The E-mergo Academy: from Excel to low-code

Many processes start small but quickly become too big for a simple 'Excel sheet'. That was also the case for the E-mergo Academy, and the solution was low-code. Our Academy Manager Onno van Knotsenburg tells you more about the development of the Academy app.

Solving it with a quick Excel sheet. Sound familiar?

There is a new process in your company. It starts small, but soon the need arises to keep track of lists, statuses and actions. Who has to do what, when, and how far along were we again? With a bit of tinkering in Excel, that challenge is solved. Yes, that magical tool in which all simple solutions can be built quickly. Excel. Fantastic, right?

For many small things, Excel is a perfectly fine solution. For things that stay small, there is nothing wrong with it; you are not going to set up software for that. It goes wrong at some point when that little process and that Excel file grow. At first that goes fine, of course, but there comes a moment when Excel starts to play a very important role and also becomes very large. Then comes the tipping point.

The tinkerer who built that thing falls ill or leaves the company. Staring at a loading screen for ages becomes irritating. More and more often you have to work in it at the same time, and your colleague naturally does things slightly differently. Or the file simply gets corrupted. And then there are the actions around it. At point X you have to send an email, at Y collect information, and at Z there is that one little thing that often disappears to the bottom of the pile. Anyway, you know how it goes.

Replacing it with an app

Often, consciously or unconsciously, the choice has been made to just leave things the way they are. It is far too expensive to write software for this, because that costs hundreds of thousands at the very least, and for those few hours of work it takes off your hands. Right? Or we just do it this way because that is how we have always done it, and we will discuss it at the next meeting, but first...

Right? Or maybe not? What if I told you there is an in-between option. A relatively simple way to phase out that Excel file and replace it with a piece of software. An app? Something that does not take a year of development and does not cost a fortune for a simple form (and that can also do X, Y and Z, which Karel or Marie spend so much time on every time). Something that saves you a lot of work (because it was really more than a few hours).

The E-mergo Academy

Too vague? Too abstract? Let me tell you about my own situation: when I started at E-mergo, I kept giving trainings and also started scheduling them. The little process was born!

In those first years it was a handful of trainings and participants, with me as the trainer. And that one participant with a nut allergy, well, you write that down somewhere. There were more and more trainings, participants and trainers, but nothing Excel could not handle. And things kept being added.

'Can you register who attended?' We added checkmarks. 'Was lunch ordered?' Another checkmark. 'Can you email a certificate of attendance (but check first...)?' Sure. 'Maybe we should do something about quality control?' 'Can you share that agenda with so-and-so?' 'And on the website?' Etc.

And then you fall ill. COVID. And I was not one of those who were back to their old self after three weeks of a runny nose. Fortunately, colleagues took a lot off my hands. But some things also stayed untouched. And of course they did it slightly differently. And wrote it down somewhere else.

Low-code

The solution? Low-code. Even I had to scratch my head at first. Low? Does that mean limited functionality? Code? Are we going to build something from the ground up? And when it is finally done, do I have yet another tool to put part of my work in? Yes, low-code is the solution.

Within a few weeks there was a first version of an app in which I could schedule trainings and register participants, and in which trainers could flag attendance. In a next version, participants could register themselves. One version later, I received emails for registrations and trainers were reminded to flag their attendance. Participants now also automatically receive an evaluation email. Participants can also let us know about their food allergies and download certificates of participation, and the history from that Excel file has been imported.

Simpler

The app has made my work simpler and means I spend less and less time on administration and more and more time on a growing Academy. But there is more. Things are simpler not just for me, but also for others involved, such as participants and also our HR and financial administration.

While we have offered training programs for years, these are now also visible to participants and account managers in the form of learning paths. Participants can now easily see which trainings they have taken in the past and which ones they could still follow to complete a learning path. They can also immediately see when those are scheduled and sign up or ask me for more information.

Data stored centrally

In addition, the data is now stored simply and centrally. Where HR and Finance used to depend on when I had time to put together a little overview, we now tap into the database behind the app with our BI software, and there is a dashboard where HR can follow the progress of internal learning programs or Finance can see which customer attended.

That Excel file? Yes, it is still there. Archive. "In case it turns out we forgot something". But in fact I have not done anything with it for weeks. Now everything is in the Academy App. And am I missing something? Then extra functionality can be added within a short time.

Take a look at the Academy App

Want to see the Academy App for yourself? Go to the app via the button below, then click on Academy. Do you also want to easily automate your Academy? Or do you simply want more information? Then get in touch with us.

The Academy App