If you have been using Backstop Report Builder and Excel Toolkit (ETK) to extract actionable insight out of the Backstop CRM platform, life ought to be pretty rosy.

Have you ever looked up the night sky and considered automagically beautifying the above-mentioned intel though? Self-serviced users would instantaneously generate freshest and highly formatted reports, alongside gorgeous charts without you lifting a finger.

Are you interested yet?

Before proceeding further, be forewarned this encounter assumes an intermediate/advanced comfort level with Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

If the last sentence sounds like Latin, you may want to consider an Excel/VBA refresher first. Backstop Support Portal also has an extensive library on this topic, or send a love note to your Relationship Manager. Ours is Karina, and she is world-class!

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Roadmap

The code is a little long. A brief overview adds clarity. The functions (aka subrountines) are modularized to maximize readability and maintainability. It looks way more beastly than reality!

Level1	Level2	Level3	Key Purpose
Main
	Initialize		Remove pre-existing content and formatting options
	BotCopy		Copy ETK data to destination worksheet
	BotFormat		Optimize formatting for on-screen viewing and printing
		DeleteColumn	Remove selected columns exported from ETK
		SetShortHand	Set abbreviations
		SetColumnName	Replace column names
		SetColumnFormat	Set column types, widths, and formatting options
		SetTitleRow	Add and format a title row
Helper
	GetSheet		Return Excel Worksheet objects
	GetDictionaryHeading		Return new mappings of column headings
	GetDictionaryClosing		Return new mappings of closing rounds
	GetLastColumn		Return last non-blank column
	GetLastRow		Return last non-blank row
	GetLastCell		Return last non-blank cell
	GetLastRange		Return non-blank cell range

 

https://gist.github.com/klopmp/1560a29e0239064e9963695adc657b7f

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Main

The primary function that calls three (3) other functions. This is wired to run every time ETK refreshes data.

Initialize

To ensure a clean slate, we remove pre-existing data and formatting options in the destination worksheet before each ETK refresh.

BotCopy

Bots are supposed to take away our jobs, right? Let them have the mundane chores then. This copies all refreshed ETK data to the destination worksheet.

BotFormat

The bulk of formatting chores are done within this function. It invokes the following functions.

DeleteColumn

ETK returns both visible and hidden columns from the Report Builder. This function removes those columns not used in the final printable version.

SetShortHand

Abbreviate values to enhance report readability based on a Dictionary object.

SetColumnName

Rename column headings. This could also be achieved globally within Entity Definition Manager or Report Builder. Doing so here spares us from affecting the spreadsheet anything else, except for this Excel file. Think global, shop local.

SetColumnFormat

Apply numeric and date format options.

SetTitleRow

Add a nicely-formatted report title rapidly in first row.

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Helper

These helper functions streamline repetitive low-level tasks.

GetSheet

Instantiate and return a WorkSheet object based on a friendly name.

GetDictionaryHeading

Using a Dictionary to remap new column headings without affecting underlying data.

GetDictionaryClosing

Using a Dictionary to remap new Closing Round values (e.g. First > 1st) without affecting underlying data.

GetLastColumn

Identify the last non-blank column (e.g. K).

GetLastRow

Identify the last non-blank row (e.g. 168).

GetLastCell

Identify the last non-blank cell (K168).

GetLastRange

Identify the non-blank cell range (e.g. C2:K168)

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Backstop User Conference (BUC) 2018

Want to see this live? This is a sneak preview of my upcoming BUC 2018 presentation: Client Success Showcase: Increase Efficiency in Backstop on June 7, 2018. I am extremely honored to be speakinh and looking forward to meeting the Backstop family and friends!