eXpresso
Date:
By: Philip Howard
Classification: InDetail
The market for spreadsheet management solutions is broadly split
into four areas: monitoring tools, which audit what anybody does to
any spreadsheet at any time; control and compliance tools that
extend monitoring to include security and management of who is
allowed to do what; auditor’s tools that allow you to compare
spreadsheets, detect errors in formulae, find out where data came
from and so on; and automation tools that provide controlled
development environments for creating new spreadsheet applications
(but only new applications—no facilities are provided for
existing spreadsheets).
eXpresso falls into the monitoring, control and compliance
categories though it also has the ability to compare spreadsheets.
However, where it differs from other products in the spreadsheet
management market is that it provides on-line, real-time
collaborative capabilities for the use and management of
spreadsheets. In addition, it is the first product in this sector
(as far as we know) to be offered as a service.