Spreadsheets are really great tools – they are fantastic for capturing data, calculations, scenario planning – but what they are not is they are not an ERP system! Despite this many business use them as such – allowing spreadsheets to be the backbone of key processes.

Here’s Ten reasons why you shouldn’t allow your spreadsheet applications to dominate your business!

1 – They are don’t follow business logic and don’t know about business processes – “what do you mean whenever we receive an order from Company ABC I have to record a reference number, check our stock and validate their account with the Finance dept? – My list doesn’t do that!”.

2 – They are not integrated – unless you come up with some whizzy code most spreadsheets are stand alone and focus specifically on the process they are setup to record “what do you mean you want my list of deliveries that I have in my spreadsheet to go and update my purchase order file and tell finance they can pay the supplier invoice?????

3 – While Excel has some great validation tools – most spreadsheets (unless configured to do so) are not built with this enabled – for example want to enter your date as 1 January 200010 – fire away!

4 – MACRO’s – Macro’s require a level of expertise to build and maintain – they should always be documented to describe how they work – what inputs are required and what outputs are generated – For example – Joe Bloggs who wrote that fantastic macro to format and process the sales of super-widgets ABC has left the organization and nobody knows how it’s configured – and guess what…business rules have changed and we need to update the macro! Argh! Business process stops and we can’t get ship product – the spreadsheet dies and we have to do it manually.

5 – Its really really REALLY (get the point?) easy to delete or amend data (and in my experience excel files often have a slightly less robust disaster recovery plan than an ERP system.) While this might seem great at the outset – “look how easy my order intake file is to edit”. It can soon become a nightmare!

6 – They require man hours and effort to keep data aligned to the company ERP. And seriously once the two get out of synch (which they will!) your doomed!

7 – When used for management information they often give a completely different impression to reports generated from the company ERP.

8 – Most spreadsheets are not “shared” so one spreadsheet can only be used by one user at a time. Instant bottleneck.

9 – They become personalised and don’t follow standards – “I decided to invent my own numbering system for my x list – what do you mean I need the PO number to track back to the customer order?”. Let two people create two separate spreadsheets to do the same task and your guaranteed they’ll look completely different!

10 – They do not have the right security! ERP system usually come equipped with security features that allow you access to what your allowed to see and don’t grant access to what your not! – If you look at Excel it has some great security and protection features but they are not anywhere near as granular as to those found on an ERP. So you want someone to see your list of Purchase Orders but not the prices? Or you want them to see the prices but not the suppliers?..mmmm. Also spreadsheets are HIGHLY transportable!