because your current spreadsheets have everything you need
Running your business with a collection of spreadsheets, disconnected apps, and manual processes can be overwhelming. Pulling everything into a single coordinated platform could change all that.
But no need to look around for an IT expert...the best expert is you. You routinely set up forms and reports. You only need an easier way to harness your knowledge.
Sumer allows anyone to build a complete business management system using only skills familiar from basic spreadsheets.
No software vendors, no salespeople, no modules, no cost to add new users.
Sumer is a better alternative to a modular system
Whatever you are using now—from refrigerator magnets to computer apps—you have a system, and it clearly works because you have a going concern.
If you already have forms and reports you probably don't need to buy into a subscription-based suite with expensive add-on modules and user fees, because the modules DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE ALREADY DOING.
Use what you know; Sumer provides form and report templates to help you build your knowledge into one connected platform.
Why buy modules if templates are free?
Sumer's templates can generate limitless forms based on the natural work flow found in spreadsheets. This simple Price List demonstrates how it works.
Press 'F2' to bring up its template. It is almost self-explanatory. Column names across the top, parameters down the left side. You probably recognize most of them. Add new columns—anything you want—with the 'AddColumn' button, then set DataType, Width, and so on. You can even add Filters and Formulas.
Whatever data you place in this price list can later be recalled and used automatically in sales entry forms and reports.
Other forms for purchasing, production, sales, scheduling, and more have additional parameters, but all work the same way.
Linking is easy
This Cafe Sales Invoice demonstrates how easily Sumer links and posts data.
All the template columns were created with 'AddColumn'.
The columns 'Item' and 'Pcs' are set to 'AllowEdit'. All other columns come from the Price List or from formulas in the Expression row.
The 'Item' column sets the Popup row to 'Item', which is the name of the Cafe Item Price List we created earlier. This all it takes to tell Sumer to look up 'ItemName' and 'Price' from Cafe Item Price List.
The FootRows sets up Sub, Tax, and Total with formulas. The columns 'Dr' and 'Cr' instruct Sumer to post these totals to accounts 40100, 33300, and 12000 in the Sales Journal.
Hundreds of templates like this are already available in the Library so you can pull them into your business and customize them however you like.
How can it possibly be so simple?
Sumer is delivering a product that Big Tech could have released, but didn't, 20 years ago. Subscriptions and modules proved far more profitable.
By the early 2000s Microsoft realized they had made a terrible mistake with Excel, Word, and Windows: the programs were mature, users were satisfied, and no one needed frequent updates. A major source of income was fading. Microsoft's solution was to create Office 365 and push subscriptions for a steady cash flow.
But they had another issue: natural improvement in software would recreate the Excel problem with each new product. Complex subscription and module services with frequent flashy upgrades were the best way to secure Microsoft's future.
So when we began wondering why many small and midsized business programs appeared overly complicated, fixing it didn't require more high tech and AI. It only required a rethink to design for simplicity instead of complexity and flash.