Excel Add-Ons

It seems that MicroSoft Excel, the most-used spreadsheet program in the U.S., has generated an entire cottage industry of add-on software products from independent developers. Excel compares very favorably to other software programs, so why does it seem lacking in so many details?

Maybe the answer doesn't lie in what Excel lacks. After all, Excel has its own library of hundreds of formulas and functions. Converting data to graphs is better than ever, analysis of data is easier and more malleable, and it can even access the web to update individual cell values.

Instead, the answer may be that users now find that they can add what they need or want, and better yet, share their add-ons with the world via the Internet.

Some add-ons are purely mathematical, more for specialized study and research. Least Squares calculations and XYFIT are examples of this specialized type, not likely to find their way to the average business office desktop.

Some add-on software packages address the more popular uses of spreadsheets, however. Here are some worth examining:

The Spreadsheet Assistant
This program adds more than 200 functions to MS Excel. It even incorporates itself into Excel's tool bar for easy access. Included are various select, fill, edit, formula, format, relocation, print, window, file and many more functions.

Math Easy
More MS Excel add-ons, focusing on mathematical functions. Math Easy incorporates itself into Excel's tool bar and manifests itself as a popup box, making astonishingly complex formula variations possible with ease. Freeware!

Analyse-it
Another software package that offers MS Excel add-ons, this time in the form of more than 30 statistical analyses. Analyse-it will take Excel data and convert it into box-whisker plots, descriptive statistics, linear regression, parametric statistics and many more forms.

ActiCalc
A different approach to MS Excel data entry. This is a computer desktop calculator whose calculations are recorded onto a spreadsheet that can be imported directly into Excel. Further calculating can create complex Excel spreadsheets.

MathTools
Here are links to nearly 30 add-on software packages, each specializing in a different approach in the use of Excel. While many uses involve higher mathematic and engineering applications, many are strictly mainstream business applications.

Business Valuation Model
An Excel add-on that promts you for revenue, variable costs and fixed costs. The result is a 3-year sales forecast in Optimistic, Expected and Pessimistic variations. Such data can help you attribute a value to the business that you are selling.