Overview
A retail group with fourteen branches was running its daily operations on spreadsheets. Each branch kept its own files for sales, stock, staffing and maintenance, and head office spent the first week of every month collecting, checking and combining them.
HASNA TECHNOLOGY designed and built a custom web platform where every branch records its daily operations in one place. Head office now sees every branch live, month-end reports are generated automatically and the numbers are trusted across the business.
The problem
Six spreadsheets per branch
Every branch maintained six spreadsheets: daily sales, stock counts, staff rosters, cash reconciliation, maintenance requests and incident logs. Over the years, each branch had adapted the templates to suit itself. Columns were renamed, formulas were overwritten and some branches added tabs that nobody else used.
Days lost every month
At month-end, head office emailed every branch for its files. Two analysts then spent four to five days:
- chasing branches that hadn't sent their files;
- fixing broken formulas and inconsistent formats;
- copying everything into a master workbook;
- answering questions from management about numbers that didn't add up.
No live view
Branch managers only saw how they were performing at the end of the month, too late to react. Stock-outs and over-staffing were discovered weeks after they happened. Maintenance requests were sent by email and often forgotten.
Version chaos
Because files were emailed back and forth, nobody was sure which version was correct. Twice in the previous year, the board had received figures that were later revised.
Our approach
Before designing anything, we visited four branches of different sizes and spent time with the people who actually filled in the spreadsheets.
- We collected all 84 spreadsheets (six per branch) and mapped every field to find what was common, what was duplicated and what nobody used.
- We designed around the branch staff, not head office. If data entry wasn't faster than the spreadsheet, people would go back to Excel.
- We agreed a phased roll-out: two pilot branches first, then the rest in groups of four.
The analysis showed that the 84 spreadsheets held only about 120 distinct pieces of information. Most of the effort went into copying the same data between files.
The solution
One platform for every branch
A secure web application, designed to work on a desktop at the counter or a tablet on the shop floor. Branch staff enter each piece of information once:
- Daily close: sales by category, payment methods and cash reconciliation, with checks that flag mismatches immediately.
- Stock: counts and transfers between branches, with reorder suggestions.
- Rosters: shifts planned against expected footfall.
- Maintenance and incidents: logged with photos, assigned and tracked to completion.
Role-based dashboards
- Branch managers see their own branch today, this week and against target.
- Area managers compare their branches side by side.
- Head office sees the whole group live, with drill-down to any branch and any day.
Automated reporting and alerts
The month-end pack that used to take a week is generated automatically on the first morning of the month. Alerts go to the right person when something unusual happens: a cash difference above a threshold, stock falling below the reorder level or a maintenance request open for more than three days.
Connected to existing systems
The platform imports sales from the point-of-sale system every night and sends approved figures to the accounting system, so nobody re-types totals.
Implementation
| Phase | Weeks | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery & design | 1 – 3 | Branch visits, data mapping, clickable prototype tested with staff |
| Build | 4 – 11 | Platform, dashboards, integrations, data migration |
| Pilot | 12 – 13 | Two branches live, daily feedback, quick fixes |
| Roll-out | 14 – 16 | Remaining twelve branches in three groups, training on site |
The clickable prototype in week three was the turning point. Branch staff tried it on a tablet, suggested changes and saw them in the next version. By the time the platform went live, they already knew how to use it.
The results
- All 14 branches on one system, with every spreadsheet retired.
- Monthly reporting 60% faster: the pack is ready on day one instead of day five.
- 99.9% platform uptime since go-live.
- Live performance view for branch, area and head-office managers.
- Fewer stock-outs, thanks to reorder alerts and visibility of stock in other branches.
- Maintenance requests closed faster, because every request now has an owner and a deadline.
The two analysts who used to consolidate spreadsheets now spend their time on analysis: comparing branches, spotting trends and supporting managers with decisions.
What's next
The group is adding AI-powered forecasting to the platform, using two years of clean, consistent data to predict sales and staffing needs for each branch.
Key takeaways
- Design for the people who enter the data. Adoption depended on branch staff finding the platform faster than their spreadsheets.
- Prototype early. Letting users click through the design in week three avoided expensive changes later.
- Clean data unlocks AI. Replacing spreadsheets wasn't only about saving time; it created the foundation for forecasting.