The most common flavor of this question is: They don’t know the overall status of the project or if a teammate is struggling with a task.Should you keep managing your projects in Excel, or make the switch to Microsoft Project?Īs a company that helps people build project reports no matter what the data source, our users often come to us with questions about which tools they should use to actually manage their projects to begin with. Team members cannot easily check the status of a task or identify what they need to do next. This means more time is wasted as individuals try to figure out what is relevant to their work.Įxcel does not include key collaboration tools such as conversation tracking, file sharing, discussion boards, and task lists. Creating individual, tailored views with varying administration privileges is impossible in Excel. ![]() This reduces visibility into the project and makes informed decision-making impossible.ĭifferent team members and stakeholders need different information. When information is spread across multiple files, it’s easy to overlook risks, miss upcoming deadlines, or ignore overallocated resources. If someone has saved the only copy of an important document on their local computer and forgets to share the file before going on vacation, the project could stop for a few weeks!Īdded to these frustrations is a lack of ownership many people may use the file but no one is in charge of checking the accuracy of the data.Īs you probably guessed, Excel is not an ideal project reporting tool! Saving spreadsheets in different locations leads to inconsistent information stored in various silos. This lack of clarity is a major headache for heavily regulated industries such as healthcare or finance. Spreadsheets are error-prone, especially if used by multiple team members. It’s impossible to know if you are working with the most recent version of the spreadsheet, if the formulas are correct, or if any data was accidentally replaced or overwritten. Getting a complete, inclusive view of the project, along with key decisions, is impossible. Very time-consumingĭepending on the size and complexity of individual projects, and the number of projects you are managing or participating in, it’s easy to waste time finding, updating, and double-checking project information.Īs Excel is only suitable for certain types of data, you’ll need to look elsewhere for key documents such as the project statement and status reports. ![]() Let’s take a look at five common reasons not to use Excel for project management, and why SharePoint is an ideal alternative.ĥ Reasons Not to use Excel for Project Management 1. In many cases, teams are forced to develop complex templates and workarounds in Excel and are reluctant to try a new method. Organizations often don’t want to invest in separate project management software, preferring to use readily available systems. ![]() ![]() Launched in 1985, Microsoft Excel has an estimated user base of 750 million users worldwide, making it accessible to many project teams. It makes sense that many organizations turn to Excel for project management. No more spreadsheets!įrom broken formulas and deleted data to overlooked risks and late tasks, spreadsheets are the bane of many projects. Start using SharePoint for project management for free today. If you are using Excel for project management, you’ll be familiar with the multitude of problems a spreadsheet can create.
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