Risks of using a spreadsheet for project management
As spreadsheets are easy to start with and learn, there is a huge number of businesses using a spreadsheet for project management, for keeping records and data analysis.
The results are further used for predictions and decision making — definitely very important, sometimes even mission critical tasks.
- The path often travelled
- 81% of companies use spreadsheets
- 94% probability of an error
- Spreadsheets can consume up to 50% of work time
- How to replace spreadsheet for project management?
- Online database applications
- Conclusion
The path often travelled
We all know it. It starts with a simple task — to create a small report. And using a spreadsheet is the fastest and the most convenient way to do it.
However, a report is never small enough. You add some data that weren’t considered before, and another chart, and change some numbers…
Actually, the report has become a living organism. There is always something to improve and you want your report to be as good as it can be.
The data are copied, duplicated, modified and the functions are getting more and more complex.
The report is almost finished, and then it happens… Wait, a few cells are missing from the range, let’s fix that! By the way, what is the exact meaning of this column? Is this per week or overall value? How come that when I change the values, the chart is unaffected?
Suddenly, everything is breaking down and the more you try to save it, the more impossible it seems.
81% of companies use spreadsheets
The rise of spreadsheets in early 80’s meant a revolution in a way how business data is stored, processed, analyzed and presented.
Suddenly, there was no need to use physical sheets. Everything could be stored in a set of tables that were more flexible, more understandable and could effectively perform useful calculations. In those days, it had to look almost like a miracle.
Since then, spreadsheets became the first choice when it comes to working with data in many business. They are easy to start with, offer a lot of flexibility and even unexperienced and non-professional users can use it as a sandbox to experiment with their data.
It is quite usual to have some data in advance and no idea what do we want to search for in these data.
Also, since then, the times they are a changin’. The amount of data entered into spreadsheets grow and they are becoming more and more complex.
Despite the fact that many companies use spreadsheet for project management, the spreadsheet functionalities and possibilities are not growing so fast. The possibilities are now imposing significant limitations on their usage.
But the spreadsheets are so hard-wired into the minds of people that they continue to be used even if they are error-prone and difficult to manage — there is a report that reads: 81% of businesses still use spreadsheets.
94% probability of an error
It is an undeniable fact that spreadsheets are one of the most frequently used types of software. Just Excel alone has 750 million users, as Microsoft reports, and there are also other software solutions that share a portion of the market, such as Apple Numbers or Google Sheets.
