Some time ago I wrote about the way spreadsheets were undermining expensively assembled ERP’s in FMCG, Brewing and Pharmaceutical companies. They still are, by the way.
Recently, a paper on Public Debt and Austerity published by 2 eminent Harvard Professors was found to contain errors in the Excel coding. Several significant countries were excluded from the data analysis and therefore the conclusions could not be accurate.
The glitch was spotted by a student who like everyone else, believed he and not they must be wrong. If you can make mistakes at this level then think what may be happening in your planning office. A decimal point in the wrong place or a misplaced cell could lead to market place challenges in stock availability or indeed, excess.
The bug in that Public Debt spreadsheet leads me to the Beatles – what a segue! Here is what they might have written about spreadsheets and ERPs.
Yesterday, an IT man took my Excel away
Now I have to plan a different way
How I wish it was yesterday
Certainly, I’m not as comfortable as I used to be
There's a new ERP in front of me.
How yesterday came shockingly
Why Excel had to go I don't know, IT wouldn’t say
Did I plan something wrong? How I long for the Excel way.
Yesterday, spreadsheet planning was the only way
Now I need to learn a different way
I need to believe in the ERP
Why Excel had to go I don't know, IT wouldn’t say
Did I plan something wrong? How I long for the Excel way.
Error riddled spreadsheets everyday
Now I don’t believe in yesterday
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
You can catch up with the classic Beatles track by clicking here.
If you do not run an ERP that relegates spreadsheets to useful supporting tools then you are risking poor planning in your business. If you are running an ERP you might check exactly where the data comes from and where the critical calculations are really made.
Image courtesy of artur84 at freedigitalphotos.net
