Get rid of the Spreadsheets 

As anyone with practical experience with distribution will have learned, the planning and execution of distribution may be one of the most complicated and stressful jobs anyone can think of.

In the centre of the chaos, you find those multitalented artists – also called dispatchers – who can remember the names and places of an astronomical number of people and addresses; who can remember customers’ special preferences and access conditions; who always find the answers to all of customer service’s questions etc. etc.

To support these human power houses, one of the most common software tools is in fact still spreadsheets. They are often not supposed to be, but.. they still are. Although they can seem very useful “here and now” because they are easy to make, we all know the pitfalls.

1. They are not safe  
2. Rarely can users besides the creator utilise them
3. Often re-done in a new version  
4. No statistical intelligence is extracted from them – even though some of its contents COULD be useful.
5. No documentation
6. Hand-over to others almost never works
7. Etc. etc.

But they are still there, often in abundance like mushrooms in autumn. WHY?  

1. They cover that little corner that was not catered for in one of the standard applications
2. Keeping lists updated in the main application is just too cumbersome
3. It is just “my own” list
4. I am more free to organise my data the way I want
5. It was only for this week – next week will be different
6. Etc. etc.

If you are that dispatcher with the need to plan and keep everything under control; the one who is responsible for all those pick-ups and deliveries - by vehicle or on foot; that dispatcher with a patchwork of software solutions plus a lot of spreadsheets, then Cubivue may be worth your time to take a look at.