When Should a Private Credit Fund Move Off Spreadsheets?
Dr. Leigh Coney
Founder, WorkWise Solutions
November 10, 2026
6 min read
TLDR: A private credit fund should move off spreadsheets when several people and its auditors rely on one record, when covenant tests need history and alerts across the whole book, or when LPs ask for reports the workbook cannot produce. Before that point, a fund of 10 to 40 people usually gets more from one template, one folder structure and an AI assistant that does the keying and the checks. WorkWise Solutions helps credit funds make this call, starting with a $12,500 AI Readiness Sprint for firms of up to 20 people.
I run the AI Readiness Sprint through WorkWise Solutions: $12,500 flat for firms of up to 20 people, one to two weeks, and it tells you whether to fix the workbook or replace it, and with what. Firms that want ongoing help then keep me on the AI Operating Partner retainer; on the Plus tier, $15,000 a month for firms of up to 25 people, vendor evaluations come on demand. I sell no licenses and take no referral fees.
Table of Contents
1. The Short Answer
A private credit fund should move off spreadsheets when several people and your auditors rely on one record, when covenant tests need history and alerts across the whole book, or when LPs ask for reports the workbook cannot produce.
Before that point, a fund of 10 to 40 people usually gets more from making its spreadsheet process faster and safer with AI than from buying a platform, meaning software built to hold the whole loan book in one place.
Running a loan book in Excel is normal. In a 2025 survey of 150 private credit firms by Armentum Partners and Lumonic, which sells monitoring software, "the majority reported still running on Excel."
No published figure gives the number of borrowers, the fund size or the head count at which lenders move. The nearest thing is a line Lumonic wrote in June 2026: "Excel was never built to carry 40 borrowers under stress at once." Lumonic sells the alternative and offers the line as its view, without data. So judge by the signs in your own process.
2. Four Signs You Have Outgrown the Workbook
Each sign has a first fix that costs less than a platform. When the fix stops holding, buy.
First, name one owner for the master file and log every change. Buy when two teams and the auditors need the same record at once.
First, keep every test result in one running sheet, a row per borrower per quarter. Buy when you need a warning as a covenant comes close.
First, keep the source page next to each figure. Buy when the question comes every quarter, or when LPs want reports the workbook cannot produce.
First, have that person write down every step this month. Buy nothing until someone else can run a quarter end from the notes.
Spreadsheet research backs the first sign. Raymond Panko of the University of Hawaii reviewed field audits of spreadsheets in general business use, none of them private credit workbooks. In his 2000 paper, the most recent audits "found errors in at least 86% of the spreadsheets audited."
His 2015 paper explains why size matters: errors are rare cell by cell, but in a large spreadsheet "at least one incorrect bottom-line value is very likely to be present." Every borrower makes the file bigger, and every extra editor adds another way to break it.
3. What to Fix Before You Buy Anything
A platform loads what you give it. If each analyst spreads borrowers in a different layout, you pay to move the mess.
Three fixes come first, and each makes a later move easier:
- One template. Every borrower spread in the same layout, with the same line names and the covenant tests on the same tab.
- One folder structure. One folder per borrower for the credit agreement and its amendments, each quarter's borrower package and each compliance certificate, with the period in every file name.
- AI for the keying and the checks. Have an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT read the borrower package, spread it into your template and give the page for each figure. Then have it recheck that the balance sheet balances and that the ratios in the compliance certificate match the statements. An analyst still checks every figure against its page.
Buy a business plan, the paid company subscription, never personal accounts. Claude Team and ChatGPT Business each cost $20 a seat a month billed annually, which is $2,400 a year for 10 people and $9,600 for 40. By default, neither Anthropic nor OpenAI trains its models on business-plan data.
Claude can recheck a compliance certificate, but it keeps no test history. The running record of covenant results stays in your workbook until a platform takes it over.
4. The Technology a Small Private Credit Firm Needs
Sort the technology by job. A private credit firm of 10 to 40 people has four jobs to cover:
- The loan record. Positions, cash and fees sit in loan administration software, such as S&P Global's WSO or Hypercore, or with an outside administrator. AI reads the exports.
- Reading, keying and first drafts. A general AI assistant on a business plan, working on your own documents and workbook.
- Covenant tracking with history and alerts. Lumonic, Allvue, Chronograph and 73 Strings sell it. You need it when tests must run across the whole book, with a warning as a covenant comes close.
- Portfolio monitoring the whole firm reports from. S&P Global's iLEVEL, Allvue, Oxane Partners and Chronograph sell it. You need it when many people, the auditors and your LPs rely on one record.
No vendor we checked publishes a price. Lumonic says of its own product that selling by demo "limits transparency for smaller managers comparing options." Ask each vendor for a written quote for your number of borrowers and users.
5. How to Move Without a Painful Implementation
A platform has to load your template, your covenant definitions and your history, so the tidying in section 3 shortens the project. Three rules keep the rest small:
- Test on your own agreements. Give each vendor three of your credit agreements and two quarters of borrower packages, redacted, and compare its output with your workbook. PwC's Global Private Credit Survey 2026 notes that "contracts are bespoke."
- Move one job, and run both for a quarter. Start with the job your signs point to, often covenant tracking. Keep the workbook going through one quarter end, and switch when the two agree.
- Settle ownership and exit before you sign. Hypercore, which sells loan management software, advises buyers of loan administration: "Confirm your rights to source documents, loan records, and service outputs," and ask "what happens if you change providers."
The full scorecard for testing vendors is in How Should a Private Credit Firm Choose AI Software?
WorkWise Solutions, which publishes this guide, answers the fix-or-replace question in the AI Readiness Sprint: $12,500 flat for firms of up to 20 people, one to two weeks, ending in a ranked list of first jobs and a 90-day plan. Larger firms take the Comprehensive Discovery Sprint at $30,000.
Ongoing help comes on the AI Operating Partner retainer: Core, $10,000 a month for firms of up to 25 people, covers weekly office hours and one build at a time, and Plus, $15,000 a month, adds vendor evaluations on demand. Firms of 26 to 60 people pay $2,500 a month more. The minimum is three months.
WorkWise sells no licenses and takes no referral fees; every price is on its pricing page. Not a fit if you have already picked a platform and only need it installed, which is a job for that vendor.
6. Where to Start
- Walk through the four signs with the person who runs the workbook.
- Write the process down: who collects, who keys, who checks and where each file lives.
- Settle one template and one folder structure before the next quarter end.
- Buy business-plan seats of Claude or ChatGPT, and run one quarter with AI keying and an analyst checking.
- Count the signs again. If one record, test history or LP reporting is still the problem, test two or three vendors on your own agreements.
How a small team splits a quarter's monitoring between AI and its analysts is in Monitor 50 Borrowers Without Adding Headcount.
"Despite its complexity, private credit is often managed in Excel."
S&P Global, which sells portfolio monitoring software, in research on private credit data (January 23, 2026)
- •A private credit fund should move off spreadsheets when several people and its auditors rely on one record, when covenant tests need history and alerts across the whole book, or when LPs ask for reports the workbook cannot produce.
- •No published figure gives the number of borrowers, the fund size or the head count at which lenders leave Excel, so a fund of 10 to 40 people should judge by four signs in its own process.
- •Raymond Panko's 2000 review of spreadsheet field audits reported that the most recent ones found errors in at least 86% of the spreadsheets audited; the audits covered spreadsheets in general business use, and none were private credit workbooks.
- •Before buying a platform, fix three things: one spreading template, one folder per borrower, and an AI assistant on a business plan for the keying and the checks, at $20 a seat a month billed annually.
- •No private credit software vendor we checked publishes a price, so ask each one for a written quote, test it on your own credit agreements and confirm your right to take your records with you before you sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Excel good enough to run a private credit portfolio?
Yes, for many funds, as long as the process around the workbook is controlled. In a 2025 survey of 150 private credit firms by Armentum Partners and Lumonic, which sells monitoring software, the majority reported still running on Excel. Excel stops being enough when several people and the auditors need one record, when covenant tests need history and alerts across the whole book, or when LPs ask for reports the workbook cannot produce. Until then, a workbook needs one template, one folder structure, a named owner and an analyst who checks every figure against its source page.
What technology does a small private credit firm need?
A small private credit firm needs technology for four jobs. The loan record sits in loan administration software or with an outside administrator. Reading borrower packages, keying and first drafts go to an AI assistant on a business plan, such as Claude Team or ChatGPT Business at $20 a seat a month billed annually. Covenant tracking and portfolio monitoring can stay in Excel, on one template, until several people and the auditors rely on one record. Then they move to software from a vendor such as Lumonic, Allvue, Chronograph or 73 Strings. No vendor we checked publishes a price.
Who can help a private credit fund choose monitoring software?
Three kinds of help exist: the vendors' own sales teams, who know their product best; peers at funds that already use the software; and an independent advisor who takes no money from vendors. Whoever helps, test each product on your own credit agreements before you sign. WorkWise Solutions, which publishes this guide, is an independent advisor: its AI Readiness Sprint costs $12,500 for firms of up to 20 people and says whether to fix the workbook or replace it, and the Plus tier of its AI Operating Partner retainer, $15,000 a month, includes vendor evaluations on demand.
Related Guides & Articles
AI Consulting for Private Credit Funds
A boutique AI advisor for direct lenders and BDCs: the AI Operating Partner retainer from $10,000 a month, or a $12,500 AI Readiness Sprint as a fixed first project.
How Should a Private Credit Firm Choose AI Software?
A scorecard and the questions to ask vendors, tested on your own credit agreements and borrower reports before you sign.
AI for Excel in Private Credit
The AI tools that work inside Excel for spreading and credit models: what speeds the work up, what breaks and how to choose.
How Does a Small Credit Team Monitor 50 Borrowers Without Adding Headcount?
A quarter's monitoring in four steps (collect, spread, test covenants, write up), with what AI does first and what the analyst checks.
Want to know whether to fix the workbook or replace it?
Tell me how many borrowers are in your book and how many people touch the workbook each quarter, and I'll tell you which signs matter and what to fix first. The AI Readiness Sprint is $12,500 flat for firms of up to 20 people and takes one to two weeks. For ongoing help, the AI Operating Partner retainer starts at $10,000 a month, and its Plus tier, at $15,000 a month, includes vendor evaluations on demand.