I finally convinced my team to stop using spreadsheets for inventory tracking after 14 months of trying

I kept hearing how everyone loved their Google Sheets setup for tracking our warehouse stock. But we had 23 skus getting miscounted every single week because people would forget to update cells or overwrite each other's entries. It took me over a year to get buy-in for a proper inventory system, even after showing them concrete examples of lost orders. Has anyone else had this kind of pushback when trying to move away from spreadsheets?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_ross161d ago

Not really though. Locking cells and data validation only works if people actually follow the rules, and in a busy warehouse they never do. We had the same setup and still got errors because someone would copy and paste over a protected range or accidentally delete a formula. The flexibility argument falls apart when you realize you're spending more time fixing the spreadsheet than actually tracking inventory. A dedicated system forces consistency because it controls the data entry flow, not just hopes people use the sheet right. I think the training issue is real, but spreadsheets make it way too easy to keep making the same mistakes.

sarah_nelson1d ago

Honestly I see it differently. Spreadsheets are way more flexible than most inventory systems when you actually know what you're doing. You just gotta lock cells down with data validation and use protection on shared sheets so nobody messes with formulas. Plus you can customize them for your exact workflow without paying for some bloated software that does a bunch of stuff you don't need. Sounds more like a training issue than a spreadsheet issue to me.