This is the third post in our series. The first covered the general problem, the second what management can do to address it. Today’s post covers “What can IT do?”
After all, the Spreadsheets That Won’t Die are almost all created in functional areas such as marketing, production, finance, or sales for short-term needs.:
i. Give away help – Reduce risk and speed business process turnaround by equipping a solutions team with fast prototyping tools and processing capacity. They can replace the spreadsheet’s data entry, simple reporting, and basic data curation with something that is robust, auditable, and trackable. Most computer applications in the last half-century actually use small amounts of data in “key in/report out” applications.
ii. Give away audits – Identify team members that can audit critical spreadsheets and implement changes – Fast! It will reduce high-risk process weaknesses and tell people that failure has consequences.
iii. Make change a normal event — Spreadsheets are a great start for requirements and process documentation. When it comes time to formalize the process, do it quickly - embrace the tools and approaches that demonstrate how easily you can move from a spreadsheet (or rapid tool like an AI workbook or model-based design) to a curated application quickly embrace tools supporting rapid changes when needed.
There is a tendency to underestimate the problems that a flawed spreadsheet for a critical function pose. Worse there is a tendency to underestimate how easily it can be fixed. IT can add tremendous value by getting in front of spreadsheets that have outlived their usefulness.
The Ekalore team has a wealth of experience helping companies address these and other process issues. We have any number of stories of rogue spreadsheets, and we’d love to hear yours. Please leave us a comment about your spreadsheet issues.
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