Management’s Problem

“Spreadsheet Hell” put management in a very poor position. All management wanted to do was to make good business decisions. On one hand, the IT department claimed to have rigorously-defined data. The problem was that dealing with IT was a long and tortuous process. When IT took over, there arose the real risk that nothing would ever materialize. The flip side was to let the end user have autonomy of data and processing. Sure enough, things got done. But the net result was not being able to believe the data that decisions were based on.

So management was in a precarious position.

One good solution to this dilemma was to take the data that the end user had manufactured, and to turn that spreadsheet data into corporate data.

Of course, there were risks in this approach. But there are risks in any approach. Whatever management does, there are risks. Doing nothing has its risks. And certainly transforming spreadsheet data to corporate data...