Compare · Excel
Dashly or Excel and separate exports?
Excel works until every department has its own version; with Dashly everyone looks at the same number, with fixed formulas.
Short answer
The difference in short.
Excel is fast and flexible; it gets difficult when you combine exports from several systems every week.
The strengths of Excel
- Fast and flexible.
- Everyone can use it.
- Often enough for a one-off analysis, or if you have one system.
What Dashly adds
- Retrieves your systems on a schedule and links what belongs together.
- Calculates with the fixed formulas of the Workforce Intelligence Model.
- Excel can stay, also as a source.
The alternative: Excel
Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet program. You open exports in it, calculate with formulas and pivot tables and make charts. With Power Query in Excel you retrieve data from other sources, transform it and refresh it later.
About Dashly
Dashly is the Workforce Intelligence Layer for staffing, secondment and recruitment organisations, recruitment departments and recruitment marketing agencies. It connects ATS, scheduling, payroll, accounting and CRM, and runs everything through the Workforce Intelligence Model: fixed formulas, with source. You use it in Dashly Dashboard or in your own AI.
Use both?
Yes. Excel stays useful for looking something up or running the numbers. Dashly can also connect Excel and Google Sheets files as a source, for example a list of targets or rates. Agree that the key metrics come from Dashly, and that Excel is for analysis.
Differences
Excel and Dashly side by side.
What it is good at
- Excel
- Quick calculations, analysis and presentation. Everyone can use it.
- Dashly
- The same key metrics every week, without manual work, the same for everyone.
Retrieving data
- Excel
- Manual exports, or Power Query connections you set up yourself.
- Dashly
- All your systems retrieved on a schedule, with history and monitoring.
Versions
- Excel
- Every department its own file, and a new version every week.
- Dashly
- One version, in one place.
What belongs together
- Excel
- With lookup functions and manual work. The same client can appear under three names.
- Dashly
- Every client, candidate and employee once, permanently linked.
Formulas
- Excel
- Only as good as the person who makes them. Once that person leaves, nobody knows how it works.
- Dashly
- Fixed formulas from the model, with source and owner.
Personal data
- Excel
- Files with names, wages or citizen service numbers (BSN) that are emailed and shared.
- Dashly
- Permissions per role down to the row, also for your AI. Logging and a data processing agreement (DPA) as standard.
Signals
- Excel
- You see it when you open the file.
- Dashly
- Alerts as soon as a lever drops below the standard, in Dashly Dashboard.
Costs
- Excel
- You often already have the licence. The costs are in the hours you put into it every week.
- Dashly
- Per connection, not per user. See the pricing page.
Choosing
What fits you?
Choose Excel if
- You have one system and a few fixed lists.
- You want to look something up once or run the numbers on an idea.
- Someone has time every week to make and check exports.
Choose Dashly if
- You combine exports from several systems every week.
- Departments argue about which number is right.
- You do not want the numbers to depend on one person with the right file.
- You no longer want personal data in loose files.
Questions
Questions about Excel and Dashly.
Is your question not here? In a demo we show how Dashly works with your systems.
01Why not just use Excel?
Excel works fine for a one-off analysis. But combining exports from ATS, scheduling and payroll every week takes time, gives each department its own version and depends on one person's formulas. Dashly retrieves your systems automatically and calculates with fixed formulas, so everyone looks at the same number.
02Can Dashly use my Excel files?
Yes. Excel and Google Sheets are among the connections. That is useful for data that is not anywhere else, such as targets, budgets or a rate list.
03Can't I build the same thing with Power Query in Excel?
Partly. With Power Query you retrieve data and refresh it. But linking what belongs together, formulas for workforce and the check against your records, you then build and maintain yourself. That part is what Dashly supplies.
04What if our Excel numbers differ from Dashly?
We see that during setup. Before go-live, we put the numbers next to your own records and explain the differences. Often it comes down to a definition or a moment: work date, invoice date or booking date. We record that with you per KPI.
Sources
Where this comes from.
What we say about Excel comes from their documentation or is common knowledge, checked on 23 October 2026. Something no longer right? Email us and we will correct it.
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