Disclaimer: The story you are about to read is the work of the author’s imagination

It is a story of a Benchmarking Manager, named Mrs Bunny and her team member Data Analyst. Her name is Dash. The project that Mrs Bunny and Dash took was to benchmark 50 companies using the spreadsheet. They pick this tool because of the following reasons teams have chosen it for many years.

1. It is available on your machine
2. It is easy to format for data collection
3. You can add custom formulas and macros (Dash will write code and script)
4. You can share it with companies using emails.
5. You can create graphs and charts on benchmarks.

The Start

The team got all excited and started planning for the benchmarks. They choose the tools of spreadsheet and email with all the right knowledge and intentions. Dash was confident about her skills and all set to work for this cycle.

The key takeaway from the kick-off meetings

1. Make it easy for companies to respond.
2. Make the scoring generic for all companies.
3. Create a sophisticated automated scoring system using macros.
4. Once the formula is put, the analysis should be done automatically.
5. The score should be converted to different bands (Gold/Silver/Bronze).

Dash’s estimation of creating the scoring system took longer than initial time. Mrs Bunny was not particularly happy about it.

The crack started showing up when they realised there was a critical error in the calculation and to fix it has to be done across and a simple change took hours of work.

The Middle

After Dash working hard and creating the template in spreadsheet solving all the problems till day. The team got a grip in the benchmarking process. Everyone was happy, and like any human, once we reach a milestone, we aim higher. They focus on the scoring strategy and thought about how to improve it in terms of outcome for companies.

Mrs Bunny came up with the idea that it would be great if she could edit the scoring method to try a few things. Since her skills were not adequate to make those changes. Dash was also busy with her backlog. (If you also could relate to Mrs Bunny type “Yes” in the comments below)

Mrs Bunny had the following wishlist for the scoring system:

1. I wish I could make the change to the score at each indicator.
2. I wish I could add weightage for each indicator.
3. I wish I could make a change after the data collection is complete.
4. I wish I could recalculate the complete score on click of a button.
5. I wish I could add more sophistication on top of the calculated score.

The End

The team continued with the current assets and kept working on the project. One day they heard about a Purple squad, they have solved similar problems for others. They took a decision to ask for help from the Purple team.

The benefit Mrs Bunny and Dash got from the purple team:

1. The opportunity cost of scoring was high. (the cost of rework and discussion will pay off the product of purple team)
2. They picked a focus group who needed in-depth analysis, and that added more revenue
3. The purple team supports them when they need them.
4. Instead of thinking in terms of cost they started thinking in terms of value.
5. Mrs Bunny and Dash focus on benchmarking rather than operations and communication.

The team never went back to the dark side of calculating scores using spreadsheet macros.