Episode 493: Managing Uses of Team Password (Sheets API v4)

Day-to-day work is full of Team passwords...

When you install a wifi router, you configure "Admin password". When you apply for online printing service, you register a "Business account". When you just buy a scanner, you are demanded "User registration". Despite I have grown up having been taught "Never share your password" since my childhood, there are lots of passwords that are inevitable to share in the real adult life! (And, top secret files are stored in the file server of the company...)


The following Workflow is a Business Process for managing "Team password".

You may regard it as a "Password manager" of an organization. It is devised to disclose a password after ten minutes when an employee makes a request. All the information, such as When it was used, Who used it, and Which password, will be recorded. (Moreover, "Password change" by the administrator will be recorded, as well.)

[Password Request]

Episode 492: Referring to Client Master SpreadSheet (Sheets API v4)

In many companies, "Client lists" are managed with spreadsheet software.

And I just think that "Google SpreadSheet" and "kintone", which are Cloud-based database, are utilized more and more now, comparing to 10 years ago when "Excel files" had been created as a matter of course. After all, at a reasonable price (or even for Free), you can enjoy the benefit of convenience,such as

• Accessible from anywhere at any time
• Minimize the risk of data lost
• No need to duplicate data to carry
• Access logs are preservable depending on the service plan

It would be grateful especially for the small and medium-sized and micro enterprises.

[API communication]

Moreover, you will be able to build a mechanism which an external system to refer a "Client list", using Cloud-based database. (API function: Application Programming Interface)

The following Workflow is an automated flow for retrieving a "Client list on Google SpreadSheet" into Workflow platform. In this example, "Client list" will be automatically synchronized every night at one o'clock. (The flow itself is almost the same as Synchronization with kintone which I introduced previously.)

[Client master Synchronization - SpreadSheet Integration]

Episode 491: Bank CSV Data into Google SpreadSheet

"Are you transcribing the banking logs?"

Every bank in Japan give you a booklet referred to "Passbook". When you insert it into an ATM, all the records of deposit and withdrawal will be printed on it fine and clear. However, as long as the "Passbook" is a paper booklet, people who are accessible to the information in it are limited. Yet, it is cumbersome to enter the data into "Bank book.xis" manually.

The following Business flow is an operation of exporting account activity to Google SpreadSheet.

It is a mechanism that automatically appending to specified SpreadSheet when importing "Account activity" which can be obtained through online service provided by the bank. In this example, a Script has been set to retrieve a tab delimited file in a format referred as "ANSER-API" which is widely used in Japanese Banks.

I would call this as "Online Passbook"... Isn't it convenient?

[Activity Log Registration]

Episode 490: Placing a Button for Automatic Password Generation

"Too many input fields!"

Dissatisfactions for a Workflow system, many of them are "labor for data input". However, it tends to increase the number of data which is "inevitable to input", for continuing Business Process improvement. Then...

It might seem surprising, but the most efficient burden reduction measures is "to enable to Click-input for some common data". Although nothing is better than to experience actually, the work efficiency becomes very good if one click entry was possible even for five or ten letters. And you will feel so good, if you can input one after another to a lot of input forms that have placed in a row.

The following sample is an altered version of "Button input", which I introduced to you previously, by adding "a button for automatic generation and input of a password". By arranging such a button, you will be able to correspond to a work such as, for example, "issuing a system account" with concentrating.

Reference) Episode 481: Devising of "Button Input" to Input Form

[Test flow for Input Form 2]

Episode 489: Placing A Button for Measuring the Work Time Automatically

We do measure the translation work time, using a stopwatch!

Wonderful! That is too wonderful! They even measure to seconds... Moreover, they give a pause to the stopwatch for "Away Time" and "Interruption time". Yeah, yeah... "Recording of the exact actual work state" is essential for business improvement.

To the people like that, I would like to suggest a configuration to display buttons of "Start", "Stop", and "Clear" on the Input screen. With this configuration, you will be able to measure time easily without a stopwatch (or a Smartphone?). With this configuration, you will be able to measure time easily without a stopwatch (or a Smartphone?).

Above all, it is excellent that it works on the same "Work time" form (String type / hh:mm:ss), to which we used to input manually. That means you don't need to copy the Measurement result.

[Translation flow]

Episode 488: Collaboration with Cloud Accounting (Part 3)

Arranging a button for downloading CSV for MS Excel. (previous post)

From the aspect of a person who has to input data into an Accounting system, the "Download button" is very helpful. It allows to add so-called "Journal slip" data snappy to an Excel file. The business efficiency differs greatly depending on "there is" or "isn't" a button. The difference is to take only five minutes for inputting daily accounts receivable, or one whole hour.

However, it is yet a closed to personal process since it is an operation that "to append to an Excel file". The know-hows, which should be associated to the Step, such as "Where is the latest file?" or "Tips and knacks for the work" or "Technique for the case where minor modifications are required", these are tend to be individualism. (As well as anxieties for omission, or miss-copying or fraud.)

The following Workflow is a mechanism of auto-appending of multiple Journal slip data, which have been generated automatically, to Google SpreadSheet. (Either "MF Cloud-accounting" or "Freee",) throwing data to any of Cloud based accounting software, it is very convenient if "Journal slip" was managed uniformly on the Cloud.

By the way, in the first place, it should be the job for the Workflow system that to aggregate the issues which flowed on the Workflow. "List of Issues", for example, total and average of each property are aggregated. However,in a case where each Issue generates "uncertain number of slips", it is difficult to correspond the needs of demanding an aggregation on the "slips". Another table of "List of slips" should be prepared separately in such a case.

Here, we use the "Sheets API v4", which appeared in May 2016.

[Sales Report-SpreadSheet cooperation]

Episode 487: Collaboration with Cloud Accounting (Part 2)

How do I make "Slip data" federated?

In the Latest post, we succeeded to auto-generate some sheets of "Transfer slip" upon reporting orders. Yet, it doesn't mean a thing if they are not entered to "Accounting software".

Well, should I rather say "Cloud-based accounting software" than "Accounting software", for the coming age?

However, unfortunately there are only few Cloud-based accounting software which allows "API access from external" as of 2016. Therefore, I would like to consider to utilize "File import" feature which is supported in every software efficiently.

(Though, REST API over OAuth will be supported in any software service after a year or two.)

Incidentally, although this Business Process is almost the same as the one in the latest post, it has been added a Step of "Superior's approval" for the sake of more practical use.

[Sales Report-CSV Download]