Ready to Ditch That Spreadsheet?

Many software projects start life as spreadsheets, or even Access databases. They're typically built by an organisation's resident "Excel Wizard" to automate or cut down the work of an otherwise manual process.

The amount of power you can squeeze into something you could send as an email attachment is impressive, especially considering how complex modern software can be. Even so, a spreadsheet has limits, and here are the signs you've reached them.

Audit trail

A plain spreadsheet file typically gives you very limited logging, if any, of who edited it and what they changed. If you need that level of detail for auditing, legislative or compliance reasons, it may be time to move to dedicated software.

Sharing

Another weakness of a single-file solution is that it's hard to share, or to have many people working on it at once. Software can handle many concurrent users without data being lost or overwritten. You also avoid people using outdated copies of your spreadsheet after you've added a feature or fixed a problem.

Access control

As a spreadsheet grows and more people use it, you often need to restrict access to certain areas, or keep certain people out altogether. Because the file is portable, that's hard to do well in a spreadsheet. A software product can use authentication and authorisation features to a level that spreadsheets can't.

Data quantity and complexity

The growing size and complexity of data is possibly the biggest killer of even the simplest spreadsheet. Things might start with just a few columns and rows, but you end up a victim of your own success.

People ask for more features, complex reports, calculated fields, data imports and exports. Before long, your simple spreadsheet is a full-time job to maintain, adding to your burden instead of easing it.

Spreadsheets still have their place

Spreadsheets rule! Software developers have a habit of turning their noses up at them because, in their eyes, everything should be a standalone software product.

I'm guilty of having this opinion sometimes, but there is a time and a place for a well-thought-out spreadsheet that achieves an organisation's goals. Many spreadsheets eventually outgrow that role and become software projects.

If you have an unwieldy spreadsheet, get in touch and we can talk about moving it to software.