Authors
Alan S. Horowitz
Abstract
Various studies report that 47% to 64% of companies use stand-alone spreadsheets for planning and budgeting, for example. But critics say spreadsheets - invented as a personal productivity tool - aren't well suited to collaboration, data quality or regulatory compliance.
Besides being extremely unwieldy for processes involving large volumes of data and multiple users, spreadsheets often contain substantial, material errors, according to academic research.
Sample
Here are three of the more significant spreadsheet issues that companies have to address:
- Decentralization. Having numerous spreadsheets makes it difficult to collect important data.
- Compliance. Having financial data in a hodgepodge of spreadsheets also makes it hard to maintain one version of the truth, which is important for complying with the law.
- Dirty data. One major issue with spreadsheets is poor data quality. As you make changes or add information, your spreadsheet will have errors or mismatched formulas.
Publication
2004, Computerworld, Volume 38, Number 21, May, pages 46-47
