Utilize Office 365 for +300 page Financial Publication: Advice / Suggestions

Casual question; as I'm still in the early stages of this brainstorm, but...

Do you think Office 365 provides a viable solution for the publication of a fairly significant budget document?

• + 300 pages

• Multiple file types; doc & xls primarily

• Table of Contents

• Index

• Images; maps, pictures, reader's guides

• Etc

Individually, I realize 365 can handle all the components of a Budget Document. However, the concept I'd like to put together, is the best way to manage and/or organize this substantial file set; as well as make it repeatable for future years. For such a document, what suggestions might you have to:

• organize {file/doc management}

• manage {layout, modify, update}

• publish {Print and to web}

Has anyone else attempted this? I would think surely others would be investigating this as well?

I have spoken to multiple organizations, and the most common publication tool for their 'published' budget is a combination of Word and Excel. Yet no one appears to be taking it to the next step and organize it into a systematic, integrated, and global solution. Something that is interconnected, utilizes DAX narratives (or at least variables which allow autonomous updating), query updating, etc - but most importantly manages the document as a whole.

This feels like a fairly straightforward question; and not entirely creative at that. Which surprises me that I'm having trouble finding a straightforward solution for this. Perhaps I'm going about it wrong?

What tips or application combinations might you suggest to create such a beast? Ideally, I'd hope to incorporate TEAMS and Sharepoint as part of the development arm, as well. Any and all ideas are welcome. Thank you all!

On it! Thank you for the reminder. Though I spend a great deal of time reading on this site; I rarely post questions - so I forget about the importance of a User Profile

I have some rather lofty hopes for this project, but decided the idea was still too fresh and vague to waste the reader's time with undeveloped details and aspirations. Plus - I genuinely hope to get any brainstorming idea another might think of - so I didn't want to trap the conversation inside any preconceived notion.

Some background : My organization has decided to let our agreement with a publication/management provider lapse; and I have posited that we could achieve the same (and better) results exclusively using the Microsoft tools we are already paying for. To which - I feel obligated to state I will be in no way compensated for creating any replacement my organization chooses to use {I don't want to give the impression I'm asking for other's free help so I can cash it in for myself }. But I DO find the idea/opportunity kind of exciting - which fuels my interest. So I’ve been working on a proof-of-concept.

Gathering the basic premise I want to build around; I have isolated our necessary financial output to a single csv file - which I use as a datasource to feed all combinations of tables and variables throughout the Budget Document. From there I'm trying to boil down the entire document into as few Master documents as I can - so I can manage content through a template approach - so I can make editorial/debugging changes globally and quickly. I have some bells and whistles I'm coding in my spare time dealing with (for example)
sheet events and data validation to conform formatting to pre-specified standards for the users creating/updating the content
financial validation {via conditional formatting perhaps?} to ensure accuracy across tables throughout document/across files
logging for version control

I definitely figured I’d start with a streamlined directory to contain the files, but I’ve also tried to incorporate a refreshable directory output and navigation within files to move from one to the next; so users can keep track of what sections have been done and/or what state they are in. Thus far – I’ve primarily been working in Excel – as I don’t know better to use something else. Earlier I had set up a common Sharepoint directory with pertinent files (from a TEAMS group of all involved users); in the hopes of making use of the fact multiple users can access files simultaneously online. However, that was shot down when I remembered that all macros are disabled online. So I have to find another compromise between automation and access.

There are a whole lot of other routes I’m tracking down as well – but it just gets more rambly. Primarily though - I’m most trying to address global management of the Budget Document as a whole: universal Style management, print grouping, datasource management, directory navigation, and (sigh….) possibly workflow….

Anyhow – that’s the tip of what’s on my mind. As mentioned – I’m open to anything; and hoping to hear from at least a couple . Again – thank you, AliGW; as well as any and all others.

Thanks Ali - As a dashboard, periodic reporting tool - I absolutely plan to. However, it doesn't lend itself as well to print. Dynamic updatable data - it's great; and I indeed am trying to talk mgmt into publishing our budget on the web in that format. It would look much better as a querying tool for dept & fund financial information. But for physical copies we have to file with state agencies/etc - Tableau doesn't work as well. Specifically b/c of the hundred or so pages of text narrative contained in the book. I need the ability to manage significant word files. I'm certain a smarter person than I could organize Tableau in such a way it would work great; but as another basic tenet of this project - i need it to remain simple enough (or at least through guided tasks) that other users can step into the project without requiring they become a Tableau expert. One reason I am pushing for Microsoft - is that the larger base group is already familiar and comfortable with their applications. So their learning curve is lower.