Keep Excel for what it is good at. Stop running the programme in it.
Almost every project unit runs on spreadsheets, and for good reason: they are flexible, everyone knows them and they cost nothing extra. The problems start when a workbook becomes the system of record for a multi-year, multi-unit programme. This page sets out where each one fits.
What spreadsheets do well
Analysis and modelling
Scenario costing, one-off analysis, quick charts and checking a figure from another angle. Nothing beats a spreadsheet for thinking with numbers.
Everyone can use them
No training, no licence request, no IT ticket. A district officer and a task team leader can open the same file.
Formats donors already accept
Many financiers supply their own templates as workbooks, and some submissions are expected in that form.
Six problems that grow with the programme
Versions
"AWP_final_v3_revised_FM.xlsx" is a familiar file name. When several units edit copies, nobody can say with certainty which version the report was built from.
Traceability
A total in a summary sheet may come from links to other workbooks, pasted values or a manual override. A reviewer asking "where does this come from?" can wait days for an answer.
Approvals
Approval happens by email, if at all. The workbook does not know who approved which version, or whether it changed afterwards.
Audit trail
Spreadsheets can track changes, but in practice the history of who changed a figure, and why, is rarely kept across copies.
Blanks summed as zero
When a unit has not reported, its empty cell adds nothing to the total, and the total looks complete. A missing report becomes a reported zero without anyone deciding it should.
Access
A workbook is shared whole. Giving one implementing unit its own view means making another copy, which brings back the version problem.
Spreadsheets and projectsmanager.ai
| Need | Spreadsheets | projectsmanager.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Ad hoc analysis and modelling | Excellent | Not the purpose; use a spreadsheet alongside |
| Cost to start | Usually already licensed | Free plan; paid plans for larger use |
| One current version of the plan | Depends on discipline | One shared record |
| Figure traced to its transactions | Manual, if links are kept | Every figure opens to its records |
| Missing data | Blank cells summed as zero | Shown as "not recorded" |
| Approval workflow | By email | Recorded steps |
| Who changed what, when | Limited, lost across copies | Audit trail on every record |
| Each unit sees only its own work | Separate copies | Role-based access |
| Read-only access for donors | Send a copy | Read-only viewer role |
Start from the workbooks you have
You do not need to retype a programme. During onboarding we load your existing work plan and budget workbooks for you, and we provide your figures as spreadsheet files on request for analysis or a donor template. Self-service import and export are in development.
Import
We load the current annual work plan and budget from your workbook during onboarding.
Check what is missing
Cells that were blank arrive as "not recorded", so gaps are visible rather than hidden in a total.
Keep Excel for analysis
Model and chart in a spreadsheet from an extract of the figures. The record of what happened stays in one place.
See a programme that is not held together by links
The demo uses fictional data. Open any figure to see what it is built from.