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5 Reasons to Move Away from Spreadsheets in Construction

In the construction industry, spreadsheets are a popular tool used for managing projects, estimating and more – but just how useful are they?

When your construction business starts to grow and you find yourself managing more projects and variables, spreadsheets can quickly become too complex and can start causing problems instead of helping. In this article, we will discuss 5 limitations of using spreadsheets when managing construction projects.

Easily Outdated

When it comes to managing construction projects it is important to always have the most up-to-date information on hand. When using spreadsheets this is not always easy. If you have multiple people working on one spreadsheet it can be hard to ensure you are working on the most up to date version. On top of this, as soon as you download a spreadsheet, it becomes immediately outdated and will not be updated with new data.

Accuracy

Whilst spreadsheet calculations can be accurate to a certain extent, they can easily be thrown off by entering even a single digit in the wrong place. Spreadsheet errors can often be difficult to pinpoint and therefore hard to rectify. If multiple people are working on one spreadsheet this can also lead to overwriting or accidentally deleting data.

Scalability

Spreadsheets can be really useful for those smaller projects, however when managing multiple projects at once, spreadsheets may not be able to keep up with your management needs. Spreadsheets are also not designed to store supporting documents and notes that might be relevant to your projects. Because of this, spreadsheets are not powerful enough to support business growth.

Authorisation

In construction you may have multiple people working on one project, all managing different elements with their own responsibilities. When using spreadsheets, it is difficult to manage who can access and change information and it also has no real authorisation process. This could lead to changes being made in the wrong sections or data being wrongly overwritten.  There is also no way to restrict what data is available to who.

Reliability

Based on the points above, using spreadsheets to manage construction projects is just not reliable. Whilst they can be really useful when you first start up or on smaller projects, once your business starts to grow, they can easily become too complex. Once your construction business does start to grow it will be more beneficial to look into other methods of project management, such as using our construction-specific management software.

Summary

When it comes to managing multiple construction projects, using spreadsheets has its limitations. By using an integrated system like Evolution Mx, all the information you need is easily accessible from one place, making it easier to keep track of your projects throughout the whole lifecycle.

Evolution Mx ensures that you have access to real-time data on any device, no more worrying if you have the most updated information. Managed workflows and authorisation processes allows for better team working and can help improve efficiency and accuracy.

If you’d like to find out more about how our construction specific accounting and management software can help your business manage multiple projects at one, then please contact us today

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