A Spreadsheet Isn’t a Scheduling Tool!

Spreadsheets have so many uses, but project scheduling tool is not one of them. You can use one to create something that looks like a Gantt chart schedule. But you can’t manage that schedule without a ton of menial work. Here’s why you should use a scheduling tool rather than a spreadsheet:

• You can manage lag and lead times. Task relationships aren’t always straightforward. Scheduling tools manage this automatically through lag or lead time between two tasks. Say you submitted a building permit application. You need to receive approval before starting your first construction task. In a scheduling tool, you can add lag between the predecessor and successor to automatically maintain the delay between the tasks. You can also overlap tasks. For example, you have to draft a long book chapter. Editing that chapter could start before the entire chapter to shorten the schedule. Lead time specifies when the successor task can start before the predecessor tasks finishes. For the chapter, you add lead time between the two tasks to give the author a head start before the editor starts editing the chapter. With a spreadsheet, you would have to keep track of lag or lead time as the schedule changes.
• A scheduling tool automatically updates start and finish date when you input actuals. Project schedules change all the time. Tasks go more quickly or take longer than expected. Resource availability isn’t what you planned for. A good scheduling tool automatically recalculates dates to show the revised schedule. Try this with a spreadsheet and you’re in for a resource-intensive, and error-prone exercise even for a small project. You can also use a scheduling tool to explore what-if scenarios. Have a change you’re considering that would add or delete several tasks? Make those changes with a scheduling tool and evaluate the results.

• Calculate costs based on actual hours spent (without having to building those calculations in a spreadsheet). Scheduling tools have built-in functions to calculate costs. The calculated cost is based on the time spent to complete tasks that you enter in the tool) and the hourly rates for each person. Scheduling tools can also calculate equipment and materials costs. The tool calculates overall project cost from the individual task costs.
• Automatically compare the status of your project to your baseline. Knowing where you are on the project compared to what you originally planned is crucial to keeping a project on track. The differences, called variance, are a fundamental part of status reporting. With a scheduling tool, you can save a baseline of your schedule, and then compare the actual time and cost spent to that baseline. A scheduling tool can also forecast the variance from the baseline finish date and cost based on where the project is today.

For more about what several scheduling tools can do, check out my Project Management: Choosing the Right Online Tool course.