Hello @Joseph_B,
I totally understand the frustration! I work with a lot of financial schedules and estimates which are typically (from legacy activities) setup in similar data schema.
As part of my work to make past information more flexible, I have “de-pivoted” / “flattened” a lot of excel tables into something that is less table and more row-focused.
This can be done automatically within excel prior to data import, and doing so allows for a lot more flexibility once you are inside Coda.
I know this isn’t exactly what you are asking, but it is one route that has made my life easier when approaching the same problem, thanks!