Business systems & workflow applications
From Excel to an integrated operating system
More than ten integrated applications that turned a technical company's disconnected spreadsheets and admin into one coherent operating system.
- Technology
- Bubble, Dropbox, Google Drive, QuickBooks
- Link
- Visit ↗
The problem
A technical business was running on disconnected spreadsheets, documents and manual administration — the same information re-entered in several places, with no single source of truth.
The original process
Core operations — people, projects, money, equipment — each lived in their own file or inbox, held together by memory and habit. TODO(founder): confirm specifics of the before-state you want to show.
What was built
More than ten integrated applications working as one system:
- Timesheets and payroll
- CRM
- Project management
- Invoicing and accounts receivable
- Employee and equipment databases
- Subcontractor permissions
- Data archives
With integrations into Dropbox, Google Drive and QuickBooks so the system fit the tools the business already relied on.
The design intervention
Rather than digitizing each spreadsheet in place, the operation was re-architected: shared data, consistent records, and workflows that connect the parts that were previously copied by hand.
The technology selected
Built in Bubble — enough structure for databases, forms and workflows, without standing up a conventional software team.
The resulting experience
Disconnected processes became a single operating system the business could actually run on. TODO(founder): confirm any measurable outcomes before publishing them — none are invented here.
Lessons & next improvements
This is the foundational demonstration of the studio’s approach: understand the whole operation, redesign the architecture, then build. TODO(founder): note next improvements.