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Today many end-users implement software tools on their own due to their high, general computer literacy and the increased user-friendliness of the software. The most popular and ubiquitous software packages to implement such personal productivity tools for analytical purposes are spreadsheets. A general problem is that a typical knowledge worker in the role of an end-user does not have explicit training in software engineering. Therefore, in this article some aspects of software engineering in general and spreadsheet engineering in particular are discussed. Based on this discussion several guidelines for implementing spreadsheet-based tools are given. Applying these guidelines helps to design spreadsheet-based tools that can be easily reused, extended, and shared with other users. A case study illustrates how to use Microsoft Excel to implement a tool which is in compliance with these guidelines. The case study is designed as an introduction for MBA students on how to implement spreadsheet-based analytical tools.Editor's note: This is a pdf copy of an html document which resides at http://ite.pubs.informs.org/Vol4No1/ Scheubrein/

Software packages are frequently used to support the teaching of quantitative methods. In one possible approach, the educator demonstrates how to use a software package which implements the method considered in the lecture. In an alternative approach, students have to implement the considered method on their own. A popular type of software package used in Master of Business Administration classes for the second approach is the spreadsheet, since students can "program" in an intuitive way by entering formulas in the cells of the worksheet. While letting students implement a method on their own normally takes much longer than just a demonstration by the educator, it can be argued that the students develop a better understanding of the method through active learning. In this context, the spreadsheet-based tutoring system ExcelTutor was developed to help students learn the steps necessary to compute the results of a specific method. After a student has formulated the method on his or her own, ExcelTutor verifies the correctness of the final results and provides feedback on the time needed for the implementation.

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