Schulmensa
A desktop application that replaced manual creation of visual receipts in Excel with clean HTML invoice generation.
Manual bookkeeping that had to go
The project didn't start from a desire to automate a complex bookkeeping spreadsheet. Quite the contrary: Excel was barely used as a spreadsheet there. They manually assembled the visual receipt in it - images, borders, signatures, final amounts, and text fields. The numbers themselves were calculated separately on a physical calculator, then manually transferred to the Excel layout. Then this file was emailed to clients, and the first question was obvious: does it open for everyone? It turned out that clients often complained about the inability to open the file.
Excel Was Not Used for Its Intended Purpose
The main problem was not that the formulas in Excel were complex. There were simply no formulas there. Excel became a visual editor for receipts where a person manually laid out elements, inserted images, borders, and already calculated sums. This created both extra manual work and a bad client experience, because the output was still a file that not everyone could open.
- Amounts were calculated separately on a physical calculator and manually transferred to the layout
- Excel was used as a design board for the receipt, not as a calculation system
- Each receipt required manual assembly of its visual layout
- Clients received a file they often couldn't or didn't want to open
- There was no proper status tracking: who has already been sent to, for what period, and when
Client List
The application has a list of clients with the necessary data, emails, service information, and variables that were previously manually transferred to the Excel layout.
Period Control
The user selects the month or the desired period, and the program inserts the data into the invoice without manual copying and recalculating the layout.
Invoice Preview
Before sending, you can check the finished look of the invoice as an email, instead of opening a separate Excel file and checking it manually.
Single Send
A single invoice can be sent manually to one client if you need to verify or repeat a specific dispatch.
Bulk Send
The main feature: generate all invoices for the month and send them to all clients at once without manually assembling each receipt card.
Send History
The card shows when the invoice was already sent, so as not to duplicate emails and lose control over the monthly cycle.
How it was developed
The most important decision was not to automate the existing Excel, but to replace the approach itself. Since Excel was only used as a layout constructor, it made more sense to make a custom invoice generator: the user works with data and buttons, and the program assembles a neat HTML email itself. The client sees the finished invoice right in their email, without attachments and without depending on whether they have Excel.
- 01
Removed all fields from Excel that were used for manual layout assembly
- 02
Added period selection, client list, and custom fields for invoices
- 03
Created a preview to show the final look of the email before sending
- 04
Implemented single send and bulk sending of all invoices for the month
- 05
Connected the email layer via Nodemailer and SendGrid for stable HTML delivery
Product Idea
As a result, the process became clear: select the month, check the data, view the preview, and send to one client or all at once. A person no longer compiles a receipt as an image in Excel and doesn't transfer numbers there from a calculator. The client receives a normal email, not a file that needs something else to open.