If you want a platform that offers extras like job monitoring, bid management, design, and other aspects of project management, graduate from Excel to a dedicated software platform.
You’re frustrated by Excel’s limitations: Excel’s primary appeal is in its simplicity, not in its features. As calculations become more complex, you need project management software that can automate most of your data entry. Calculations are complex: A big problem with Excel is that even a small data-entry error can produce inaccurate results that could jeopardize your project. It’s hard to use a spreadsheet to manage a business with a lot of moving parts, so if you started with Excel, you will find as you grow that your projects outstrip its capabilities. You have more than a few employees: Once you get past five or so employees, project management software starts to get more valuable. 
Here are a few signs that you're reaching the point where you need specialized project management software: When you should use project management software over ExcelĪs your business grows, you'll find that Excel will struggle to keep up. That money comes directly from your bottom line, so if Excel meets your needs, you can save a lot of money simply by declining to get specialized software.
You want to save money: Good software is expensive, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month. With Excel, you just punch in your task list, materials orders, man-hours, or whatever else you want to track right in the spreadsheet. You just want something easy: Even the easiest-to-use project management software platforms have a learning curve. You’re a one-man band: If you’re, say, a small contractor firm consisting of just yourself or a couple of others, you don’t need a platform that's loaded with features and geared toward large enterprise firms. Here are a few reasons to eschew those solutions for Excel: Just because you can purchase fancy project management software platforms out there doesn’t mean you should open up your wallet. It's a tough question - on one hand, you risk being stuck in the middle of a project with a tool that lacks the advanced features needed to properly execute daily tasks, while on the other hand, you may spend thousands of dollars on software that's more powerful than you need it to be. Should you stick with Excel, or spring for project management software? When should you use Excel for project management? Excel isn’t marketed as a project planner, but when it comes to project tracking, the platform is more powerful than most people realize.īut will an Excel project tracker be powerful enough for you, or do you need a platform designed specifically for project management? Here's what you need to know about Excel project management before you make that decision. 
It's enough to make one contemplate just using some Excel templates to do the work - and that’s actually not a bad idea. These software platforms are expensive, costing potentially thousands of dollars each year. If you've ever shopped for project management software, you've probably experienced sticker shock once or twice. This guide breaks down how you can get the most out of the software for smaller projects. Excel won't satisfy all of your project management needs, but it has many powerful tools.
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