A risk that appears on no balance sheet
In almost every company that has grown over time, there are processes that only work because one particular person has them under control. Typical examples: production planning, where someone knows which orders can be manufactured together. Purchasing, where someone knows the suppliers' special terms. The Excel spreadsheet that has been maintained for years and whose formulas only its creator understands.
As long as these people are there, the risk goes unnoticed. It becomes visible during a longer illness, a resignation or retirement. Then it turns out how much operational knowledge was never written down. In companies with 50 to 500 employees, this rarely affects the whole operation, but it often affects exactly the points where departments interlock.
Where the knowledge typically sits
Operational knowledge that depends on one person usually takes one of three forms.
Excel spreadsheets with their own logic
A planning list, a cost calculation or an overview of delivery dates often starts as a simple table. Over the years, formulas, colours, hidden columns and macros are added. At some point the spreadsheet represents a business process without anyone having decided that it should. By then, the rules behind the formulas are usually known to only one person.
Special knowledge and exceptions
The standard process may be described in the quality manual. The exceptions rarely are: which customer has a special arrangement, which combination of orders does not work, which data from the ERP is better checked twice. This is exactly the knowledge that is missing when the person is missing.
Manual steps between systems
Where two systems do not talk to each other, a person transfers the data. They know when the export runs, which fields have to be adjusted and what to do when something does not fit. Such manual steps are often described nowhere, because they were meant as a temporary solution.
A simple test: go through your most important processes and ask for each one what happens if the person responsible is away for three weeks. If the answer is "then it stops", there is a need to act.
First step: make the risk visible
Before you plan measures, a sober stocktake is worthwhile. It does not have to be elaborate.
For every important process, you should be able to answer these questions:
- How many people can carry out this process in full?
- Is it described well enough for a trained stand-in to manage?
- In which files, lists and systems is the data stored, and who has access?
- Which exceptions exist, and where are they recorded?
- What does it mean for the company if the process comes to a halt for a week?
The result is a short list of the processes with the highest risk. Those are where you start.
Securing knowledge through documentation
For many processes, good documentation is the fastest safeguard. It does not have to be a manual. What matters is that it describes the real process, including the exceptions, and that it is kept in a place the stand-in knows.
It is best created from real cases: the person responsible works through a concrete case, a second person takes notes and then handles the next case on their own. That immediately shows where the description has gaps. Access credentials belong in a password manager with settled permissions, not in a file on the desktop.
Documentation has a limit, though. It goes out of date as soon as the process changes and nobody updates it. And it is of little help when the actual logic sits in an Excel spreadsheet that only its creator can operate reliably.
Securing knowledge through software
This is where software comes in. Once the rules of a process are built into an application, they no longer depend on one person. The software knows which orders fit together, which limits apply and which data comes from the ERP. The stand-in does not need to know these rules by heart to carry out the process correctly.
What software secures compared with an Excel spreadsheet:
- Rules are fixed and apply equally to all users.
- Data sits in one place, with roles and permissions instead of a file sent around by email.
- Interfaces to the ERP replace manual transfers.
- Automated tests check with every change whether the rules still hold.
- Source code and documentation describe the process in a way that someone can still follow later.
An example from our work: at a window manufacturer, sales, measurement, capacity planning, service and installation, and training run in one shared software. It has been in daily use since 2022 and is synchronised every night with the ERP of 11 sites. Around 6,000 automated tests ensure that the rules continue to apply after changes. The rules of the processes thus sit in one place that several people can operate and develop further.
Your software partner is a key person too
Anyone who moves operational knowledge into software should ask their software partner the same question: what happens if they drop out? The answer has to lie in the contract and in the code, not in a promise. Make sure that the source code belongs to you, that every stage is documented and that changes are safeguarded by automated tests. Then another experienced developer can carry on.
With us, the source code belongs to the client. The software runs either on your own premises or in a data centre in Austria.
A process is only secure once it also works on the day the person who knows it best is absent.
How to proceed
A sensible order:
- Name the three processes with the highest risk.
- Appoint a stand-in for each one and document the process together using real cases.
- Move access credentials and files to a properly managed place.
- Check which Excel spreadsheets represent a business process and belong in software.
- Move these processes into an application in stages, with tests and clear responsibility.
For the last step, we start with a paid analysis lasting one to two weeks. It costs 3,000 to 6,000 euros net, is fully credited when you place the order and delivers requirements, a first prototype and a binding offer. If there is no usable result, you get the fee back. A small business application that replaces an Excel spreadsheet usually costs between 10,000 and 30,000 euros net. Implementation follows at a fixed price per stage.
If an important process in your company depends on one person or one Excel spreadsheet, we are happy to talk it through. The initial call takes 30 minutes and is free of charge. Afterwards you will know whether software is worthwhile for this process and roughly what size it would be.