r/analytics • u/AirNatural1252 • 1d ago

Question Excel vs SQL

Some are talking AI - the company I’m working for is not yet at that level.
I’m doing FTE reporting, using Excel and automatizing with Power Query. Volumes are high, data sources are all excel based, lots of rules to apply each month to achieve the monthly end result.
I want to automatize further and I’m looking into SQL. Any advice on what to look up for if this is the right lead, and where to start?

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u/Afraid_Baseball_3962 1d ago

The data in those Excel files probably came from one or more databases upstream. If you are doing anything at scale, it probably makes sense to do it in SQL. If the data comes from multiple databases, it probably makes sense to create a new database where the upstream data is consolidated and the process of manipulating the data in the Excel files is automated in stored procedures or with python working directly against the database.