EXCEL MIGRATIONS

Excel | VBA Migrations

In the world of Finance, Microsoft Excel is still widely used. For good reason: it allows domain experts without a programming background to develop and test methodologies and models. A significant amount of intellectual property is now in use, developed with spreadsheets. In addition, a lot of legacy models are currently in Excel.

However, models developed in spreadsheets are difficult to scale. In addition, as methodologies grow in complexity and size, implementations become increasingly error-prone, as we have observed in multiple customer projects. Therefore, supervisory authorities have grown wary of spreadsheet implementations, in particular the large ones.
To mitigate this, you may consider to migrate your model implementations to MATLAB. Our approach? First we study spreadsheet implementations and corresponding design documents, then a proper object-oriented design is developed. Finally, coding commences in accordance.

Once implementation in MATLAB is completed, you still have options when it comes to workflow integration:

• Make code available in Excel again, by creating an Add-in for Excel
• Make MATLAB implementations available standalone, for scripted use
• Develop a dedicated host application, featuring a user interface
• Integrate new implementations in enterprise applications, using the MATLAB Production Server

The first option allows spreadsheet users to still access the algorithm, just input and output worksheets remain. Instead of forcing users out of their tools of preference, a professionalized version is made available in their working environment.

In case you decide to move away from spreadsheets altogether, the other options apply. In case you pursue a dedicated application for migrated models, consider our Framework Application Solutions.
We can assist with developing a migration plan, selecting the proper deployment option and perform the actual migration. Hereunder, a schematic representation is shown of a migration project we performed recently, creating an Excel Add-in for a large credit risk related model.