Should I Use Excel As A Resource Management Tool
Excel is one of the most popular tools for managing resources.
In terms of entering data about where your resources are, what projects they’re currently working on and what availability they have, Excel offers the basic functionality you need, but if you want to manage your people and their time, the software can be limiting to some project managers.
So, what are the limitations of Excel?
1. It is not specialized
Excels’ strength is that it can be used for almost any kind of data treatment, but since its spreadsheets are not designed for specific needs of project managers, it requires a huge amount of preparation and input to turn raw figures into a working resource management environment.
2. It is hard to model with
Let’s say you have entered all relative data and prepared your spreadsheets in Excel. You feel satisfied that you have a perfect environment to view and explore your people, their availability and their costs. But in actuality, this fails to correspond with the reality of resource management because, as you know, real life projects get delayed, workers leave and new ones are employed. Unfortunately, Excel cannot react fast enough in real time, or in the real world of PPM.
3. Simulations require major expertise
Tapping into the power of Excel requires serious expertise if one wants to venture beyond its most basic functions. PMs want to quickly and easily utilize better functionality of their resources, find out what impact pausing projects could have or visualize the effects of reducing stats. These can definitely be some of the most distinctive limits of Excel, as it can be, for some, incredibly hard, time consuming and unclear.
