The Great Excel Spreadsheet

[MorganO]

I thought you all would get a kick out of this article from TheDailyWTF.com (which focuses on poor programming practices). The article discusses one banks use of an excel spreadsheet as mission critcial application and what happened when they attempted to move it to a database solution.

Enjoy.

Owen

 

[RoryA]

If the general principle at the end didn't pretty much sum up my working life, that would be hilarious!

 

[DonkeyOte]

Presumably everyone has experience of a "G.E.S" equivalent ?

At my old job we had one simply referred to as Tron ...

 

[Beezkneez]

I applied for a job at a major bank (in this country anyway). They showed me their system for one of the major capital calcs (big bucks).

The entire thing was built in Access/Excel. The underlying database had a couple hundred tables with so many links it looked like a spiderweb. Tables being added and removed regularly. Undocumented, unvalidated or audited, and only 1 individual who really understood how it worked.

I withdrew my application.

 

[RichardS]

Which Bank?

 

[xld]

I applied for a job at a major bank (in this country anyway). They showed me their system for one of the major capital calcs (big bucks).

The entire thing was built in Access/Excel. The underlying database had a couple hundred tables with so many links it looked like a spiderweb. Tables being added and removed regularly. Undocumented, unvalidated or audited, and only 1 individual who really understood how it worked.

I withdrew my application.

There is a good item at Smurf on Spreadsheets about the lack of audibility on databases.

 

[mole999]

I applied for a job at a major bank (in this country anyway). They showed me their system for one of the major capital calcs (big bucks).

The entire thing was built in Access/Excel. The underlying database had a couple hundred tables with so many links it looked like a spiderweb. Tables being added and removed regularly. Undocumented, unvalidated or audited, and only 1 individual who really understood how it worked.

I withdrew my application.

Looks like that person left, and the world economy followed !!!!!!!!!!!!!