Excel is one of the most widely used spreadsheet applications. The functionality of Excel is tightly integrated with related functionality for visual data displays (such as graphs, tables, and charts), mathematical calculations, and data organization; Excel even has it's own Macro programming capabilities for computer programming purposes. This high degree of integration is a feature of many modern spreadsheet applications, and is in some sense the standard for spreadsheet tools. Many of the organizational and calculatory features of Excel are sought to be captured in the Grader Tool described in these requirements, though not any of the extra programming features.

Below is an outline of the strong, weak, and missing features of Excel.

Good Features:

• simple cell-based user interface with many options
• can create tables, graphs, and charts (supports conditional formatting)
• can import data into spreadsheet
• supports multiple spreadsheet tabs
• allows multiple files to be opened at once
• can save custom spreadsheet layouts
• online storage and sharing (with real-time updates)
• tablet and phone support
• import and printing capabilities
• built-in mathematical calculation tools
• macro programming

Bad Features:

• no built-in grading tools
• formatting tables, graphs, and charts is not always easy
• very limited 3D graphical representation of data
• no exporting capabilities
• limited save formats

Missing Features:

• integration of, or functionality for, a handin system
• built-in tools for assisting in grade and prediction
• limited view of data information between different users
• exporting spreadsheets or data
• additional save options other than Spreadsheet and PDF formats