Free tool · Systems & CRM
Spreadsheet Breaking-Point Assessment
Every business runs on spreadsheets until, one day, a spreadsheet quietly runs the business into a wall. Ten yes/no questions, two minutes, and an honest score of how close yours are to failing you — including a band that tells you to keep them.
Answer honestly — the score is only useful if the yeses are real. "No" is the default for every question.
1. Multiple people edit the same sheet and sometimes overwrite each other's changes.
2 points if yes
2. Version confusion — final_v3_FINAL and friends — has caused a real mistake at least once.
2 points if yes
3. There's a formula or macro that only one person understands.
3 points if yes
4. Someone re-types data from the sheet into another system at least weekly.
2 points if yes
5. Customer contact data lives primarily in spreadsheets.
3 points if yes
6. A broken cross-sheet link or a #REF! error went unnoticed for days.
2 points if yes
7. People text or call after hours to ask who has the file.
1 point if yes
8. The sheet is noticeably slow to open, or it crashes.
1 point if yes
9. Sheets hold data with privacy obligations — customer PII, for example — with no access controls.
3 points if yes
10. A business decision was delayed, or turned out wrong, because the sheet was wrong.
3 points if yes
Verdict
Spreadsheets are serving you fine
Keep them — genuinely. At this stage a spreadsheet is the right tool: cheap, flexible, and everyone already knows how to use it. Don't buy software, and don't let anyone sell you a system you don't need yet. Bookmark the field guide for the day the score starts climbing.
Bookmark the field guideRisk score
0 / 22
Sum of the weights of every question you answered yes.
Yes answers
0 of 10
How many failure modes are already present.
High-severity yeses
0
Weight-3 questions — the ones that cause the expensive failures.
Band
0–4
Bands: 0–4 fine, 5–9 stretched, 10–15 at risk, 16–22 past the breaking point.
How the math works
Weighted for how expensively things fail, not how often.
Each yes adds its question's weight to the score; the ten weights sum to 22. Four questions weigh 3 points: a formula only one person understands, customer contact data living in sheets, PII with no access controls, and a decision delayed or wrong because the sheet was wrong. Those are the failures that cost real money — a departure, a privacy incident, a bad call — so they dominate the score. Four questions weigh 2: overwritten edits, version confusion that caused a real mistake, weekly re-typing into another system, and a #REF! that sat unnoticed. Two weigh 1: after-hours who-has-the-file texts and a slow or crashing file — annoying, rarely expensive.
The bands: 0–4 means spreadsheets are serving you fine, 5–9 stretched but not broken, 10–15 at risk, 16–22 past the breaking point. The score measures operational risk, not sophistication — a simple sheet used safely scores better than a clever one nobody else can maintain, and that is the point.
What to do with the number
A score doesn't fix a spreadsheet. Here's what does.
Score 10+?
The expensive failure is coming; the only question is which sheet delivers it. The 48-Hour Workflow Map is a fixed $250, credits toward the build, and ranks your riskiest workflows so you fix the right one first.
Get the Workflow MapCustomer data in sheets?
That one question is worth acting on by itself. A small purpose-built CRM gives you access controls, one source of truth, and follow-up that happens automatically — at a fixed price, never open-ended hourly.
Custom CRM developmentRead the field guide
The longer version of this assessment: the specific signs a business has outgrown spreadsheets, what each one costs, and what to do about each — including when the honest answer is nothing.
Signs you've outgrown spreadsheetsFrequently asked questions
Asked before the calculator, usually.
How is the score calculated?
Ten yes/no questions, each worth 1, 2, or 3 points when you answer yes, for a maximum of 22. The weights reflect how expensive each failure mode is when it finally bites, not how annoying it is day to day. Add up the weights of your yes answers and you can recompute the score by hand.
I scored under 5. Should I replace my spreadsheets anyway?
No. At that score spreadsheets are the right tool: cheap, flexible, and everyone on your team already knows them. Buying software you don't need is a worse outcome than the mild friction you have today. Re-take the assessment in six months and act when the score actually climbs.
Which questions matter most?
The four weight-3 questions: a formula only one person understands, customer contact data living in sheets, PII with no access controls, and a decision that was delayed or wrong because the sheet was wrong. Each of those describes a single point of failure that fails expensively — lost customers, a privacy incident, or a bad call made on bad numbers. Even one yes there is worth acting on regardless of your total.
My score is high. Do I need a big CRM platform?
Usually not — most businesses at 16+ need a small purpose-built system that replaces the two or three riskiest sheets, not an enterprise platform with a per-seat license. Our fixed-price 48-Hour Workflow Map costs $250, credits toward the build, and tells you exactly which sheets to replace first. JNC Suite, our production auto-shop platform, started as exactly this kind of replacement — its owner reports customer retention up 89% from automated reminders alone.
Go deeper: when to invest in CRM software, our workflow automation services, JNC Suite, a system that replaced the sheets, and all free tools.
Want a second opinion on the score?
Tell us which questions you answered yes to. We'll tell you honestly whether it's a tighten-what-you-have problem or a replace-the-sheet problem — and quote a fixed price if it's the latter.