Context
A UK healthcare operations team reconciled general-ledger to client-ledger expenses by hand, using fragile spreadsheet VLOOKUPs across large, inconsistent datasets. They needed something faster and more reliable that non-technical staff could run.
The problem
- — Reconciliation relied on manual VLOOKUPs that broke whenever data formats shifted.
- — Matching inconsistent expense descriptions across ledgers was slow and error-prone.
- — The process depended on a few people who knew the spreadsheet quirks.
What we built
- — Desktop application with fuzzy matching to reconcile records across ledgers.
- — Handling for inconsistent descriptions, formats, and near-duplicates.
- — A simple interface non-technical staff could operate without training in spreadsheets.
- — Repeatable, auditable runs that produced consistent output.
Outcome
- — Replaced fragile manual VLOOKUP workflows with a repeatable tool.
- — Reconciliation became faster and less dependent on individual knowledge.
- — The tool was valuable enough that the client acquired it.