ModelSheet

Not to be confused with model sheet, a character study used in animation.
ModelSheet Software LLC
Private
Industry Business intelligence, business analytics
Founded 2007
Headquarters Arlington, Massachusetts
Key people

Richard Petti, President & Founder[1]
Howard Cannon, Chairman, CTO & Founder[2]

Krishnan Badrinarayanan, Marketing Manager[3]
Products ModelSheet Customized Spreadsheets
Consulting service
ModelSheet Authoring Environment[4]
Number of employees
 3 (2010-11-20)[5]
Website http://www.modelsheetsoft.com/

ModelSheet Software LLC is a venture-funded software company focused on business analytics and based in Arlington, Massachusetts.

History

ModelSheet was founded by two MIT graduates, Richard Petti and Howard Cannon who earlier worked together at Symbolics, and later in the division spun out as Macsyma.[6] After the Macsyma episode in 1980s and 1990s the pair took separate career paths (Petti at The MathWorks, Cannon at Groton NeoChem and SciQuest), then rejoined to found ModelSheet in 2007.[7]

Strategy, products and services

ModelSheet Software was founded to put more desktop modeling power in the hands of business experts without requiring them to become programmers. The spreadsheet is the classic example of such an end-user development tool, but its cell-based paradigm has its limitations. ModelSheet technology attempts to addresses these limitations with two types of products: Custom Spreadsheet Solutions, and the ModelSheet Authoring Environment.

By filling in a simple form, a Custom Spreadsheet Solution yields a custom spreadsheet workbook, without users having to edit spreadsheets or cell formulas. Users can set three aspects of spreadsheet models: time series (time range, time grains, and rollup grains), dimensions (e.g. a list of products organized in product families) and turning on or off model features.[8][9] ModelSheet offers Custom Spreadsheet Solutions for many common business tasks in corporate finance (financial plans, cash flow analysis, cap tables, activity-based budgets, etc.), marketing and sales analysis (sales plans, marketing program effectiveness, price elasticity, etc.) and other areas.[10] Users can download the Custom Spreadsheet Solutions as Excel workbooks, or upload them to an account on Google Docs.[11][12]

The ModelSheet Authoring Environment provides all functionality needed to build spreadsheet models from scratch and edit existing models.[13] It retains the visual flavor of spreadsheets, while adding in model structures such as named variables, symbolic formulas with varying scopes, time series, dimensions, and controls for optional features and automated operations. ModelSheet Authoring is the technical backend of Custom Spreadsheets. For intermediate cases (where more flexibility is needed, but the customer doesn't require frequent use of the Authoring Environment itself) the company offers consulting services in which a ModelSheet engineer uses the Authoring Environment to create a spreadsheet to the customer's specification. ModelSheet Authoring is available for testing but it is not yet commercially available on a regular basis.

Criticism

Testing a pre-beta version in 2008,[14] journalist Dennis Howlett of ZD Net concluded that ModelSheet was "good in theory" but "needs more work." Howlett criticized several aspects: Windows-only platform support, bugs, poor usability, choice of fonts, and dull quick start guide. Although "bemused" by the product, Howlett did concede "Modelsheet is at an early stage of development and I’m sure [it] will improve over time."

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Richard Petti". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  2. ↑ "Howard Cannon". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  3. ↑ "Krishnan Badrinarayanan". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  4. ↑ "ModelSheet Authoring". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  5. ↑ "ModelSheet Software". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
  6. ↑ "ModelSheet: About Us".
  7. ↑ "ModelSheet Launches the Spreadsheet Customizer - Create Professional Spreadsheets that Meet your Needs, Quickly and Easily". PR Web.
  8. ↑ Diego Oppenheimer and Richard Petti. "Extending Excel to Build Models for You". Microsoft Corporation.
  9. ↑ Richard Petti and Howard Cannon. "Customized Spreadsheet Solutions – The Promise of Templates Fulfilled" (PDF). PRWeb.
  10. ↑ "ModelSheet Software - Templates". Microsoft Corporation.
  11. ↑ "Getting Started With Spreadsheets on Google Docs Just Got Easier". ModelSheet Software.
  12. ↑ George Wong. "ModelSheet Spreadsheet Customizer now works with Google Docs". übergizmo.
  13. ↑ Richard Petti and Howard Cannon. "The ModelSheet Authoring Environment for Spreadsheet Models" (PDF). ModelSheet Software.
  14. ↑ Dennis Howlett (2008-08-20). "ModelSheet: good in theory, needs more work". ZD Net. Retrieved 2010-11-20.

References

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