Professional Services Software Built From Your Own Spreadsheets
Client intake, approvals, project delivery, and billing software built by LlamaPress from the spreadsheets your firm already uses. See how Leonardo turns them into real apps.
Back to all articlesYour firm runs on spreadsheets that were never built for this
A new client signs. Sales forwards the email thread to the project manager with a note that says "kicking this over to you." That thread is the handoff. Somewhere in it are the client's entity name, their point of contact, and a half-answered question about scope.
The project manager opens the engagement spreadsheet, copies last quarter's tab, and starts working the list. Request the engagement letter. Collect the signed documents. Chase the deliverables, the internal review, the approval. Each row has a name in the "owner" column that nobody actually checks. Time tracking lives in a separate tool, billing in another, and the two never quite agree on what was actually done.
Three weeks in, the client emails to ask why they were just billed for work they never approved. Nobody can say where the approval went. Nobody can say how many hours have actually been spent, because the spreadsheet says whatever it said the last time someone remembered to update it. An engagement that should be running smoothly is running on trust and memory.
None of this is a people problem. Your team is skilled and your project managers are probably the most organized people in the building. The problem is that a spreadsheet has no memory of who was asked for what, no way to prompt the next step, and no single view of the engagement that everyone can trust.
Real apps for the work your firm actually does
LlamaPress builds custom software for professional services firms, usually starting from the spreadsheet that already runs the process. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Client Intake
Every new client becomes a record with a status: intake form received, documents collected, engagement letter signed, kickoff scheduled. The handoff from sales to delivery stops being a forwarded email thread.
Engagement Tracking
Each engagement has a stage, an owner, and the work products expected at every step. The "owner" column becomes an actual assignment, and nobody has to ask "where is this engagement?" because the answer is always on screen.
Approvals
Deliverables, budgets, and scope changes routed through an approval step with a paper trail. No more "did anyone actually approve this?" The answer is attached to the work itself, timestamped and signed.
Time & Billing
Hours logged against engagements, budgets tracked against actuals, and billing pulled from the same record. The spreadsheet and the time tool stop disagreeing, because they become one system.
Client Portals
Clients see their engagement status, outstanding documents, and approved deliverables without emailing for an update. The firm stops answering "any update?" because the update is always in front of them.
Firm Reporting
Utilization, engagement profitability, and pipeline reported from the same data your team enters daily. The partners' meeting stops being a reconciliation exercise and starts being a strategy conversation.
From spreadsheet to firm software, with Leonardo
Leonardo is LlamaPress's AI builder. It reads the spreadsheet the way a developer would read a spec, then builds the software around it. You can start for free and see the first working version in your first session.
Upload the spreadsheet you use today
Head to Excel to App and upload your client tracker, engagement log, or pipeline exactly as it is. Tabs, color coding, notes in cells. Leonardo reads the columns, the logic, and the statuses you apply by hand.
Leonardo builds the first working version
Your spreadsheet becomes an application: a client record for each engagement, guided stages, document attachments, and the reports your firm actually runs. It runs on a real database from day one, so nothing lives in someone's head or inbox anymore.
Refine it in plain English
"Audit clients skip the scoping step." "Add a budget approval before we start." "Only partners see profitability." You describe the change, Leonardo makes it. The process logic lands exactly as your best project manager would explain it.
Go live with your team and clients
Invite your team, send clients their portal links, and retire the spreadsheet. The application keeps evolving as your process does, because changing it is a conversation rather than a development contract.
Why not just buy an existing system?
Most firms have already looked at the big platforms and the generic tools. Both miss the point in different ways.
Practice management suites
Powerful, and priced for firms with an IT team and a long implementation. A mid-sized firm ends up paying for a hundred features to use nine of them, then waits for a change to a workflow it already has working.
Generic project trackers
A shared to-do list with a nicer interface than your spreadsheet. It still has no idea that an engagement needs an approval before billing or that a client portal should show only certain stages. Your process logic stays in someone's head.
Better spreadsheets
Conditional formatting and shared drives can go only so far. The moment a document needs to attach to an engagement, or two people update the same file, the spreadsheet stops being the tool and starts being the bottleneck.
LlamaPress builds the option that fits: software shaped to your firm's process, at a price shaped to your size. See pricing for what that costs.
Questions firms ask us
How long does it take to go from spreadsheet to a live system?
The first working version is built by Leonardo in your first session, usually within the hour. Most teams spend a few days refining stages, fields, and reports, then run one real client through it before switching over fully. Weeks, not quarters.
Do our clients get their own portal?
Yes. Each client gets a login where they see their engagement status, outstanding documents, and approved deliverables. They see only their own engagement, and your team controls exactly which stages are client-visible.
We handle confidential client and financial data. How is that protected?
Your application runs on its own dedicated instance with its own database, so client records are never pooled with other firms' data. Documents are stored with access controls and every access is logged. For regulated industries, talk to us on the contact page about your specific requirements.
Will my existing client history come across?
Yes. Whatever is in your spreadsheet today is imported into the app, so you are not starting from a blank slate. You keep the history and gain the structure.
Who owns the software and the data?
You do. The application is yours, the database is yours, and your data is exportable at any time. Paid plans include access to the source code, so you are never locked into us to keep the system you built.
Your spreadsheet is the spec. Upload it.
The client tracker you shepherd by hand already describes your ideal software. Leonardo will build the real version, with engagement stages, approvals, and reports that run themselves.