7 Reasons Why Excel Is Putting Your Project At Risk

We’ve all been there: staring at a spreadsheet, trying to make sense of numbers and formulas that don’t seem to add up. Excel is often touted as the perfect project management tool, but in reality, it can put your project at risk. In this article, we explain why relying on Microsoft Excel can cause more harm than good when it comes to managing your construction projects.

Why Spreadsheets Are Putting Your Construction Projects At Risk

Spreadsheets may seem like the perfect solution for managing projects and organizing related data, but in reality they can put construction projects at risk in more ways than one. To illustrate this point, below are different reasons why spreadsheets should not be used as your primary form of project management.

Spreadsheets Have No Specialized Features

If spreadsheets aren’t mastered, they can expose you to potential problems that could affect your deadlines and even make some tasks impossible. This level of risk can negatively impact all aspects of a construction project. Worse yet, it puts all parties involved in a precarious situation. The only way to mitigate these project risks is to invest in modern software solutions that will protect you from the negative risks associated with using spreadsheets exclusively throughout the life cycle of your construction project.

Excel Spreadsheets Don’t Provide A Single View Of Your Project

Spreadsheets don’t give a single view of your project, but rather a fragmented one. You need to manually switch between tabs or sheets and do tedious data entry in order to see the big picture of the project’s progress. In addition, it doesn’t provide real-time updates on at-risk events, which can delay action plans and increase additional costs.

Using excel for managing projects may seem like a cost-effective solution but it can ultimately lead to unnecessary delays due to its lack of comprehensive features. A better approach is to invest in an integrated system that provides instant visibility into every element of your project so that you can identify problems before they become costly.

Best timesheet app for construction companies

Spreadsheets Don’t Optimize Communication In Real Time

Spreadsheets are a basic tool that can be used for day-to-day tasks, but they do not optimize communication with stakeholders when managing projects. If you are dealing with multiple key stakeholders and need to quickly identify any issues or changes in your project, spreadsheets are not enough. With spreadsheets as a daily tool, there is no single, reliable place where everyone can find up-to-date information on every task involved in a project. By working this way, important details are often overlooked when communicating updates to team members.

Why use a project management tool?

Spreadsheets Waste A Lot Of Time

Spreadsheets waste lots of time and effort, which can put a project at risk. When working with Excel spreadsheets, a large amount of time is lost due to formatting the worksheet, manually entering data, using formulas, etc. There’s nothing worse than having your team stuck doing things that could be automated or done more efficiently by another tool.

Spreadsheets Yield Inaccurate Calculations

For any project, inaccurate calculations is a risk that must be considered. Spreadsheets can easily lead to errors and inaccuracies. If not monitored carefully, these errors can cause serious problems for your project in terms of cost and timeline. It’s important for companies to understand this risk so that they can develop appropriate strategies to avoid mistakes in the future.

Why should businesses invest in technology?

Spreadsheets Don’t Protect Your Data

Every company should know the importance of a risk management strategy as it is essential for project planning. Spreadsheets present many risks that can be divided into two common risk categories: financial implications and critical risks. The first problem is related to financial implications. This includes bugs or errors in formulas which lead to incorrect calculations and misinformed decisions about investments or budgeting.

A second major issue is critical risk. If data is not properly secured, hackers can gain access to confidential information such as customer details or financial records. This can lead to serious reputation damage as well as legal action against the company involved. Adopting a cloud security policy, with strict password encryption rules and regular backups can help mitigate this risk category significantly.

Spreadsheets Lead You To Make Bad Decisions

Using spreadsheets may seem like an efficient way to process and present complex data, but the more complex the data becomes, the more errors that can happen. According to a study by software company CA Technologies, 88% of spreadsheets contain errors. For example, if you enter the wrong formula or mix up cells when copying it from one place to another, your result could be drastically different from what you were expecting. This can lead to erroneous conclusions and false assumptions about the data being presented. An Excel spreadsheet is no match for a modern project management app.

The Best Construction Project Management Software For Your Business

Project management software is an invaluable tool for any business. It helps ensure that all the aspects of a construction project are managed correctly and efficiently, allowing the entire project team to work together in harmony. When it comes to construction projects, using the best project management app can make a huge difference in the success or failure of your projects.

Get a demo