Project Management Software – A Comparison With Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are the most popular and most convenient project management support tool.
How do they compare to PM software?
In which case should you use project management software and when? However, this post, will outline the advantages of each and give some pointers.
Depending on which research you rely on, the market for project management software is between $1.5 billion and $3.5 billion. That is for software that is specifically designed to support project management. Most organisations that have made significant efforts towards effective project management have recognised that it is challenging to manage a higher number of projects and people, or a larger project, without the support of technology.
However, the spreadsheet is the most often used tool for project management, even though worksheets were never intended to be project support tools. Spreadsheets are employed even by organisations that have a well-established project management platform.
This is for rather apparent reasons. Every company has a spreadsheet application, and most employees know how to use it. Because of this familiarity, individuals are more likely to solve problems using spreadsheets and other “office” software tools.
Furthermore, I am in the same boat as them. Spreadsheets are one of my favourite tools for keeping track of a wide range of information. Showing off my spreadsheet prowess is simple, handy, and, let’s face it, ego-boosting.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the differences between these two different types of tools. For this article, I selected six criteria by which to make the comparison. These were chosen from the feedback of customers and prospects and learn what is essential for the successful adoption and implementation of project tools within an organisation.
Data Mining
Data mining is a huge part of project management tools. The whole reason for having a device is to collect data to look intelligently at that data, make sure your processes are performing as advertised and make the right decisions.
You need to know which projects and tasks are slipping through the cracks so that you again react. You need to know when you will not have enough resources to meet the demand to allocate them properly or manage the market.
You need to know which issues are lurking so that you can address them now before you lose the favour of a critical customer. Moreover, it would be best to see how your processes are working to improve your operations continuously.
In today’s economy, competitive landscape, and accountability standards, you must have the data. Managers are getting blindsided because they do not know what is coming and what is going on. This is where the right project management software tool shines and spreadsheets fade.
An excellent project management tool will be database-oriented and allow for different ad hoc reporting types across multiple projects. This enables the mining of all kinds of data. You cannot do this in a spreadsheet at the same level.
If you know what you are doing, it is possible to tie spreadsheets together and generate some integrated data. However, that is not the same thing. You cannot, on a whim, mine into the data represented in your multiple spreadsheets. Also, in today’s environment, this is critically important. Gone are the days when not having the right data was acceptable.
Advantage: Project Management Software
Ease of Use
There are project management software systems that are easy to use. However, spreadsheets have power here. Most people are familiar with using spreadsheets; they are comfortable with them and even like using them. A big reason is that spreadsheets have no structure. People are not usually “forced” into how to use them. They are free to use them. However, they want.
Of course, there is a downside to this. It is tough to standardise a process or have any standard data structure when there is no structure in the tool itself. However, from a strict ease of use standpoint, spreadsheets cannot be beaten.
You can counter this in project management software by employing excellent, relevant, and periodic training, keeping your implementation simple, and using helps such as templates. However, we will give the advantage of this one to spreadsheets.
Advantage: Spreadsheets
Centralised Access
One of the things that organisations are doing today to become more competitive and more efficient is to provide everyone with access to the project information that they need. Marketing organisations are putting all of the information online for each client project. Engineering organisations are tracking all schedules and immediately identifying problems. Government agencies are putting all of the various required data online with their projects. Moreover, as it goes. The value of immediate access to information is profound.
An engineer can look at one system and immediately find the specifications he needs. A client manager can track the status of his client’s projects and identify issues early. A professional services manager can look up the contact information and scope of work for a critical project before answering a question.
Productivity means yielding results, bringing things about, or making things happen. This type of centralised access enables those on the front lines to produce results and know which action to take.
Project management software, especially online project management software, wins this one hand down. Spreadsheets are not designed for access by multiple people from multiple locations. They are designed with a single file / single-user scenario in mind.
Advantage: Project Management Software
Maintenance and Administration
Time and again, I talk with organisations that are spending a fantastic amount of time maintaining spreadsheets. There is so much time spent on activities attributable to spreadsheet usage:
- Tracking down the right spreadsheet
- Tracking down the correct version of the right spreadsheet
- Tracking down the email with the right version of the right spreadsheet
- Emailing out the proper spreadsheet to the people that don’t have it
- Tracking down the people who have the information that is needed to update the spreadsheet
- Updating the spreadsheet
- Maintaining the formulas and formatting of the spreadsheet
- Updating the standard format of all the spreadsheets to accommodate a “process enhancement.”
- Creating new spreadsheets
Moreover, the list goes on. The point is that while any tool will take time to maintain, spreadsheets take an excessive amount of time because they are single-user focused. Only one person can update them at a time. They also take time because they are file-based, meaning that you have to maintain separate files. Unless an organisation is good with a process to manage these files (the exception, not the rule), the files tend to be stored in an assortment of locations with non-standardised file names and even non-standardised layouts. If you take the time to study the amount of time people take to maintain these spreadsheets, you will be amazed.
On the flip side, project management software also takes time to maintain. I cannot say otherwise. It takes time to make sure the data is correct in the system, that processes are being followed correctly, and get information into the system simply. One of the flip sides of this is that many project management software systems enable the entry of data by everyone so that one person does not have to both find and enter the information. In this scenario, the maintenance is more truly maintenance than continual, non-stop data entry.
There are some ways to minimise the amount of maintenance and time spent on project management software systems, and these are focused on the initial setup. If you set up the system well, the maintenance time is reduced. Using items such as templates and pre-setup reports help to minimise the amount of time spent on the tool.
While both types of tools require time, a good setup project management software system has the edge over spreadsheets.
Advantage: Project Management Software
Flexibility
Flexibility in this context refers to the ability of the tool to adapt to your processes. In practicality, this refers to things such as being able to track any data peculiar to your company (i.e. adding fields) or implementing a new project template.
This is a harder attribute to measure, especially with the variation in project management software tools. Many tools are very rigid, meaning what you see is what you get. Some tools have become more flexible and allow a lot of adaptabilities – such as being able to adapt screens and data structures. This has become increasingly important.
It isn’t easy to perform a direct comparison because it depends on the project management software system you evaluate. Still, in reality, many systems will not be as flexible as a spreadsheet. In a spreadsheet, you can create a new column or row on a whim or create a brand new spreadsheet to track further information.
There is a downside to this flexibility, precisely the difficulty in standardising a process. However, from a strict look at flexibility, we have to give spreadsheets the nod. However, I caution you to test your project management software system for flexibility and make your comparison.
Advantage: Spreadsheets
Resource Allocation and Forecasting
This is similar to data mining, but it is so vital that it gets its billing. The management of which resources are assigned to which projects and tasks are a critical component of project management and one of the significant differences between spreadsheets and project management software.
There are three critical pieces to ensure good resource management. These include:
- A good work breakdown structure (breakout of the tasks in a project)
- A good estimation of the effort (not duration) to be expended on each task (and this project)
- A composite view of this information across all projects
Because of the single-file focus of spreadsheets, a sound project management software system should win this, hands down. A good system will provide views and reports with insight into resource allocation so that you can view problems and do future forecasting. That is not to say that you cannot do this with spreadsheets, but it isn’t accessible at best, and you need to have a very, very good setup.
Advantage: Project Management Software
Final Thoughts
Only you can decide the right tool for your organisation. Indeed using spreadsheets is better than using absolutely nothing. They do have value, and they may be a good fit for some organisations. However, right, project management software (especially enterprise-level) has the advantage of the following types of organisations:
- Organisations with more than a handful of projects to manage
- Organisations with more than a handful of people working on or managing projects
- Organisations with large or complex projects
Spreadsheets are primarily used because of convenience. However, convenience is not a great reason to use a tool that supports your critical processes. Be sure that you select and use a tool that adds to the efficiency and productivity of your people and procedures, and not the other way around. This will far outweigh the benefits of convenience.
While spreadsheets do have a couple of inherent advantages, such as natural ease of use and flexibility, you can employ best practices to minimise any downside to project management software.
For example, use templates as much as possible, simplify screens as much as possible, transparent document processes, focus on those processes instead of features, provide excellent training, and create good, relevant reports. Combining this with the inherent advantages of project management software will help create efficiencies, increase productivity and resource utilisation, and become more competitive.
