Visual Planning or Excel: When is it worth making the switch?

For many companies, Excel is the first step into resource planning. Spreadsheets can be created quickly, adapted flexibly and implemented without the need for additional software. However, as the number of resources, planners and changes increases, planning with Excel can become confusing and time-consuming.

The crucial question is therefore not whether Excel is fundamentally suitable for resource planning. What matters is whether the existing planning system still functions reliably, transparently and with a reasonable level of effort.

This comparison shows when Excel may be sufficient, when a specialised solution such as Visual Planning becomes a viable option, and what requirements businesses should assess before making a switch.

Excel or Visual Planning: The key difference

Excel is a versatile spreadsheet programme. Companies can use it to create virtually any kind of table, calculation or summary themselves.

Visual Planning, on the other hand, is specialised software for graphical planning, resource management and the coordination of appointments, orders and resources.

The difference therefore lies less in whether information can, in principle, be presented. Many planning tasks can also be carried out in Excel. The key factors are how much manual work is required, how multiple users can collaborate, and how reliably dependencies and changes can be managed.

When is Excel sufficient for resource planning?

Excel is not necessarily a bad solution. For straightforward planning tasks, a well-structured spreadsheet can be more cost-effective and simpler than implementing specialised software.

This is particularly true when planning accounts for only a small part of day-to-day operations.

Typical situations where Excel may be sufficient

• A small team manages a small number of staff.
• A manageable number of machines are scheduled each week.
• Only one person can amend the plan.
• The plan is primarily for information purposes.
• Orders and resources rarely change.
• Planning does not need to be automatically synchronised with ERP, CRM or other systems.

In such situations, the additional effort involved in implementing, configuring and providing training for specialised software may outweigh the potential benefits.

Where do Excel’s limitations typically lie?

Problems often arise not because of Excel itself, but because a spreadsheet that was originally simple ends up having to handle more and more tasks over time.

Additional worksheets, formulas, colours, macros and manual adjustments can cause a planning process to become increasingly complex over the years. At the same time, there is a growing risk that only a few individual staff members will fully understand how the file works.

Typical warning signs include:

• several versions of the same planning file,
• regular enquiries regarding the current planning status,
• manual transfer of order data,
• frequent double bookings,
• confusing colour and symbol schemes,
• complex macros or formulas,
• long loading times for large files,
• Reliance on individual staff members who created the file.

1. Graphical overview and planning board

An Excel spreadsheet is ideal for presenting an overview of resources. Formatting, conditional formatting and charts can also be used to create more complex visualisations.

With a specialised planning board, however, graphical planning is an integral part of the application concept. For example, dates can be moved directly within the planning view, resources can be allocated, and information about the task can be accessed.

This advantage is particularly relevant when planners have to make numerous changes on a daily basis.

2. Changes and last-minute rescheduling

As long as a schedule rarely changes, a table is often sufficient.

The situation is different when staff are absent, machinery is unavailable, orders are postponed or customers require new appointments at short notice.

In such situations, planning software should not only display the original plan, but also enable rapid replanning.

When comparing the texts, the following should be checked:

• How quickly can an order be rescheduled?
• How do you assign a different resource?
• What are the implications of a change to a scheduled appointment?
• Who will notice the change straight away?
• Are there any conflicts or overlaps?

3. Simultaneous work by several planners

A key difference arises as soon as several people regularly work with the same plan.

In simple Excel scenarios, this is often still possible without any problems. However, as planning activities increase, it is essential to ensure that all those involved are working with the same up-to-date information.

A centralised resource planning software system can offer advantages here, as changes are made immediately within the same system.

Companies should therefore not only ask how many employees view the plan, but also how many people actively amend it.

4. Identifying planning conflicts

In Excel, double bookings can be highlighted using formulas, conditional formatting or custom validation rules.

However, the more complex the planning becomes, the more time-consuming it is to maintain such rules.

In specialised resource planning, conflict checks can form an integral part of the planning process.

Relevant examples include:

• Double bookings,
• unavailability,
• Capacity overruns,
• Absences,
• Maintenance periods,
• missing qualifications.

Not every company needs all of these checks. The key factor is which conflicts actually arise in the company’s day-to-day planning.

5. Plan staff, machinery and other resources together

Simple Excel planning often focuses initially on a single type of resource, such as staff or machines.

Planning becomes more complex when a job requires several resources at the same time.

A service order might, for example, require:

• a specific employee,
• a vehicle,
• a tool,
• a specific period,
• a specific qualification.

In principle, such requirements can also be represented in tables. However, as the number of relationships increases, so does the maintenance effort.

Configurable resource planning software can map different resource types and their relationships within a single planning process.

6. Data from ERP, CRM or other systems

A common reason for switching is not the graphical display, but the repeated manual transfer of data.

If orders already exist in an ERP system, customer data is maintained in the CRM and staff information comes from another application, it should be checked whether this data can be made available automatically for planning purposes.

Before any integration takes place, the following should be clearly defined:

• Which system is the market leader for customer data?
• Where are orders created?
• Where are resources managed?
• What data is required for planning?
• What planning information needs to be returned?

An interface is not automatically necessary. Where there are only a few transactions, manual maintenance may be more cost-effective. However, with larger volumes of data, it can significantly reduce the administrative workload.

7. Traceability and a consistent planning status

As the number of users increases, it becomes increasingly important to know what the current planning status is.

File-based planning becomes particularly problematic when copies are sent by email, saved locally or further processed for different purposes.

A centralised planning application can create a common information base. Nevertheless, it is important to assess which history, change or logging functions are actually required.

8. Rights and different user roles

Not every employee requires the same rights.

A planner may need to change appointments, whilst a service technician should only be able to view their own assignments. A manager may require an overview of capacity at a higher level.

When such requirements arise, rights management should form part of the software comparison.

9. Reports and capacity planning

Excel is particularly powerful for calculations and analyses. For bespoke analyses, this can even be an advantage over more standardised applications.

The question, therefore, is not whether Excel can generate reports, but how much manual effort is required to keep the necessary data up to date.

With resource planning software, operational planning and capacity analysis can be based on the same data.

Questions such as the following are of interest, for example:

• Which staff members will be fully booked in the coming weeks?
• Which machines have spare capacity?
• Where do bottlenecks occur?
• Which additional orders can be scheduled?

10. Reliance on in-house Excel solutions

Powerful Excel-based planning is often the result of years of continuous development.

This can be very efficient, provided there is sufficient knowledge within the company regarding structure, formulas and macros.

A risk arises when this knowledge is held primarily by a single person. In such cases, it is important to assess how easily other staff members can maintain and further develop the solution.

Switching to off-the-shelf software can reduce this dependency, but at the same time leads to greater dependence on the chosen software provider. This aspect, too, must be taken into account when making a realistic decision.

What does the switch to Visual Planning mean in practical terms?

A change does not simply involve replacing an Excel file with a new interface.

Before implementation, it should be checked which information and rules from the previous planning system actually need to be carried over.

Typical tasks include:

1. analyse existing planning processes,
2. Define resources and data fields,
3. Define views and user roles,
4. Import existing data,
5. set up the necessary interfaces,
6. Train planners and users,
7. Test the new planning system using real-life cases.

The more complex the existing Excel solution is, the more important it is to distinguish, prior to migration, which functions are truly necessary and which have simply arisen as a result of historical developments.

What data is required for Visual Planning?

The data required depends on the specific planning process.

Typical master data may include:

• Staff,
• Machines,
• Vehicles,
• Customers,
• Projects,
• Orders,
• Qualifications,
• Locations.

In addition, there is planning data such as:

• Dates,
• Duration,
• Status,
• Priorities,
• Assignments,
• Capacities and availability.

Not all data necessarily has to be maintained directly in Visual Planning. If it is already available in other systems, it is worth checking whether integration would be beneficial.

What are the limitations of Visual Planning compared to Excel?

Even specialised resource planning software is not automatically better suited to every task.

Excel, for example, offers a great deal of flexibility when it comes to ad-hoc calculations, customised analyses and tables created at short notice.

Visual Planning is designed more specifically to map recurring planning processes in a structured manner. This involves some effort in terms of set-up and implementation.

A specialised solution may therefore be unnecessary if the planning is on a small scale, rarely changes and can be easily managed within the organisation.

A simple practical test before making a decision

Companies should not base their assessment of a potential switch solely on lists of features.

Instead, an actual planning process can be carried out using both the existing Excel solution and the potential new software.

For example:

1. A new order comes in.
2. A suitable resource is being searched for.
3. The order is being scheduled.
4. A scheduled resource is unavailable.
5. The order needs to be postponed at short notice.
6. All staff concerned must be able to identify the new planning status.

This example provides a good way of assessing whether new software actually reduces the workload or merely offers a different way of presenting information.

Visual Planning or Excel: When is it worth making the switch?

It is not worth switching simply because specialised resource planning software offers more features.

As long as Excel reliably meets operational requirements and the maintenance effort remains manageable, there is no compelling reason to replace a planning system that works well.

The switch becomes worthwhile when the effort involved in coordination, updating and error checking increases significantly, or when centralised planning involving multiple resources, users and data sources is required.

Visual Planning may be a possible solution in such situations. Whether it is actually suitable depends on the specific planning processes, integration requirements and the desired level of customisation.

When making a decision, it is important to consider more than just the range of functions. Our overview of the Costs of resource planning software.

Frequently asked questions about Excel and Visual Planning

At what company size should Excel be replaced?

There is no set size for a business. A company with just a few employees may have complex planning requirements, whilst a larger company with simple processes can still work easily with spreadsheets. The key factors are the number of resources, changes, planners and dependencies.

Can Excel completely replace resource planning software?

For simple to moderate requirements, Excel may be sufficient. Even sophisticated solutions can be created using formulas, macros and formatting. However, the effort required for maintenance and coordination can increase significantly as complexity rises.

Can existing Excel data be imported into Visual Planning?

Which data can be transferred and how the migration takes place depends on the structure and quality of the existing data, as well as on the planned configuration. Before any data is transferred, you should check which data is still required.

Does Visual Planning require an ERP interface?

No. An interface is only necessary or useful if relevant data is already maintained in another system and the aim is to avoid having to maintain it manually in two places.

If an ERP or PPS system is already in use, it should also be checked whether, whether its planning functions are sufficient or whether an additional digital planning board would be useful.

Is Visual Planning easier to use than Excel?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. For ad-hoc spreadsheets and individual calculations, Excel may be simpler. For recurring graphical planning processes involving many resources, however, a specialised interface may offer a clearer overview.

What should be tested before making a change?

Ideally, a typical real-world planning scenario should be tested. This should involve checking how orders are created, resources are identified, deadlines are changed, conflicts are detected and information is passed on to other parties involved.

Further guidance on resource planning

When selecting software, in addition to comparing it with Excel, you should also consider integrations, operating mode, costs and the actual implementation effort.

• A comparison of resource planning software: 12 selection criteria
• Digital planning board or ERP/PPS planning board
• How much does it cost to implement resource planning software?
• Cloud, hosting or on-premises: which deployment model is right for you?