It starts innocently enough. Someone exports the vCenter inventory to Excel. A few columns get added: owner, wave assignment, status, notes. The file gets shared. Multiple people edit it. And before long, the spreadsheet becomes the de facto system of record for a migration that will touch hundreds of VMs, dozens of stakeholders, and months of execution.
This is how most VMware migration planning begins. It is also why most VMware migrations struggle. Forrester's VMware Migration Checklist specifically warns against jumping straight to platform selection without first understanding dependencies and establishing clarity on what actually needs to move.
Spreadsheets are flexible. That flexibility becomes a liability when you need consistency, auditability, and coordination at scale. Gartner's assessment of large-scale VMware migrations found that initial scoping alone requires seven to ten full-time staff for a month. The same tool that helps you brainstorm VM groupings becomes a bottleneck when you need to track approvals, manage dependencies, and report progress to leadership.
This article explains why spreadsheet-driven migrations fail, where the risks emerge, and what a structured approach to orchestration looks like in practice.
The appeal of the spreadsheet
Nobody chooses spreadsheets because they think it is the best approach. They choose spreadsheets because they are available, familiar, and require no procurement approval. When the migration mandate arrives with urgency, the path of least resistance is to start working in Excel.
Spreadsheets also provide a sense of control. You can see every row, filter by any column, and format the view to match how you think about the problem. For small migrations with a single owner, this works fine.
The problem is that migrations grow. What starts as 50 VMs becomes 500. What starts as one engineer becomes a team of ten. What starts as a straightforward move becomes a program with dependencies, stakeholders, change windows, and compliance requirements. Gartner research VP Julia Palmer advised against planning to move all workloads off VMware, noting that a full migration will take three or more years. The spreadsheet does not scale with the complexity.
Where spreadsheet migrations break down
Version control chaos
The spreadsheet lives on a shared drive or in email attachments. Multiple people update it simultaneously. Conflicting changes overwrite each other. The project manager opens the file Monday morning and discovers that Friday's updates are gone.
Version control problems are not just inconvenient. They create risk. If the authoritative state of a VM is unclear, teams make decisions based on outdated information. A VM that was marked ready for migration was actually flagged as blocked in someone else's copy. The cutover fails.
No audit trail
Compliance frameworks require documentation of who changed what and when. Spreadsheets track none of this. When an auditor asks why a particular VM was included in wave three instead of wave four, there is no answer beyond "someone updated the spreadsheet."
The absence of audit trails also makes post-incident analysis difficult. When something goes wrong, understanding the sequence of decisions that led to the problem requires reconstructing history from memory and email threads.
Manual reconciliation
Data in the spreadsheet does not update automatically. When a VM configuration changes in vCenter, when an application owner updates their contact information, when a dependency is resolved, someone must manually update the spreadsheet. This creates lag and error.
Manual reconciliation also consumes significant labor. Engineers who should be remediating blockers spend hours cross-referencing spreadsheet columns against other systems. This is low-value work that multiplies as the migration grows.
Coordination failures
Migrations require coordination across teams: infrastructure, application owners, change management, security, operations. Spreadsheets do not notify stakeholders when their input is needed. They do not route approvals. They do not track whether confirmation was received.
The result is coordination through email, chat, and meetings. Status updates require human effort to compile. Progress reporting is always slightly stale because someone has to gather the data before presenting it.
Invisible dependencies
Spreadsheets store data in rows. Relationships between rows are implicit at best. A dependency between VM A and VM B exists only if someone adds a comment or creates a naming convention. When that person leaves the project, the dependency knowledge leaves with them.
Dependencies that are not explicitly tracked are dependencies that get missed. The spreadsheet says both VMs are ready. The migration moves VM A without realizing that VM B must move first. The application breaks.
The cost of spreadsheet failures
When spreadsheet limitations cause problems, the costs extend beyond the immediate incident.
- Rework. Incorrect data leads to migrations that fail or require rollback. The team repeats work that should have been done once.
- Delays. Coordination failures push cutovers to later windows. The timeline extends.
- Credibility erosion. Leadership loses confidence in the team's ability to execute. Future budget requests face more scrutiny.
- Burnout. Engineers working around spreadsheet limitations work harder, not smarter. Morale suffers.
- Compliance exposure. Missing audit trails create risk if the organization faces regulatory review.
These costs accumulate quietly until they are large enough to threaten the program.
What orchestration looks like
Orchestration replaces the spreadsheet with a platform designed for the job. The difference is not just automation. It is a fundamentally different approach to managing complexity.
- Single source of truth: All data about VMs, owners, dependencies, and status lives in one place. Updates are immediate and visible to everyone. There is no question about which version is current.
- Automated data integration: The platform connects to vCenter, CMDBs, ticketing systems, and other sources. Data synchronizes automatically. Changes in source systems flow through to the migration view without manual effort.
- Workflow automation: Approvals route to the right people at the right time. Stakeholders receive notifications when input is needed. Status updates happen as work completes, not when someone remembers to update a spreadsheet.
- Dependency management: Relationships between VMs are explicit and enforced. The platform prevents scheduling a cutover when dependencies are not satisfied. Risk surfaces during planning, not during execution.
- Audit trails: Every change is logged with who made it and when. Compliance documentation generates automatically. Post-incident analysis has complete history.
- Real-time reporting: Dashboards show current state without manual compilation. Leadership can check progress at any time without requesting a status meeting.
VirtualReady as the orchestration layer
ReadyWorks VirtualReady provides the orchestration capabilities that spreadsheets lack. The platform connects to vCenter on day one and builds an automated inventory that stays current.
Bundles are defined in the platform, not in spreadsheet rows. Each bundle has a readiness score based on dependency closure, stakeholder approval, and remediation status. The score updates as conditions change.
Wave schedules are created with awareness of constraints: network capacity, change windows, stakeholder availability. The platform validates that the schedule is achievable before committing.
Approval workflows route requests to application owners and change advisory boards. The platform tracks responses and escalates when deadlines approach. No email chasing required.
When cutover begins, the platform coordinates tasks, validates checkpoints, and logs results. If rollback is required, the sequence is documented. Audit trails are complete.
Executive dashboards show progress against plan. Leadership sees what completed, what is in flight, and what is blocked. The data is current because it comes from the system of record, not from a spreadsheet someone updated last week.
Making the transition
Moving from spreadsheets to orchestration does not mean starting over. VirtualReady ingests existing spreadsheet data as one input among many. The platform normalizes that data, enriches it with information from connected systems, and identifies conflicts that need resolution.
Teams often run both approaches in parallel during the pilot phase. The spreadsheet continues for familiarity while the orchestration platform proves its value. By the end of the pilot, the benefits are clear enough that the spreadsheet retires naturally.
The transition investment pays back quickly. Hours spent on manual reconciliation disappear. Coordination happens through the platform instead of through meetings. Reporting becomes a click instead of a project.
When spreadsheets are still appropriate
Spreadsheets have a role in migration planning, just not as the system of record. They remain useful for ad hoc analysis, one-time calculations, and exploratory work.
Need to model what-if scenarios before committing to a wave structure? A spreadsheet is fine for that. Need to share a quick summary with someone outside the program? Export from the orchestration platform to a spreadsheet.
The key is distinguishing between analysis tools and operational systems. Spreadsheets excel at analysis. They fail as operational systems for complex programs.
The question to ask yourself
If your VMware migration is tracked in a spreadsheet, ask this question: What happens when the person who maintains it goes on vacation?
If the answer is "nobody knows how to update it correctly" or "we wait until they return," you have a liability. The program depends on a tool that depends on a person. That is fragile.
Orchestration platforms remove this fragility. The process is encoded in the system, not in someone's head. The program continues even when individuals are unavailable.
FAQ
How long does it take to move from spreadsheets to an orchestration platform?
Initial setup takes one to two weeks. Data migration and validation add another two to four weeks. Most teams run parallel during the pilot phase.
What if our migration is small enough for spreadsheets?
Small migrations may complete successfully with spreadsheets. The question is whether the effort and risk are worth it. Orchestration platforms often pay back even on small projects through time savings.
Can I import my existing spreadsheet into VirtualReady?
Yes. The platform ingests spreadsheet data as one source, normalizes it against connected systems, and highlights conflicts.
How do orchestration platforms handle custom workflows?
VirtualReady supports configurable workflows that match your governance process. Approval gates, notification sequences, and escalation rules adapt to how your organization works.
What about teams that prefer spreadsheets?
Reports and exports can be generated in spreadsheet format for stakeholders who prefer that view. The system of record remains the orchestration platform.
One next step
See how VirtualReady replaces spreadsheet chaos with structured orchestration. Request a VM Accelerator assessment to start with a clean, connected inventory.
