Excel's simplicity makes it an attractive alternative to BI tools that are laden with feature sets, according to Block, who is a member of CFOworld.com's advisory board. "Using Excel to storyboard and prototype a set of management reports [from ERP systems] works well because it doesn't take very long. And once management sees the reports, they often want to change them, which is easy to do with Excel," he says.

Prototyping with Excel also highlights how much effort and data collection are required to create and sustain a management report. "This step is often overlooked when a management reporting package is purchased, and is a reason why management reporting projects fail or are significantly delayed," Block says.

On the flip side, spreadsheets certainly have their worrisome issues. They are low on version control and data quality control and are subject to human error. "Anyone can put whatever data they want into the spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are full of subjectivity and have varying quality and validity," Bailey says. For instance, if someone pulls data into a spreadsheet for a sales presentation and an attendee points out a ratio error, then "your credibility plummets," Bailey illustrates.