Spreadmarts

[JohnG]

Are you having to deal with spreadsheets, access databases and operational dashboards being driven off local hard drives? Then you've got spreadmarts and this thread is to talk about their good and bad points.

[JohnG]

Here's a piece I've just read care of Vodafone:

Spreadsheets putting business data at risk

By Seamus Byrne

NEWS.com.au
January 05, 2009 01:27pm

What are these? SPREADSHEETS used to manage data are at high risk of errors, warns Seamus Byrne.
Move data to where it belongs and you fix the risk while making it easier to leverage your business intelligence.

Every worker knows how easy it is to start a quick spreadsheet to cover some basic business data needs.

Many more will know how these humble sheets can grow rapidly, soon becoming essential reporting and storage tools for the day-to-day management of their business intelligence.

Yet recent studies show spreadsheets commonly fall prey to errors.

In many cases, workers lack the data management utility to ensure the safety and security essential business intelligence requires.

Like having appropriate backup procedures in place for our most important data, no business ever wants to learn their lesson the hard way.

Making a move away from the ease and comfort the spreadsheets may seem difficult at first, but as industry experts are quick to point out, the payoff is well in reach.

David Perks, General Manager of Business Solutions from Brennan, an ICT consultancy, has seen some glaring troubles with managing business intelligence through spreadsheets.

Mr Perks uncovered statistics showing 47% of mid market businesses are using spreadsheets to store essential data, and that 80% of all spreadsheets contain errors.

To Mr Perks, this showed too many businesses were clearly unaware of the risk they were facing.

"All it takes is for one user of a large business spreadsheet to sort by the wrong row, or add a cell in the wrong column,” he says.

"It could be weeks or months before the error is noticed and when errors finally start to emerge it may be impossible to uncover where the original mistake took place."

Solve your data management issues

What is needed is a shift to more suitable data management applications for critical business data.

Businesses need to examine their use of spreadsheets, and explore data tools for more appropriate ways to manage their information, whether for customer interactions, resource planning, accounts, or any other requirements.

There are many out of the box business data solutions, as well as software providers who can customise data systems to business needs.

Some of these systems may already be in place, and cultural adjustments to get workers using the tools already available are the fix that is required.

Whatever the case, cutting spreadsheet usage down to only essential and appropriate tasks should be a priority akin to ensuring regular data backup procedures are in place.

This may seem like a trifling nuisance in the midst of economic turmoil, but solving your spreadsheet problems is not all doom and gloom.

By shifting all essential business intelligence into true data applications, the data can quickly become available and accessible to a wide range of business interactions.

Whereas spreadsheets can only be searched and manipulated in the dedicated software, databases have better standardised search and entry functions for many different tools to work with.

While spreadsheets can most effectively be used by a single-user at a time, databases can limit lock out more discretely, making the data available to many different users at the same time.

Version control and data validation becomes easier and can be automated once the data set is managed in an appropriate way.

Mobility made easier

One big win can be found in the mobile workforce, where interacting with spreadsheet data can be difficult remotely when working on a mobile platform.

With a shift to real data structures, a mobile team can work with local applications, or even a web interface, to manage and interact with data in real time.

It may seem easier to wait another week, or another month, to double-check your business has its data under control.

But in the current climate, every win in making business more efficient and more capable of unleashing its gathered intelligence should be snatched up as quickly as possible.

Content provided by Vodafone Australia

[JohnG]

I have downloaded a research paper from TDWI in the States and this presents a good balanced view of spreadmarts. There is a time and a place for them and they can be very beneficial.

Read it here. You can also get it directly from TDWI. Their site has an excellent range of (US centric data). Very useful!