use strict;
use warnings;
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

my $file = shift;
my $excel;
eval {
 local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timeout\n" };
 alarm(5);
 $excel = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Workbook->Parse($file);
 die "Can't parse $file\n" unless defined $excel;
 alarm(0);
};

die $@ if $@;

# contiune with $excel object

##</code><code>##

open DUMP, ">filename" or die "Can't open: $!\n";

##</code><code>##

if ($@) { # something bad occures
 if ($@ =~ /TIME OUT/) {
   # do something regarding timeout
 } else {
   # do something with other reason,
   # such as failure on open
 }
 # stop here
}

# continue here