Spreadsheet or application — when is it time to switch?

A spreadsheet is not a mistake

Processes don’t end up in spreadsheets out of carelessness, but because a spreadsheet is fast, flexible and everyone knows how to use it. When something needs to be tracked starting today, it is usually the right answer — and it often stays the right answer for years.

The trouble starts only when a personal tool turns into a system that several people rely on. At that point the qualities that were an advantage become a weakness: flexibility means anyone can change anything, and simplicity means nobody knows who changed what.

Signs a process has outgrown its spreadsheet

None of these signs on its own is a reason to switch. If several apply at once, the spreadsheet is already costing the company more than it seems.

• Several people edit the same file. Either someone waits for the file to be closed, or versions pile up that have to be merged later.
• Nobody is sure which version is the latest. File names start sprouting suffixes like “final”, “final2” and a date.
• The same data is entered twice. Once in the spreadsheet, and again in the accounting or some other program.
• Someone compiles reports by hand. Every month, the same person on the same day copies and pastes data to produce an overview for management.
• There is no history. There is no way to tell what a value was last week or who changed it.
• One person maintains the file. When they’re on holiday, work slows down; when they leave, nobody knows exactly how it was built.
• A formula error has already cost something. A wrong order, a wrong invoice or a wrong decision based on a wrong total.
• Access can’t be restricted. Whoever has the file sees everything — including what they shouldn’t.

When switching isn’t worth the effort

Honestly: often it isn’t. If one person maintains the spreadsheet for one purpose, if its content rarely changes and if an error in it costs nobody anything, switching is a cost without a benefit. The same goes for a one-off calculation or something you’ll stop doing in six months.

Nor do you have to replace everything at once. It is usually smarter to take the one process that causes the most manual work and leave the other spreadsheets alone until it turns out to be worth it.

What actually changes when you switch

An application doesn’t do the same job more prettily — it changes three things a spreadsheet by design cannot do.

What the switch looks like

Your existing spreadsheet is an asset here, not a burden. The process is already described in it — the columns say which data matters, and the formulas say which rules apply. The first version of the application is usually modelled on the spreadsheet, existing data is imported, and people carry on working in something they recognise.

How this works step by step is described on the How it works page. If you’re not sure whether your case is the right one, the quickest route is a short conversation — if the answer is that it doesn’t pay off, we’ll tell you.