Convert data like you do in Excel – but with a tool that is created for it
SHORT
If you convert table like data, think Excel and manipulation, before being able to use it:
There is a tool called Openrefine for this and it is free.
TL;DR
Sometimes one gets a file from the customer to import into a system. The received data is almost correct.
So one opens a spread sheet, pastes/imports and start converting. After a while deed is done and case is closed. Then one gets a new file and redoes everything.
In my above, real life, example a spreadsheet program like Excel or Openoffice-Calc is used. But that is not what it is created for, or best at, or even good at.
I have wished for a program created for importing and converting data. And it has existed since many years, albeit seldom mentioned.