The problem here isn't the scale of the workflows. It's the structure. Fifty-plus programs, each with a dozen steps, multiple iterations, and a rotating cast of preparers and reviewers, will defeat any tool that treats your data like a flat grid. The person who posted this isn't asking for more features. They're asking for a way to see the same information from two angles at once: the program view and the person view. That's not a spreadsheet problem. That's a data modeling problem.
Here's the practical truth: your worksheet tabs are the obstacle. As long as each step lives on its own tab, you're fighting the tool instead of using it. The fix is to consolidate everything into a single table, with one row per step per iteration, and columns that describe the program, the owner, the due date, and the status. That sounds like a loss of organization, but it's actually the unlock. Once your data lives in one place, a pivot table or a dashboard becomes straightforward. You filter by program and see every step. You filter by owner and see their personal list. The multi-tab structure is what breaks Power Pivot and forces you into Power BI workarounds. It's not the volume of your project that's slowing you down. It's the layout.
What this person needs is a simple data model, not a more complicated tool. They've already tried the heavy hitters. Power BI and MS Lists aren't the answer because the issue is upstream: the data is fragmented across tabs, and any tool you point at it will inherit that fragmentation. The solution is to normalize the data first. Use Power Query to append all the tabs into one table, or restructure the source so each step is a row. Then a pivot table becomes your dashboard. Filter by program. Slice by owner. Done. No many-to-many relationships. No custom DAX. Just clean, flat data that any pivot table can read.
The bonus request for a personal action list is the tell that this person is thinking clearly. They don't just want a status board. They want to answer the question, "What do I need to do today?" That's only possible if the data is structured around people and dates, not around tabs. So here's the concrete point: stop trying to make your dashboard fit your current workbook. Restructure the workbook so it fits the dashboard. Merge the tabs. Add an owner column for both preparer and reviewer. Then build your pivot table. You'll have your program view, your personal view, and a tool that actually scales. The clarity you're looking for isn't in a new product. It's in a flatter file.