What are the limits of project management with Excel?

Among the various programs in the Microsoft Office office suite, Excel is ideal for processing and analyzing data, creating custom tables, performing calculations and making graphical presentations. Easy to use, reliable and flexible, it is a powerful, practical and popular tool in business. However, Excel is not at all a suitable software for project management. We explain to you why.

The 5 limits of Excel in project management

1. It is not a collaborative tool

To succeed in project management, collaboration is essential. It is carried out between the members of the project team, but also with the client as well as with the various stakeholders in the project. Collaborating means that everyone pools their skills and knowledge in order to achieve a common goal. And for that to work, communication is key.

Today, an Excel spreadsheet does not allow collaboration or communication. When you work on Excel, you do not have the possibility to communicate directly with your collaborators. To do this, you have to send them an email, call them or go see them. Yes, you can leave comments, but they are not dated.

Another major problem is that Excel files are not collaborative. If you are working on an Excel file and another member of the team wants to make changes to it, it will generate a new file because it is impossible to work on the same Excel document simultaneously. Data will then have to be shared again, which represents a waste of time, but also a risk of making mistakes and losing data. And with the multiplication of files, it's hard to know which one is the right one.

2. It is not a dynamic tool

In an Excel table, the data does not update automatically. Of course, there are formulas for doing automatic calculations with numerical data, but it is up to you to enter the data you want to see added up. What should you do when dealing with non-digital data?

In Excel, the information is frozen. Your tasks will not go from “in progress” to “completed” by themselves in real time. It is up to you to manipulate and update all the data in the spreadsheet daily so that it does not become obsolete. Even if it only takes a few minutes, put together, you are wasting time on trivial matters, rather than continuing on with your next task.

In addition, if a collaborator forgets to update the file, a team member can then start a task that seems to be late when it is in fact already completed. This is a waste of time, an unnecessary mobilization of resources and therefore a loss of money.

3. It is not a tracking tool

In project management, it is essential to carefully monitor the progress of the project in real time to ensure its success. The fact that Excel is not a dynamic tool also poses a problem in terms of project monitoring. Indeed, if the Excel file is not updated daily, it is difficult for the project manager and his team to know exactly what the progress of the project is. How can they know in real time which tasks have already been completed, which are in progress, and which are overdue?

4. It is not an interactive tool

In Excel, it is not possible to add an attachment to your file. You are therefore obliged to send your attachments by email and to inform your collaborators of where they are on the network. It is also not possible to integrate various applications that can make your life easier such as Evernote, Dropbox or Outlook.

In Excel, no notifications or alerts to inform you of the latest changes to a document, announce the move of a meeting or remind you of the impending deadline of a task.

Finally, Excel is quite easy to learn for basic use. On the other hand, if you want to master the various formulas and macros of a spreadsheet, it is essential to follow extensive training and practice regularly. And even with such mastery, you won't be able to effectively manage a project with this tool.

5. It is not a secure tool

Today, data security is critical for all businesses. Whether you are working on sensitive projects or not, Excel does not allow you to decide who to give access to a document to. If the file is accidentally sent to the wrong person, your data is not protected.

If, by mistake or by accident, you delete data on your Excel file before a backup, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to recover the deleted data without going through a computer specialist. Not only will you be wasting valuable time trying to recover or regain lost information, but this small mistake could cause your project to fail.

The solution: real project management software

Forget Excel for the management of your projects and adopt a perfectly adapted tool: the project management software.

With this essential tool, you can:

• collaborate easily no matter where you are;
• share your documents of all sizes in a few clicks;
• work simultaneously on the same document and know what is the latest version of the document thanks to versioning;
• exchange in real time with your employees;
• centralize all project data on a single platform;
• follow the evolution of your projects at a glance;
• easily manage the access rights of your external collaborators, partners and customers;
• create a shared agenda per project ;
• access your files wherever you are and thus work remotely;
• guarantee the security, confidentiality and sovereignty of your project data.

To see how effective project management software is, try Wimi for 14 days free of charge and without obligation. You will no longer manage your projects in the same way.