A Tradeoff

Only by going through “Spreadsheet Hell” did the organization learn that there was a tradeoff to be made between end user autonomy and data credibility. The end user could choose to have complete autonomy. But as long as the end user could put any data at any time for any reason on a spreadsheet, then this autonomy became a liability. Just because data was on a spreadsheet did not mean that the data was credible.

Not only was data not believable, but data wasn’t reliable. Spreadsheets became lost or corrupted. Backup procedures were nonexistent. Audit procedures were nowhere to be found. Storage procedures and equipment were specious. Making major corporate decisions based on spreadsheet data became a risky endeavor.