The spreadsheet that runs the business should stay a spreadsheet until two people need to edit it on the same day, a wrong row would cost money, or it has grown past a few thousand rows. At that point the cheapest correct move for a 5 to 20 person NZ firm is a SharePoint list with a Power App on top, both included in Microsoft 365, for $4,000 to $8,000. Dataverse, at NZ$32.40 per user per month, is the step up for relational or financial data. The decision tree below tells you which, in five questions.
The import mechanics for Excel, and every other source, are on the Power Platform migration hub.
Why does every small firm have a spreadsheet it relies on?
If you are still working out whether the spreadsheet has crossed that line, when the spreadsheet becomes the business lists the signs and the order to move things out. This post is the next step: where it lands, and what that costs.
Jobs.xlsx. Quotes register. The staff roster with the colour coding. The stock sheet on the shared drive. It started as a list, grew a tab, grew a lookup, grew a macro, and now the business cannot run without it and nobody is allowed to touch column F. It is a good spreadsheet doing a database's job in Excel, and Excel was never asked to be one. The tell is the rules people have made up around it, more than the size: "only Sharon edits it", "save as a new copy on Fridays", "don't sort it".
If the "spreadsheet" is actually an Access file, and the Access opening it is 2016 or 2019, Access 2016 and 2019 are out of support comes first.
How can several people edit one workbook safely?
Two people in the same file, one on a cached copy and one online, is the point where an Excel shared workbook with multiple users stops being safe: Excel resolves the clash quietly, which is not the same as resolving it correctly. There are three ways out, in order of effort. Keep the file but put it in SharePoint or Teams, so it is backed up, versioned and co-authored. Move the data to a SharePoint list with a Power App, so each person edits their own rows through a form. Or go to Dataverse when a wrong row costs money or someone has to prove who changed what. The five questions below pick between them, and the table after that prices each. If the file is slow or crashing rather than crowded, that is a different problem: Excel too slow or crashing, and when it has become the business.
Which five questions decide what should replace the spreadsheet?
| Question | If no | If yes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Do two or more people need to edit it on the same day? | Keep Excel, put it in SharePoint so it is backed up and versioned | It needs to be a list or a table with row-level editing. Go to question 2 |
| 2. Would a wrong or missing row cost money, a client, or a compliance headache? | SharePoint list is fine | Lean Dataverse; go to question 3 |
| 3. Are there several tabs that really refer to each other (jobs, clients, staff, items)? | One SharePoint list, one app | Related tables: Dataverse if question 2 was yes, otherwise a few SharePoint lists with lookups |
| 4. Is it past about 20,000 rows, or will it be within three years? | SharePoint is comfortable | Dataverse, or at least indexed SharePoint columns and a plan |
| 5. Does anyone need to prove who changed what and when? | SharePoint version history is enough | Dataverse auditing, which is a checkbox |
Mostly no: keep Excel or move to one SharePoint list. Yes to 1 and no to the rest: SharePoint list plus Power App. Yes to 2 or 5, or yes to three or more: Dataverse. The longer version of the SharePoint-or-Dataverse decision, with the licensing maths, is in SharePoint or Dataverse: how to choose.
What are the three replacement options and their NZ prices?
| Landing spot | Licence per user per month | Build for a 5 to 20 person firm | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel table in SharePoint or Teams | $0, included in Microsoft 365 | $0 to a few hundred dollars of tidy-up | Backup, version history, co-authoring, a Forms front end if you want one. Still a spreadsheet. |
| SharePoint list plus Power App | $0, included in Microsoft 365 | $4,000 to $8,000, two to four weeks | A real form on phone and desktop, validation, views per person, Power Automate on top, Excel kept as a live reporting view |
| Dataverse plus Power App | NZ$32.40 (Power Apps Premium) | $8,000 to $18,000, three to eight weeks | Relational tables, row-level security, audit history, business rules, the platform the job system grows on |
The middle row is where most small-firm spreadsheets belong, and it is the one large consultancies rarely propose because there is no licence in it. The licence line is what makes the third row a real decision: for 12 people, NZ$32.40 a month is NZ$4,665 a year on top of the build, every year. Sometimes that is exactly right. Often it is a job register that a SharePoint list handles for nothing.
What actually gets built?
- The list. Each column in the spreadsheet becomes a typed column: a date is a date, a status is a choice, a client is a lookup. The rules people made up ("only Sharon edits it") become permissions.
- The app. A Power App with one screen per job people actually do: add a job, update a job from the ute, see my jobs. Not a copy of the spreadsheet grid.
- The flows. The Friday reminder, the overdue alert, the email to the client when a status changes. Standard connectors, so free with Microsoft 365, as what Power Automate actually costs sets out.
- Excel, kept. Connected to the list as a read-only reporting view, so the person who loves pivot tables keeps their pivot tables.
If someone has suggested Airtable, Notion or monday.com instead, Power Apps vs Airtable, Notion and monday.com prices the four for a 10-person team.
What mistakes should you avoid when replacing the spreadsheet?
First, do not rebuild the spreadsheet as a spreadsheet-shaped app. A grid with 40 columns on a phone is worse than Excel. Build the three things people do. Second, the migration is the easy part and the cut-over is the hard part: pick a Friday, freeze the file, load the list, and on Monday the old file is read-only. Two live copies for "just a week" is how firms end up with two systems for a year. If the spreadsheet is actually a front end to an old database, that is a different guide: moving an Access database off the shared drive.
Common questions
When should a spreadsheet become a database?
When two or more people need to edit it on the same day, when a wrong row would cost money, when it has grown past a few thousand rows or a few tabs that reference each other, or when someone has to be reminded to update it. Any one of those means it has become a system, and Excel is a poor system of record. Until then, keep the spreadsheet.
How do I let several people edit one Excel workbook safely?
Put the file in SharePoint or Teams first, so it is backed up, versioned and co-authored. If people keep clashing, or each person should only touch their own rows, move the data into a SharePoint list with a Power App on top; that is included in Microsoft 365 and costs $4,000 to $8,000 to build for a 5 to 20 person NZ firm. Use Dataverse when a wrong row would cost money.
What is the cheapest way to replace a business spreadsheet in Microsoft 365?
A SharePoint list with a Power App on top. Both are included in the Microsoft 365 Business seats you already pay for, so the licence cost is $0. The build for a 5 to 20 person NZ firm is $4,000 to $8,000 for one list-and-app pair. Dataverse is the step up when the data is relational or financial, at NZ$32.40 per user per month.
Can I keep using Excel and still automate it?
Yes, for a while. An Excel table in SharePoint or OneDrive is a standard connector in Power Automate, so flows can read and add rows, and Forms can feed it. It breaks down when two people edit at once, when a formula is deleted, and when the flow finds the file locked. That is the point to move the data to a list and leave Excel as the reporting view.
Should the spreadsheet go to Dataverse instead of a SharePoint list?
Only if it fails the SharePoint test: money or hours that get reconciled, several tabs that are really related tables, more than about 20,000 rows, or a need to prove who changed what. Then Dataverse at NZ$32.40 per user per month is the right home, and the build is $8,000 to $18,000.
The same "one table, one flow" pattern is what fixes a lead pipeline going cold in a spreadsheet nobody updates: how a real estate or architecture practice stops leads going cold after the first enquiry.
Got a spreadsheet nobody is allowed to sort?
Send me a screenshot of the tabs and the row count. One free 30-minute call tells you which row of the table you are in and what it costs. If the answer is "keep Excel, put it in SharePoint", that is free advice and I will give it.