Continuing our examination of which is more useful in the office, spreadsheets or databases, we look at task automation.One of the benefits of computers in the modern workplace is that they can automate many dull, repetitive tasks and complete them in seconds.  This makes a business more productive and efficient and allows staff to concentrate on creative, value-adding activities.

So, which one is better at it, spreadsheets or databases?

Round 2: Task Automation

Spreadsheets

I think we have probably all used spreadsheets to do some calculations at some point, perhaps adding up a column of numbers or something like that.  So, Excel can do some calculation for simple things like that.  How does it fair with more complex things like, printing out a payment reminder?  How about printing out all your payment reminders?  I realise that is a lot more complicated than just adding up some numbers, but it is a real day-to-day task which is important but time-consuming.  Well, with Excel we can automate things a bit more than just doing sums by using macros.  ...