Not about Excel -- Not a Data Mapping Tool... recommendations?

Hi:

I have a very general question pertaining to "field/data mapping".

I recently joined a team which utilized "MS-Excel" as part of a data migration project. Ultimately, the team has been using matrix format to cross-reference/map source fields to destination fields.

Although I personally like Excel a great deal, I believe it is not the most suitable software for this type of data transformation project.

Now, at this time, I'd like to explore other software options that, potentially, are **free** data mapping software. Given there are dozens of data mapping tools available on the web, I was
wondering if someone had a recommendation for a specific tool.

While I could download a number of trial versions, I was hoping to use a free resource/software. That is, I don't want to find myself in a position where the tool is great but it comes w/ a hefty price tag (for which the project may not have the necessary funds).

Any recommendations?

Thank you,
EEH

I am not at all familiar with data mapping, but a quick internet search led me to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mapping ) which -- not surprisingly -- does not list spreadsheets as a common tool for data mapping (though I did see one data mapping tool/provider that mentions that their tools can use Excel/spreadsheet files as data sources). It does mention a few standards and languages (such as RDF and OWL), but gives no details on how they work with different data sources.

My only guess for an Excel based tool would be to see if Power Query, Power BI, or Get and Transform can do basic data mapping. Someone would probably need to be familiar both with data mapping and with these tools to know if and how these tools could be used for data mapping.

If you explain exactly what you are trying to do here - instead of making vague statements about excel not being the right too - then perhaps we could offer more detailed suggestions?

@Skydi

Are you familiar with Excel & VBA ?