{"id":3038,"date":"2017-01-02T18:01:31","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T18:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.binfire.com\/blog\/?p=3038"},"modified":"2017-01-02T18:01:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T18:01:31","slug":"excel-not-project-management-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.binfire.com\/blog\/excel-not-project-management-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Excel & Google Docs aren't Project Management Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

You manage projects at a small business.\u00a0 Budgets are tight.\u00a0\u00a0 Teams are overstretched.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even though you know you need project management tool, nobody feels\u00a0online project management software<\/a> is necessary.<\/p>\n

You get push-back that Microsoft Excel is good enough and no project planning\u00a0tool<\/a> is needed.<\/p>\n

Using excel is easy, you have used it for a long time.\u00a0You are very familiar with it, in fact you love using it! It is a great tool as a\u00a0spreadsheet but not for managing projects.<\/p>\n

Based on our experience with lightweight tools, it is a big mistake to re-purpose a spreadsheet and rename it project\u00a0management tool.<\/p>\n

The reason that Excel is used is because with enough work, it is possible to create a decent visualization of a project plan.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, visualization of a project plan is only a fraction of the functionality that project management software provides.\u00a0 Our advice:\u00a0 even accidental project managers should avoid Excel.<\/p>\n

Excel is not a Project Management Tool<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start by reviewing some of the common problems that you will likely encounter when using Microsoft Excel (or Google Docs) as a\u00a0Project Management Tool.<\/p>\n

There is no way to scale a project with Excel.<\/strong> Even for small projects where Excel can be used, its limitations are reached relatively quickly.<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 Because effective project management software grows with the team, but that is not the case with Excel.\u00a0\u00a0 It is possible to re-create the appearances of a Gantt Chart but there is no simple way to systematically add users to a project.<\/p>\n

Excel is not a communication tool.<\/strong> \u00a0Teams need to communicate which is why any decent online project management tool contains collaboration functionality.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some features that simply cannot be provided by Microsoft Excel:<\/p>\n

Updating team members when a milestone has been reached or there is a change in the project plan b. \u00a0Using instant chat within the software application to collaborate with team members on a real-time basis.<\/p>\n

Excel does not provide multi-user access. <\/strong>Most online project management software packages can be accessed by any user with the appropriate permissions.\u00a0\u00a0 Excel is a single file that can only be worked on by one person at any given time.<\/p>\n

Changes made to an excel spreadsheet need to be saved locally and then shared.\u00a0\u00a0 When more than one person needs to use an Excel-based project plan, it can create confusion and version control issue.<\/p>\n

Of-course, there are knowledge management tools such as SharePoint that can be used to control program access, but this requires a second level of investment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Excel does not record project changes. <\/strong>Perhaps the biggest drawback of Excel is it is difficult to record changes made to the project plan.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say there are five people on the team with access to the spreadsheet and one makes significant changes that are not sanctioned by the team lead.<\/p>\n

Once the document is saved, the previous versions are no longer available.\u00a0\u00a0 It is possible to keep saving the document using different names, but this is not a productive workaround.<\/p>\n

Integration with document collaboration. \u00a0<\/strong>Every project has documents and during project’s life cycle many documents are created. The project data and knowledge resides in these documents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

When working on a project, one needs to access the project-related documentation easily and in a timely manner.\u00a0\u00a0 The workarounds in Excel for document collaboration relies on embedding links to documents in a cell adjacent to task in a spreadsheet task.<\/p>\n

This is an ineffective workaround because the link does not automatically change when the file name changes.\u00a0\u00a0 Microsoft has other solutions for document collaboration<\/a> such as SharePoint.<\/p>\n

However, this is a separate technology requiring its own software licenses, servers etc.<\/p>\n

These are just a few examples of some of the basics features missing in Excel or similar applications.<\/p>\n

More advanced features such as dependencies, resource loading and transparent workflows were not covered since Excel can’t properly address those features. Lack of those features should be considered when\u00a0considering Excel for managing projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You manage projects at a small business.\u00a0 Budgets are tight.\u00a0\u00a0 Teams are overstretched.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even though you know you need project management tool, nobody feels\u00a0online project management software is necessary. You…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,47],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-3038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management-2","category-project-management-software","tag-microsoft-excel"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Excel & Google Docs aren't Project Management Tool - Collaboration Corner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It might be tempting to use the tools you are familiar with as a project management tool, but rarely they are effective. Excel is not a PM tool!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.binfire.com\/blog\/excel-not-project-management-tool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Excel & Google Docs aren't Project Management Tool - Collaboration Corner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It might be tempting to use the tools you are familiar with as a project management tool, but rarely they are effective. 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