Microsoft products such as MS Excel and MS Project have long been go to tools for the PMO. In fact MS Excel in particular has become so ingrained as PMO tool that over 90% of PMOs use it has their main tool for reporting and analysis. Yet many have a love / hate relationship with it which has stemmed from MS Excel being repeatedly used for something which it was never designed to do – provide a project organisation with the information to make decisions.
Over the lifetime of a PMO being in operation, MS Excel was always going to feature in the early starter kit, after all, it was readily available on every corporate desktop. Fast forward years later and Excel is still the main tool. Why? In order for a PMO to mature and grow, it needs tools and processes that grow with it. Excel is creaking at the seams and no matter how many advanced formulas, macros and links to other systems it can hold, the time has come to say enough.