It’s not just at month-end. The same thing happens at other times of the month, whenever any other reports need to be produced. So-called “analysts” are spending too much of their time as “Excel jockeys” rather than using their business expertise to use the information they produce to drive business improvements. They are also more likely to move on quickly if they can, inevitably causing disruption that is best avoided.
Last week we asked whether databases were the ultimate Excel add-in. Whilst Excel’s pivot table capability can be very powerful, recently enhanced with PowerPivots in Excel 2010, Excel struggles with larger data volumes.
It’s times like this that a database comes into its own. It can be MS Access or MS SQL, which has multi-dimensional functionality in “Analysis Services”, or a multi-dimensional OLAP system. These can form the basis for far quicker and better analysis. In many cases (but not all) Excel can still be used as a front-end to take results and format them for presentation.
They key is that analysts need to be able to control their own system, and not have to wait for someone else to make any changes. This is why Excel is so popular. But most analysts are perfectly capable of building and maintaining the databases needed for reporting. Depending on the system used, this can also be used to improve budgeting and forecasting.
So why do so many businesses still only use Excel?
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