Legacy Excel, VBA and Access
The spreadsheet or Access database the business runs on, and nobody fully trusts
It started as a quick fix: a workbook full of macros, or an Access database. Now part of the business depends on it. It mostly works, nobody wants to change it, and the person who understands it best may not always be there.
The first step is a free 20-minute call: book the call or describe the problem.
Signs it has become a risk
- Only one person knows how it works, or what to do when it stops.
- A month-end or morning routine depends on someone running it by hand.
- Errors are fixed by running it again, or by correcting the numbers afterwards.
- It has broken after an Office update or a move to a new PC, and nobody is sure exactly why.
- Copies of it are multiplying, and nobody is certain which one is current.
- Nobody can say exactly what it does with the data it holds.
Start with a Legacy Health Check
The Legacy Health Check is a fixed-price review of one system. For a workbook or an Access database it looks at:
- Production reliability: how the tool actually behaves when people use it, not how it was meant to
- Supportability: documentation, how it is tested, and how safely it can be changed
- Key-person risk: how much of what it does is written down anywhere, and how much lives in one person's head
- Anything specific you flag up front, such as the macro nobody dares to edit
You get a written findings report giving a prioritised view of what needs attention first, a short walkthrough call, and seven days afterwards to send me questions by email. The findings are yours whether or not you ask me to do anything about them.
What happens next: three options
The findings tell you which of these the tool needs. Each is scoped in writing and quoted as a fixed price before it starts.
I will not push a rewrite where a smaller fix will do. Fixed-price delivery carries a 30-day defect warranty from sign-off.
Where this experience comes from
I started in operations at Lloyds Banking Group in 2010, doing resource planning. The tool everybody used was a spreadsheet, and it was not good enough, so I built a better one in Excel and VBA: the Planning and Capacity Manager, which grew from a site-level fix into tooling used across most of UK Group Operations. That was my job as an employee, not client work, but it is where I learned how a tool like this becomes something the business cannot do without. More about my background.
Who this is for
Businesses of any size with an Excel, VBA or Access tool that has quietly become part of how the business runs. You do not need to know what is wrong with it before getting in touch: describe the symptom, not the diagnosis.
Explore related areas
Compare the fixed-price reviews · Operational Systems · Knowledge Transfer · Services
Get a quote
A fixed-price quote for the Legacy Health Check follows a free 20-minute call. Delivery is 100% remote.
Book a free 20-minute call Get a quote for a Legacy Health Check
Frequently asked questions
Do you work on Excel VBA and Microsoft Access?
Yes. That covers stabilising and documenting VBA in Excel workbooks and Access databases, and moving tools that have outgrown them to C#/.NET with SQL Server or Azure SQL behind them.
Do we have to replace the spreadsheet?
No. Where stabilising and documenting the tool is enough, that is what I recommend. Where it has outgrown a spreadsheet or an Access database, the findings say so and why. I will not push a rewrite where a smaller fix will do.
How much does a Legacy Health Check cost?
Price on enquiry. The check is a fixed piece of work with a defined deliverable, so it is quoted as a fixed price, agreed in writing after a free 20-minute call to understand roughly what is in scope. Any work that follows is quoted separately. See how pricing works.
What do you need from us?
Read-only access to the workbook or database and its code, whatever documentation exists, and someone who can answer questions for about an hour in total. Everything is done remotely.