| There are many ways to skin a cat, but my advice how to try it an excel way (assuming a db backgound) would be.. try dumber things, sounds stupid but you dont need rules and structure, just data :) denormalise a more often to break down the problem, the data and problem are your goal not structure (as much as db). Yes period per tab type of thing is quite common, as at some point you want to close the period and never change it. Lean into the non-standardisation to handle the real world. E.g for most of your budget its one line per item per month but this one are flexes with headcount so that has its own page, and tax is balnced in month x so ill just over type all the formulae there when the real numbers come in. Also if the model is complex try naming fields and showing the formula in a cell next to it to remind you how its calculated (if not ready using it check out "format as table" to do this for tabular data) And yes pivot the crap out of everything. There is also "add to model" which gives you powerbi type modelling in excel which can also be handy and fast. Not extensive list, and for lots of things db is better when you know how to use it.. but those are some of the "i get it" scenarios for me |