3 ms·

I wish someone built a tool to extract any model from Excel and help annotation and conversion to code with clean separation of input, logic, output. The amount

by wjnc 3y ago

I wish someone built a tool to extract any model from Excel and help annotation and conversion to code with clean separation of input, logic, output. The amount of creepy legacy Excel is killing my organization.

DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
I know it's a fad, but isn't that the exact kind of thing that AI-enthusiasts claim ChatGPT/LlaMa/CoPilot will be capable of doing within a year or two?
- spacemanspiffii 3y ago
  I mean, some are claiming that AI will be capable of anything. But I don't think extracting Excel formula's is currently a focus of LLM applications? Do you know of startups or other attempts at exploring this?
  - jve 3y ago
    The elephant in the room, Microsoft PowerApps: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Webinars-and-Video-Gallery/Create-Power-Apps-from-Excel-with-data-Microsoft-AI-Copilot/td-p/2177009 https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Webinars-and-Video-Galle... Power Apps are pushing into AI direction. And it does use AI to parse excel file. Moreover Power Apps on itself has PowerFx engine that uses Excel formulas for app + more.
- HPsquared 3y ago
  You think Excel is bad, just think of the legacy those will leave behind in 20 years... Anything cloud or SaaS-related, good luck trying to dust that off down the line!
spacemanspiffii 3y ago
Yes I recognize this problem in my organization as well. I think this is feasible, and tools in this direction exist already, like https://formulas.readthedocs.io/en/stable/doc.html https://formulas.readthedocs.io/en/stable/doc.html. I think one challenge is that the variable names in Excel (B3, B2-10 for a list) are not easily converted to descriptive names.
- DavidPeiffer 3y ago
  >I think one challenge is that the variable names in Excel (B3, B2-10 for a list) are not easily converted to descriptive names. It takes some getting used to, but you can pretty easily create a named range for an individual cell by modifying the value immediately left of the formula bar. You can also setup a table to hold data (insert -> table). Tables can be renamed and allow formulas like =sum(tbl_salaries[salary]). With named ranges, your formula can look like =purchase_price*sales_tax
  - eviks 3y ago
    and then Excel has another inconvenient UI to manage all that, so it's not really easy overall
- wjnc 3y ago
  Thank you! I was hoping for a reply like this. The naming is actually (in big corp) a non-problem. I even think many finance workers dislike these models as well, so this isn’t even a bad chore. The models we run have tops a few hundred inputs, many ranged. That’s an hour or two of puzzling.
turtleyacht 3y ago
Yes, right now another human has to deconstruct and reconstitute it. Not to mention the courage to recommend an app to replace the workbook.

by wjnc 3y ago

DaiPlusPlus 3y ago

I know it's a fad, but isn't that the exact kind of thing that AI-enthusiasts claim ChatGPT/LlaMa/CoPilot will be capable of doing within a year or two?

spacemanspiffii 3y ago
I mean, some are claiming that AI will be capable of anything. But I don't think extracting Excel formula's is currently a focus of LLM applications? Do you know of startups or other attempts at exploring this?
- jve 3y ago
  The elephant in the room, Microsoft PowerApps: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Webinars-and-Video-Gallery/Create-Power-Apps-from-Excel-with-data-Microsoft-AI-Copilot/td-p/2177009 https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Webinars-and-Video-Galle... Power Apps are pushing into AI direction. And it does use AI to parse excel file. Moreover Power Apps on itself has PowerFx engine that uses Excel formulas for app + more.
HPsquared 3y ago
You think Excel is bad, just think of the legacy those will leave behind in 20 years... Anything cloud or SaaS-related, good luck trying to dust that off down the line!

spacemanspiffii 3y ago

Yes I recognize this problem in my organization as well. I think this is feasible, and tools in this direction exist already, like https://formulas.readthedocs.io/en/stable/doc.html https://formulas.readthedocs.io/en/stable/doc.html. I think one challenge is that the variable names in Excel (B3, B2-10 for a list) are not easily converted to descriptive names.

DavidPeiffer 3y ago
>I think one challenge is that the variable names in Excel (B3, B2-10 for a list) are not easily converted to descriptive names. It takes some getting used to, but you can pretty easily create a named range for an individual cell by modifying the value immediately left of the formula bar. You can also setup a table to hold data (insert -> table). Tables can be renamed and allow formulas like =sum(tbl_salaries[salary]). With named ranges, your formula can look like =purchase_price*sales_tax
- eviks 3y ago
  and then Excel has another inconvenient UI to manage all that, so it's not really easy overall
wjnc 3y ago
Thank you! I was hoping for a reply like this. The naming is actually (in big corp) a non-problem. I even think many finance workers dislike these models as well, so this isn’t even a bad chore. The models we run have tops a few hundred inputs, many ranged. That’s an hour or two of puzzling.

turtleyacht 3y ago

Yes, right now another human has to deconstruct and reconstitute it. Not to mention the courage to recommend an app to replace the workbook.