Immediate usability: Libraries functioned right away after installation, with no troubleshooting required.
Accelerated SDLC: Prebuilt components eliminated months of custom development work.
Exceptional support: Fast, knowledgeable answers enabled smooth implementation and minimal downtime.
Introduction
Valbridge Property Advisors is the largest independent commercial valuation and advisory services firm in North America. In just over a decade, the company has grown to 69 offices across the United States with more than 675 staff, including 200 MAI‑designated appraisers. With deep industry knowledge and standardized valuation practices, Valbridge delivers trusted, data‑driven appraisal and consulting services across diverse property sectors.
Problem Summary
While building an internal application to modernize its appraisal workflows, Tony Lesicka, VP of Technology, and his development team faced persistent challenges when attempting to split, merge, and transfer sections and data between Microsoft Word and Excel. Their in‑house attempts—including VBA scripts and custom code—were unstable, difficult to maintain, and too slow to support real‑world appraisal workloads, creating significant delays in their software development lifecycle and preventing seamless document generation across platforms.
“Syncfusion has a comprehensive suite of tools that cover a broad range of use cases. It offers best‑in‑class, very responsive, extremely competent customer support, very prompt bug fixes, and hands‑on assistance from the development team—the best we’ve seen.”
– Tony Lesicka, VP of Technology.
BEFORE SYNCFUSION
Challenges
- Needed the ability to reliably split, merge, and transfer sections and data across Microsoft Excel and Word.
- VBA scripts and custom-built solutions were unstable and performed too slowly for production use.
- Maintaining custom implementations resulted in excessive development and maintenance overhead.
- Lack of consistency and automation created bottlenecks in producing standardized final reports.
AFTER SYNCFUSION
Solutions
- Adopted Syncfusion Excel and Word .NET libraries to perform advanced operations such as splitting, merging, and linking data ranges.
- Replaced fragile VBA scripts with high‑performance, production‑ready components.
- Leveraged Syncfusion’s rapid, hands-on technical support to resolve development barriers.
- Integrated prebuilt document‑processing capabilities to accelerate the SDLC and reduce custom coding.
Implementation
Valbridge’s engineering team integrated Syncfusion’s Excel and Word libraries directly into their internal application, beginning with the automation of spreadsheet data manipulation. Using the Excel library, they implemented logic to read, segment, and reorganize data ranges that previously required manual effort or unstable VBA scripts. These ranges were programmatically mapped to corresponding sections in Word documents using Syncfusion’s Word library.
The team also developed custom modules that allowed appraisers to select properties, generate comparable analyses, and instantly merge supporting documents into a standardized report template. Syncfusion’s APIs enabled consistent formatting, dynamic content insertion, and the creation of multi‑section files without breaking links or formatting rules. Throughout the process, Syncfusion support engineers provided assistance with advanced scenarios, helping the team quickly overcome edge cases and optimize performance. The final solution produced a seamless Excel‑to‑Word pipeline fully embedded into Valbridge’s appraisal workflow, significantly improving speed, reliability, and maintainability.
Results
Valbridge significantly reduced development and maintenance overhead by replacing custom-coded features with ready‑to‑use Syncfusion components. The team accelerated delivery of its internal application, introduced highly reliable Excel‑to‑Word automation, and improved consistency across appraisal reports. The solution now supports real‑world appraisal workflows with greater speed, accuracy, and automation, enabling appraisers to focus on analysis rather than document manipulation.
Future Plans
Valbridge plans to expand automation across additional appraisal processes, enhance reporting templates, and further utilize Syncfusion’s document‑processing and data‑visualization libraries to support even more advanced workflows in their internal platform.
Conclusion
By integrating Syncfusion’s Excel and Word libraries, Valbridge Property Advisors delivered a feature-rich internal application that dramatically improved the efficiency and reliability of its appraisal document workflows. The combination of powerful prebuilt components and outstanding technical support enabled the technology team to implement complex Excel and Word operations quickly and confidently. Syncfusion helped them create a scalable, automated solution that continues to streamline appraisal production across the organization.
