MWCC Center for Teaching & Learning

Microsoft Excel is spreadsheet software. Use Excel when you:

Require a flat or non-relational view of your data (you do not need a relational database with multiple tables). This is especially true if that data is mostly numeric—for example, if you want to maintain a financial budget for a given year.
Want to run primarily calculations and statistical comparisons on your data—for example, if you want to show a cost/benefit analysis in your company's budget.
Know your dataset is manageable in size (no more than 15,000 rows).