Project Overview
Environmental Management Solutions (EMS) is a food bank charity doing incredible work to support those in need. However, their day-to-day operations were managed via excel spreadsheets - Spreadsheets that despite being essential to the EMS team (they tracked everything from food bank visitors, to food distribution metrics) were proving to be ineffective in supporting the SLT seeing that their workload had practically tripled between COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.
As a result of this, EMS's CEO Jan applied to be a part of the Power to Change programme, so she could access support to streamline EMS' operations. As an associate consultancy of the Power to Change programme, I was tasked with the objective of helping EMS transition from their reliance on spreadsheets, to a more streamlined, user-friendly system. So following on from a discovery call with both EMS and a Power To Change representative, I agreed to build a set of 4x apps within Microsoft Power Apps that would simplify and improve how EMS managed their core data.
Project Outcome
The shift from Excel spreadsheets to Power Apps brought about massive improvements for EMS, providing a more intuitive and efficient way to manage their most important data: Here’s what we achieved:
- Simplified Data Management:
- The SLT at EMS now has four dedicated apps that handle customer data, food distribution metrics, and donation tracking. This shift eliminated the need for complicated spreadsheets, making it much easier to manage and access important information via the apps and their built-in dashboards (that I also created)
- Improved Efficiency:
- With the new apps in place, tasks that previously took hours—like updating records or generating reports— could be done in minutes not hours. Allowing the team to spend more time on high impact tasks that benefit their community.
- User-Friendly Interface:
- One of the key goals was to make the apps accessible and easy to use for the SLT, who were more familiar with spreadsheets rather than app-based systems. As a result all apps were designed with a simple, intuitive interface that required minimal training, making the transition smooth and stress-free.
- Better Reporting and Insights:
- The apps provided EMS with powerful reporting dashboards that were far more sophisticated than what they could achieve with Excel. Allowing the team to generate real-time reports on customer demographics, food distribution volumes, and donation trends, helping them to better understand their impact and plan for the future.
- The apps provided EMS with powerful reporting dashboards that were far more sophisticated than what they could achieve with Excel. Allowing the team to generate real-time reports on customer demographics, food distribution volumes, and donation trends, helping them to better understand their impact and plan for the future.
TL;DR: Overall, this project was all about transforming the way EMS manages their core processes. By replacing complicated spreadsheets with custom-built MS Power Apps, we not only improved EMS' efficiency and data accuracy but also empowered their team to focus on what really matters—supporting their community.
"Janinah, Director of JMK, is hands-on and quick off the mark to support the community business we referred to her. Her knowledge of what Microsoft Power Apps could do for EMS was second to none. The digital package she created will be a game-changer in transforming an arduous task of tracking and monitoring large spreadsheets into a more time efficient process."
— Sona Mahatni: Business Connector - Power to Change Programme
N.B: All work with Environmental Management Solutions was funded by Power To Change for whom JMK & Co was an associate Business Consultancy.
