[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-239669-105":53,"doc-detail-239669-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":120,"head_meta":122,"extra_data":124,"updated_unix":126},105,"en","excel-comparison-white-paper-10-biggest-reasons-to-avoid-spreadsheets-in-resource-management","Excel Comparison White Paper - 10 Biggest Reasons to Avoid Spreadsheets in Resource Management","","A white paper argues that spreadsheets’ simplicity masks many failure points that harm resource management. It highlights costly, error-prone manual inputs and the prevalence of human mistakes in spreadsheet cells, supported by public incidents and industry statistics. It also explains why workarounds are insufficient, listing core limitations such as loss of data, difficulty analyzing and sharing, and lack of historical storage. Finally, it details resource managers’ needs for multi-user collaboration, transparency, and actionable analysis that spreadsheets cannot reliably support.",{"@graph":63,"@context":119},[64,80,102],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/excel-comparison-white-paper-10-biggest-reasons-to-avoid-spreadsheets-in-resource-management/239669/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/excel-comparison-white-paper-10-biggest-reasons-to-avoid-spreadsheets-in-resource-management/239669.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Arica Lee","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-11",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":101},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":103,"mainEntity":104},"FAQPage",[105,111,115],{"name":106,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":108},"Why do spreadsheets lead to failures in resource management?","Question",{"text":109,"@type":110},"Spreadsheets are easy to start, but that simplicity creates many failure points, including human errors in cells like wrong signs, extra zeros, or misplaced decimals. Public incidents and industry figures are cited to show spreadsheets can cause major financial losses and poor decisions.","Answer",{"name":112,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":113},"Why are spreadsheet workarounds considered costly or inadequate?",{"text":114,"@type":110},"Many recommendations focus on complicated workarounds because the underlying problems remain. Even when users try to minimize damage, the core limitations persist, leaving businesses without capabilities needed for reliable resource management.",{"name":116,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What specific resource management needs make spreadsheets a poor fit?",{"text":118,"@type":110},"The paper highlights requirements for multi-user editing and auditing, transparency to support verification across the team, and strong analysis that turns data into actionable insights and accessible reporting. 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Getting started, setting up, inputting data—the simplicity is alluring. But within the simplicity of spreadsheets lies so many failure points—many of them costly, time consuming, and embarrassing.  \n“. . . while it is incredibly easy to get started making spreadsheets, it’s also incredibly easy to make mistakes that cost companies millions or even billions of dollars.”  \n-InsightsSquared1  \nWe’re not just talking about internal errors. The full list of public horror stories2 from the past two decades is too long3 to include here, but they include a mistaken overpurchase of $24 million and the sale of 10,000 nonexistent tickets to the Olympics. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 large businesses has suffered financial losses due to spreadsheet errors, and 1 in 3 large businesses report poor decision making as a result of spreadsheet problems (Forbes)4.  \nIt’s easy to laugh or shake our heads at such blunders, most of which are caused by human error within a single spreadsheet cell. A missing negative sign. An extra zero. One out-of-place decimal. While it’s possible and recommended to use data validation features, it’s humans that account for errors found in over 88% of spreadsheets5.  \n [prosymmetry.com](prosymmetry.com)  877-880-8788  info@prosymmetry.com  \nEven the Workarounds are Costly  \nMost of the advice about spreadsheets exists to help users apply complicated and time-consuming workarounds6 because of engrained problems within the spreadsheet program. Many forums are dedicated to troubleshooting7 spreadsheets, outsourcing solutions to savvy users who have the time to figure out clever tricks.  \n“What’s truly shocking is that there seemed to be a culture of total acceptance that mistakes were  \nsimply part of working with spreadsheets”  \n-Business Insider8  \nIn the end, we never really overcome the problems—we just live with them and try to minimize the damage.  \nMoreover, the core problems reported by users don’t have workarounds. According to Forbes9, the top 5 reasons spreadsheets cause problems are 1) user aversion; 2) loss of important data; 3) they’re difficult to analyze; 4) they don’t store historical data; and 5) they’re difficult to share. These shortcomings and lack of capabilities can’t simply be compensated for with a little creativity. Spreadsheets just don’t work for businesses.  \n [prosymmetry.com](prosymmetry.com)  877-880-8788  info@prosymmetry.com  \nResource Management Needs More Powerful Tools  \nFar beyond scheduling and timesheets, resource management has become a central feature of organizationwide strategic planning and execution. Without the right people, in the right place, at the right time, work doesn’t get done and targets aren’t hit. It all begins with resources.  \nResource Managers themselves will tell you what they need, and that these are the very reasons they avoid using spreadsheets.  \n1.) Multiple Users  \nMost resource management is handled across a team, with different levels of access and authorization, and often spread across different locations. These managers need a centralized tool that can identify and track changes by user for validation and auditing purposes. They also need tobe able to edit concurrently with visibility across all users.  \nSpreadsheet changes can’t be tracked, and they most often can only be made by one user at a time. Herein lies the danger of knowledge drain—when the sole spreadsheet owner and user is absent or even leaves the organization, they take with them all of their singularly contained knowledge, leaving others or the organization at large unable to make progress and vulnerable.  \nThere’s another layer to consider: when using a standard spreadsheet, resource managers have to take the extra step of re-entering re","cbCaipsirD0RwSow","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipsirD0RwSow","pdf",1171563,"English","# Spreadsheets’ Long Legacy of Failures\n## Ease of use versus failure points\n## Human errors and lack of reliability\n# Even the Workarounds are Costly\n## Troubleshooting culture and acceptance of mistakes\n# Resource Management Needs More Powerful Tools\n## Multiple users and auditability\n## Transparency and bias control\n## Analysis and visual, accessible reporting","[{\"question\":\"Why do spreadsheets lead to failures in resource management?\",\"answer\":\"Spreadsheets are easy to start, but that simplicity creates many failure points, including human errors in cells like wrong signs, extra zeros, or misplaced decimals. Public incidents and industry figures are cited to show spreadsheets can cause major financial losses and poor decisions.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are spreadsheet workarounds considered costly or inadequate?\",\"answer\":\"Many recommendations focus on complicated workarounds because the underlying problems remain. Even when users try to minimize damage, the core limitations persist, leaving businesses without capabilities needed for reliable resource management.\"},{\"question\":\"What specific resource management needs make spreadsheets a poor fit?\",\"answer\":\"The paper highlights requirements for multi-user editing and auditing, transparency to support verification across the team, and strong analysis that turns data into actionable insights and accessible reporting. It also notes issues like knowledge drain when a single owner holds the key spreadsheet knowledge.\"}]","Excel Comparison White Paper - 10 Biggest Reasons to Avoid Spreadsheets in Resource Management | PDF",1789151736]