous months). And, this can be changed as the process requires so you can also control what users can do when making updates including being able to change data, formulas, macros, and adding/deleting rows or columns.

BCP can control who can see what rows and columns and what they can do with the data. In the example above, the forecaster only sees their rows of data. Also, the revenue calculations are all read only-- driven by the forecast unit amounts and the deal sales price. If the reps tries to update read-only data, both Excel-side and server-side access control prevents any unauthorized changes.

Business Process Automation & control

BCP can automate the data collection and calculation processes of even the most complicated business process. The Boardwalk Command Language (BCL) can control the spreadsheet data process flow and aggregation of relevant data across multiple systems into BCP without any manual intervention. This can eliminate the operational risk associated with traditional multiple step, manual spreadsheet-based processes.

Since BCP is built on top of an industry standard, relational database, BCP can turn Excel spreadsheet-based data (or any tabular dataset) and the associated business processes into "live" active spreadsheets which can intelligently interact with relational database driven enterprise applications at the data table level through a rich API.