Additionally, you can use free Excel templates to make project management easier. The question is: are you using Excel to manage your projects or save time? Learn about the top 7 pros and cons of using Excel for project management.
The Top 7 Pros of Using Excel as a Project Management Tool
There is no doubt that Excel is the leading data logging and visualization app. The company has been ruling the market for 34 years now. The following reasons make Excel an excellent project management tool:
1. Best Suited for Simple and Singular Projects
Excel is the right tool if you are working on just one project at a time and have a small group of project members. Microsoft offers free templates, such as the Gantt Project Planner in Excel.
When you open Excel, click on New, then search for Gantt Project Planner. To create an Excel workbook, click on the template.
2. Big Savings on Time and Money
Excel is just one tool you need to perform various tasks for your freelancing or business projects. Therefore, you do not need to invest in additional software purchases. Moreover, if the members within a team already know how to use Excel, you also save time on new tool training.
3. Data Warehousing in Comprehensive Spreadsheets
In Excel, you have the option of storing project data directly in databases. You can access or recover specific project data from one place while managing project tasks.
You can also create comprehensive spreadsheets in an Excel workbook to store millions of data for big data analysis. You can manipulate the data with a few keyboard shortcuts and highlight crucial data linked to project development methodology.
4. To-Do Lists & Project Timeline
If you need to circulate interactive to-do lists among the teammates, you can use Excel to save money on additional apps. An interactive user interface allows you to create task lists using rows and columns. You can also integrate Excel tables in the web portal, MS Word, and Microsoft OneDrive for easy access.
For a detailed project schedule and high-level project roadmap, you can use Excel to create a comprehensive project timeline.
5. Instant Project Data Reporting Using One Tool
There are many reporting features available in Excel that you can make good use of. You can mainly use Excel table (Ctrl+T), Pivot Table (Alt+N+V), Power Pivot, etc. You can also integrate such reports in Powerpoint to present to the audience. You can use the Blue Sales Report template for this purpose.
6. Graphs, Charts, and 3D Maps
When you present a project performance report to the client, you can make data visualizations attractive by inserting graphs, charts, and 3D maps. You can access free line charts, doughnut charts, pie charts, radar charts, stock charts, bubble charts, etc., without having to pay for any additional service.
7. Simple Templates for Work Scheduling
Project managers or freelancers use Excel templates for work schedules. You can easily track the followings in Excel:
Time spent by team members. Time spent on project tasks. Remaining time to complete the project. Approaching project deadlines.
The Top 7 Cons of Using Excel as a Project Management Tool
Excel’s weaknesses are evident when your team needs to handle a project that goes beyond simple, in-house, and small. There are several challenges you will face while using Excel:
1. Collaboration Is Unproductive
When you manage project tasks and schedules in an Excel file, it becomes challenging to collaborate with others. There are complex formulas to implement, cells that need to be locked, and you must set up network sharing.
2. Fewer Options for Real-Time Project Update
In Excel, real-time status update implementation is minimal and ambiguous. To integrate Excel files with web portals or project development apps, you and your team need advanced Excel skills and VBA scripting. These manual approaches do not fetch satisfactory results in all cases.
3. Absence of Instant Communication Feature
To work on a project management file in Excel, you will need to set up meetings with the team using third-party apps such as Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc. Therefore, you may need to pay for additional communication apps.
4. Roadblocks in Ensuring Data Integrity
One of the main obstacles of project management using Excel is controlling file versions. If members get full access to the file, there will be conflict arising due to concurrent edits. To ensure data integrity, you need complex formulas, conditional formatting, and Track Changes.
5. Less Efficient Issue Management
Although there is an Excel template for tracking and managing issues, the process is still manual. Updating every field requires too much time. You also do not have an option to link specific issues to a project segment.
Manual update is a risky task as any misplaced data could lead to substantial productive hour loss. Therefore, you need automated issue tracking tools for project management.
6. Poor Time and Team Management
In Excel, you can mainly create rows and sub-rows to define project tasks and sub-tasks. You also need to perform cell formatting and color-coding.
Due to the manual nature of this work, you will have to dedicate a significant portion of your working hours to data entry rather than actual project development. Eventually, this delays the project’s delivery timeline and expands the project budget.
Less collaborative work and more manual inputs have the potential to demoralize the team. Effective team management is virtually impossible in Excel, and you need a dedicated project management app.
7. Absence of Dedicated UI and Features
The most obvious drawback of Excel is that it is not specialized in project management. It lacks important UI features such as:
Automatic task entry. Sub-task creation. Task assignment. Progress tracking. Dependencies. Task commenting. Link project status from development tools. Marking project completion.
Most of the Excel templates for project management are makeshift arrangements. The app is unable to help project managers or freelancers to unleash their full potential.
The cost savings are usually offset by the loss of productive hours and the additional expenses of the meeting and messaging apps. The project data you share with other team members via email or external storage media poses many security risks.
Try Out Dedicated Project Management Tools
Excel is an undeniable project management tool that offers many advantages. If you have a small team, Excel may seem like a good tool for you. However, if you want artificial intelligence, a no-brainer UI, and team engagement, try free professional project management applications.
