Calame Software is a company that developed the Gathering Tools data collection platform. Gathering Tools allows managers to design data collection forms in Excel and then distribute them digitally for others to enter data while maintaining the look and functionality of Excel. This addresses the needs of both business users who are comfortable with Excel and IT departments. Gathering Tools provides features like workflow management, data validation, offline access, and integration with existing database and messaging systems. It offers a way to digitize paper-based data collection processes while preserving the familiar Excel interface.

1. Gathering Tools
Overview

2. Calame Software : the Company
Software publisher founded in 2003
Inventor and developer of the
Gathering Tools® data collection
platform
Gathering Tools® is patented, and is
supported by OSEO
Calame Software is a
company founded by
former IT-contract
decision-makers who
came together around a
simple idea:
How to reconcile the
needs of business users,
who build all their data in
Excel - with IT people,
who don't see Excel as
part of the Information
System?
Gathering Tools : overview 2/10

3. Some Clients
Gathering Tools® users are
managers coming from both
public and private SMEs
and major international
groups. The common factor
is that each of them
operates as a network and
needs to centralize
information.
These needs can arise in
any operations department
(Management Control,
Treasury, HR, Internal
Control, etc.) or any IT
service. Most of our clients
use it to support multiple
services thanks to Gathering
Tools®‘s cross-functional
and “transversal” solution.
Gathering Tools : overview 3/10

4. In operations departments, data gathering projects are born in Excel. For a central user in charge of collecting data, Excel is a natural workspace
that allows him to address his counterparts in a common language, with no constraints on complexity or volume. Once the document template is
set up, the central user usually distributes it to his counterparts to collect their data. But a template isn’t an application. How much time is spent
refining responses, gathering versions, and correcting inconsistencies before starting to use the received data effectively?
Data gathering in operations departments
For operations staff, Excel is the most effective tool for
designing and presenting data in “business” form ...But it is ineffective as a production tool
• Rich functionality / Arithmetic
• Files that can be read by any user
• No workflow
• No structuring
• No integrity check
Gathering Tools : overview 4/10

5. Gathering Tools® reproduces
existing office software
Gathering Tools® allows you to
transform input screens designed by
operations staff, into forms.
Gathering Tools® has a calculation
engine that reproduces the Excel
calculation functions and a renderer
that lets you produce the display
subtleties of spreadsheets:
conditional formatting, windows,
comments, etc.
Gathering Tools® has the same
capacity as Excel in term of number
of tabs, rows and columns. This
means you can guarantee to
operations staff that the new
application will reproduce all the
functionality and ergonomics of
existing documents, without them
having to describe them in a
specifications document! In this
case, the existing office software is
itself the specification document!
Gathering ToolsEXCEL
Gathering Tools : overview 5/10

6. Optimal control of the relationship
with data providers
Managers in charge of document
collection often complain about
consolidating office documents:
apart from the actual complexity
of consolidation, different
versions need to be managed,
relaunched, receipt confirmed,
etc... The management load
quickly becomes heavy. On the
other hand, an application that
simply stores data in a database
is also no longer satisfying
because it doesn’t allow fast and
user-friendly verification of the
data received in the way that
office documents do.
Gathering Tools® resolves this
paradox by offering a workflow
management interface that lets
you visualize the status of data-
gathering campaigns and validate
the responses by rebuilding the
submitted documents .
Gathering Tools : overview 6/10

7. Main features
Create forms
that will
preserve Excel
layout and
features
1
Get in sync with
you IS.
Fast!2
Give business
users ability to
manage / Trace
/ Validate3
Gathering Tools : overview 7/10

8. A robust architecture
Online ? Offline ? Why would
you have to choose ?
Gathering Tools offers you the
best of both worlds while only
involving standard technical
components you already own
(your web server, your mail
server, your database server…)
No matter how much users
you have nor where in the
world they are, Gathering
Tools®’s asynchronous
transactions ensure smooth
communications while keeping
the server’s load perfectly
linear.
Gathering Tools : overview 8/10

9. The Key benefits
• Les interfaces bureautiques Excel sont fidèlement reproduites et totalement
fonctionnelles.
L’ergonomie d’Excel
• Préservation des fonctionnalités arithmétiques quels que soient le nombre d’onglets,
de tableaux et la complexité des indicateurs.
La richesse fonctionnelle
• Contrôles de cohérence élaborés sans écriture de code.
• Sécurisation des transferts de données.
Fiabilité & Sécurité
• Définition dynamique des relations d’affectation.
• Pilotage étendu de la relation gestionnaire – destinataires.
Facilité de pilotage du processus de collecte
• Maquettage sous Excel, tests et déploiement rapides, 2 à 5 fois moins coûteux qu’un
développement spécifique.
Mise en œuvre simple et rapide
• Workflow utilisant la messagerie d’entreprise, interfaçage simple ave les systèmes en
place.
• Intégration dans les bases de données les plus courantes (SQL Server, Oracle…)
S’appuie sur l’infrastructure existante
• Evolution des formulaires par maquettage sous Excel.
Maintenance simple et évolutivité garantie
Gathering Tools : overview 9/10
Gathering Tools® reconciles
operations services with IT
services. Operations users will
immediately seen the full
efficiency that can be drawn
from a solution that extends
the existing office software
that they have put so much
effort into developing and
using. ……… ………… ………… ….… .
IT people, for their part, will
appreciate the ease of
integrating the product, its
flexibility and transversality in
use, and the low level of
technical and human
resourcing it requires.
• Excel office interfaces are faithfully reproduced and fully functional.
• Preserves arithmetic functionalities regardless of the number of tabs and tables or
complexity of indicators
• Develop consistency checks without writing code.
• Keep data transfer secure.
• Dynamic definition of relationships.
• Extensive monitoring of the manager/recipients relationship.
• Mockups in Excel, fast testing and rollout, 2 to 5 time less costly than a bespoke
developed solution.
• Workflow uses enterprise messaging, a single interface with the systems in place.
• Integrates with the most popular databases (SQL Server, Oracle…)
• Develop forms using mockups in Excel.
The ergonomics of Excel
Rich functionality
Reliability and Security
Easy-to-manage collection process
Simple, fast implementation
Rely on existing infrastructure
Maintenance simple ans Scalability guaranteed

10. Online demonstration, downloadable example,
user reviews:
www.calame-software.com
Want to know more?
Gathering Tools™ is a trademark of Calame Software S.A.S. Excel (Microsoft Office Excel) is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
Gathering Tools : overview 10/10