John Edwards, CFO.com | US
November 13, 2006

Security and sharing

Sharing Excel workbooks does not need to be an expensive proposition and does not need to risk exposing data to prying eyes. It also does require a real-time access link which can be inconvenient and expensive. I have found Distributed Spreadsheet solves these problems for me. No more security headaches. Users see only the worksheets I allow them to see. I really like that. That's my $.02.

Posted by Mark Ryan | Sep 26, 2008 12:23 AM ET

You can have it all!

The debate is long over. Spreadsheets are here to stay and remain a key tool for any agile Finance department. Those who want to provide security and governance capability in a spreadsheet environment need to focus just below the surface. Standardizing on a data services solution that feeds spreadsheets from enterprise data sources (and connects a network of spreadsheets together) will protect the integrity of base calculations while delivering full agility to all end-users. No change to the way people work, only now it?s a fully protected, governed and monitored environment.

Posted by Swayne Hill | Nov 25, 2006 4:48 PM ET

Spreadsheets are here to stay!

We can all agree on the risks of using spreadsheets for critical financial reporting. But arguing for the elimination of spreadsheets hardly seems like a practical approach. Despite the potential for serious and frequent errors, spreadsheet usage is entrenched and mission-critical in virtually every organization and forcing people to change the way they work is not a viable solution.

A better way is to centralize and automate spreadsheet management to reduce the risk of errors. There are solutions on the market that do more than control access ? they manage the entire spreadsheet lifecycle, providing automated capabilities for security as well as version control, change management and a collaborative review-and-approval process ? all while the user continues to work in the familiar spreadsheet environment. An effective automated solution will dramatically reduce the costs of eliminating errors and ensure that spreadsheets are properly controlled, accessed and managed. -- Abby Pinard, VP, Marketing Communications, Mobius Management Systems, Inc.

Posted by Abby Pinard | Nov 20, 2006 10:51 AM ET

"BI" Solutions Flexible as a Spreadsheet and secure

I agree that ?BI? solutions such as enterprise planning systems are the ?only way to go for sensitive information.? I continue to find it worrisome that finance departments of large companies continue to rely on spreadsheet-only ?systems? for budgeting, planning or forecasting or their accounting control and corporate reporting requirements.

There are considerable risks in this approach that are easily recognized for their adverse IT governance and compliance implications. These risks include the potential for data security breaches (which John?s story highlights), potential virus activity, regulatory and management control issues, as well as the fact that personal productivity tools like spreadsheets are unable to unlock performance management process improvements for organizations to better decision-making.

I disagree that ?most BI applications provide a highly structured front end that lacks the spreadsheet?s flexibility and easy portability.? It?s a new, modern era - enterprise systems have evolved to marry the computational speed and flexibility of desktop productivity tools with the collaborative efficiencies of network systems for dramatic improvement in both IT governance and performance management process.

Finance needs both a secure system of record and a robust enterprise environment that can provide users with a flexible, familiar Excel-like interface as a front-end. And enterprise systems exist today that offer both. Our customers are embracing this change and reaping the associated benefits.

--Doug Barton, VP Product Marketing, Cognos, Inc.

Posted by Carrie Bendzsa | Nov 14, 2006 12:38 PM ET