by Doug Vincent, Co-founder and CEO, Mastt
There’s no doubt that the entire construction industry – from owners to managers, contractors and suppliers – rely on spreadsheets. However, just because there is a critical mass of users, it doesn’t mean that spreadsheets should be used for the most important aspects of project and portfolio management.
We’ve identified six pitfalls for decision-makers that rely on spreadsheets to track contracts, project accounting and more.
1. Reputation risks – don’t tell your client you use spreadsheets!
A question often asked by clients is: “What systems are you proposing to handle this complicated portfolio of work?
If your answer is spreadsheets, you’re setting yourself up for reputational damage. Nowadays, owners and key decision makers are aware that great software exists. Impress your clients with systems that provide live dashboards, boost productivity and increase transparency – without touching asingle spreadsheet.
2. Clients and executives want real-time data – spreadsheets don’t facilitate this
Owners and managers want to collect project and portfolio data to ensure decisions are analytical and objective. Spreadsheets fail to make data easily accessible for things like analytics and benchmarking.
Organisations that move away from spreadsheets and towards bespoke software systems, unlock the value of this data profoundly.
3. Spreadsheets are easy to break, putting reporting and decision making at risk
As the data and complexity of spreadsheets grows over the life of a project, the chances of an error increases rapidly. There are just too many calculations that depend on precedent cells.
The result is a lack of project controls that can cause unknown overruns or worse, complete misreporting of cash flows and final forecast costs. Software helps prevent human error with in-built data validation and business rules to stop deviations and inconsistencies immediately.
4. Spreadsheets are like flying blind, offering minimal transparency or value-add opportunities from senior managers
Key decision-makers have no choice but to trust that the spreadsheet has been quality-assured across every formula and data point. This lack of transparency and inability for key decision-makers to properly interrogate data is a significant risk to financial reporting and capital allocation.
With built-for-purpose software, key decision-makers can drill down into data, interrogate it for answers, and be confident in their cash allocations.
5. Spreadsheets are time-consuming and painful to manage or customise
Without proper organisation, building and maintaining overly complicated spreadsheets slows down project management teams.
Get more done with less resources by moving into a bespoke software system that reduces start-up time to zero and automates key PM processes and procedures.
6. Spreadsheets lack security
Since spreadsheets are commonly shared through email or data storage devices, this puts client data at risk of broad, unintended dissemination.
Moving teams off spreadsheets and into audited, secure cloud-based software mitigates the majority of data security risks.
Mastt’s secure cloud-based system makes it easy for PM teams to eliminate the six pitfalls of spreadsheets. Learn more at www.mastt.com or email hello@mastt.com for a free demo.
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by Mastt. For more information, visit www.mastt.com.
