BlackTor Group Ltd builds the formulae, macros, queries and scripts that businesses rely on every day, across Excel, XML, VBA, SQL, Python and data analytics.
Each discipline has its own page, updated as work is delivered.
Everything BlackTor builds is covered by non-disclosure agreements, so nothing on this site describes a real client, project or dataset. The techniques shown are real: the problems they solve are drawn from personal projects, or invented outright, chosen to demonstrate an approach rather than reveal anyone's business.
Latest: rebuilt the lookup logic across a character-builder workbook onto a single INDEX/MATCH index, so every cross-sheet reference resolves the same way, wherever it's used.
Visit the Excel site →Latest: patched cross-sheet formula references directly in a workbook's XML markup, editing the OOXML source instead of rebuilding the sheet by hand.
Visit the XML site →Latest: a custom ribbon tab with progressive button-enabling logic, written up as a three-part series.
Also: rebuilt bulk email through Classic Outlook and shared-mailbox .oft templates, after New Outlook broke COM automation.
Visit the VBA site →Latest: live queries running straight from Excel into an Access billing database: reporting without leaving the spreadsheet.
Visit the SQL site →Status: the newest addition to the practice. Formula-driven reporting work is next in line to be scripted.
Visit the Python site →Latest: brought the Access billing reports together on one refresh: Excel for the layout, SQL for the pull, VBA for the schedule.
Visit the Data Analytics site →Fixed-scope diagnosis and repair for Excel, Access and Outlook systems already in place, alongside the project work above.
Many small and medium UK businesses still run finance and operations on an Access database with an Excel front end, held together by VBA macros and Outlook automation built some years ago, often by someone no longer at the company. When one part breaks, whether that is a ribbon interface that has stopped responding, formulas that quietly reference the wrong sheet, or Outlook automation that failed after a move to New Outlook, the business is often left with no one on hand who understands the system well enough to fix it.
BlackTor Group diagnoses and repairs exactly this kind of legacy system, without requiring a rebuild from scratch.
Discuss a rescue engagement →