Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.
$6.99
per month
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
Score 7.1 out of 10
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PowerDMS by NEOGOV is a software platform designed to recruit, train, equip, and protect employees across their careers, used for policy management, community engagement, and staff scheduling.
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Stackby
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Stackby is designed to bring together the simplicity of spreadsheets, the functionality of databases and integrations with best business APIs to let anyone build their own tools, the way they want. No coding needed. Users can build a database from scratch, import data from pre-existing sources like spreadsheets or Google Sheets, or choose from over 100 pre-built templates across multiple categories. Stackby offers over 25 unique column types like text,…
I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
This software is very well suited for law enforcement agencies of all sizes from 5 to 5000 officers. There is a mobile app that allows officers to quickly and easily search while out in the field or on a call. They can quickly review a policy, locate a form, pull up a map and much more using either the mobile app or the desktop application.
Based on my experience, I can provide specific scenarios where Stackby is well suited and others where it may be less appropriate: Project Management: Stackby is an excellent choice for project management scenarios. Its ability to create custom databases, track tasks, assign responsibilities, and collaborate in real-time makes it highly effective for managing and monitoring project progress. CRM and Sales: Stackby is well suited for managing customer relationships and sales processes. Its customizable database structure allows for organizing customer information, tracking leads, managing deals, and generating reports. The ability to integrate with other tools further enhances its usefulness in CRM and sales workflows. Content Planning: Stackby is a great fit for content planning scenarios. Users can create databases to manage editorial calendars, track content ideas, assign tasks to team members, and monitor content performance. Collaboration features facilitate seamless content collaboration and ensure timely publishing.
It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
Policy management- [Users] sign for, and can take [tests] to prove understanding of policy right in the application. As [the] policy is updated, old versions are retained, so that we not only know what a policy contains, we can track changes and provide information on what a policy was at any given time in the past.
Training- Users receive notifications when training is due and are guided to complete the training. If the training requires recertification, PowerDMS can be configured to alert the user that re-training is needed, without a supervisor needing to keep track. All documents used in training, including presentations and videos, can be contained in the PowerDMS course, so we can prove not only that an employee was trained, but exactly what curriculum was use din any given training.
Accreditation Assessment- [Our] accreditation standards manual is uploaded directly into PowerDMS. Proofs are accomplished using the actual policy and procedure, as well as the documents created during the workday. There is absolutely no duplication of effort.
Communications accountability- Email [can] be read and forgotten. With PowerDMS, a document can be distributed for user signatures, insuring that the user took affirmative action to read and understand the document.
Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
The Workflow process in PowerDMS is not as easy to grasp as some of the other concepts and requires a little more explaination, especially for non-administrative background users.
Users are unable to view the steps in a Workflow template in order to determine which Workflow would work best for their needs when routing documents.
It would be great to have multiple message options for past due inbox notifications in addition to the options for past due tasks to encourage users to go to their inbox to review their messages.
Implement the same views available on desktop into the mobile app
Internal automations (like Airtable)
Ability to implement and display info as a dashboard (like Airtable)
Polish up the formatting of formulas, inputting them causes user frustration due to the formula input cursor jumping around
Better intelligence and ease of inputting data in bulk i.e have the fields automatically identify what data is being input and format appropriately (like Airtable does)
Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
I have had nothing but positive experiences with PowerDMS from day one. If we ever run into a situation we are unsure of, PowerDMS support has ALWAYS been able to answer us basically immediately. I really love that they are constantly seeking to improve and expand.
I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
There is a learning curve as with any software system and I have found those users who consistently use the system more have a much higher success rate than those who only log in to sign off on documents. Now that most users have been in the system for over 2 years I consistently hear how much easier the processes are than they originally thought they would be
Stackby is overall pretty easy to use, especially if you're used to something like Airtable or SmartSuite. Some of the pages seem like near exact clones (though they put their own creative spin on things). I'd prefer a slighty fresher interface (like SmartSuite), but I'm willing to sacrifice that for the better price and great customer service.
We use PowerDMS in the cloud so our performance might be different from other users who use on-premise. The program has always been up with very minimal downtime and always seems responsive and snappy when navigating the UI and searching documents. We don't currently have any integrations with other software.
I just wish we had some in-state support. The contacts I have had with customer support have been great. Awesome communication, problem-solving, and support. I have talked to and met Stephanie Williams (CSA for Power DMS) at the most recent Entrust conference. She was professional and devoted time to addressing our agency needs.
Implementation of PowerDMS was near seamless. The product was able to input existing policies and procedures within a few hours, which helped to lay the foundation for future use. Having PowerDMS on-boarding readily available was also a huge benefit.
Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
PowerDMS is a lot different than Linkedin Learnings. In PowerDMS you have to create your own courses versus in Linkedin Learnings they provide extensive content on a wide variety of subject matter. Linkedin Learnings is what we have used in our organization for Bias Training and Ethics Training. PowerDMS is the repository for documents and Trainings, so the systems work very differently
I have also tried Ora.Pm. Infinity has better graphical interface, but nowhere near as many features and the UI isn't as effective (i.e, moving around with keys). Grist has a much more technical interface and it comes from being more of a database/interactive spreadsheet vs Stackby. Grist has much more functionality in terms of formulas, but is much harder to learn to use and less other functionalities. Ora.PM is more of a test at a task management app, and doesn't compare - Stackby is much better.
Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
Created efficient processes for approving document revision
Migrated what originally was a paper system to electronic
Accessible for any employee by logging in, employees do not have to seek out policy and procedure binders, and updated documents can be automatically sent to inboxes when updated.
