Jim Lawrence
accessd at shaw.ca
Thu May 29 09:31:26 CDT 2014
It fits the old axiom; "A poor workman blames his tools." Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darryl Collins" <darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 4:15:48 PM Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets ForImportant Work Excel is just a tool. A pretty darn good one for the job it was built to do - although it is used for a vast array of solutions outside of its core design strengths. It is surprising adept at other tasks. For example, Excel is a much better photo editor / graphics tool than Photoshop is at doing maths. Who would have thought? Like all tools, how effective it is utilised depends on the skill and smarts of the user. You can get the cat food out of the tin with a screwdriver and hammer, it is just a lot clean, faster and neater to use a can opener. Locking down Excel tightly removes all that is good and powerful about Excel. If you need to lock it down like that you are using the wrong tool and severely limiting your tool box in my opinion. Excel is mostly an analytical / 'what if?' reporting tool. That is what it 'excels' at. Leave your source data somewhere safe and do the number mashing and scenario testing in Excel. Worked with spreadsheets since Lotus 123 days - even had a play with visicalc, but professionally started with 123. Whilst I have seen a lot, I am still surprised at times with what folks do with Excel. It is still the killer application for the PC - although one that needs to be treated with respect and care else it will bite you back. Long live the King I say :) Cheers Darryl. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gary Kjos Sent: Thursday, 29 May 2014 5:21 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets ForImportant Work Well you CAN lock down spreadsheets. Just nobody hardly ever does. I'm not advocating the use of spreadsheets though. Just saying that just as there are good ones and bad ones there are also good and bad programs out there. GK On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Jim Dettman <jimdettman at verizon.net> wrote: > > Because their changed to easily, do not have the under pinning's of a > coded language, etc. > > In short, great for ad-hoc work, but that's the very reason auditors > don't like them<g>. > > I've already been involved in IT audit where I was asked to provide > source and compiled libs and had to prove that every change in source > was requested with a ticket, by whom, who authorized it, and why it > was done. > > Try doing that with a spreadsheet. > > Jim. > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gary Kjos > Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 10:14 PM > To: Off Topic > Cc: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets > ForImportant Work > > And so WHY exactly shouldn't we trust them? I never got that. Because > shit is in there that could be fucked up? Just like ANY freaking > program. What a crock. > > There are ways of testing spreadsheets. No doubt spreadsheets get misused. > But to say all spreadsheets are evil is not right at all either. > > Here's a one word tip. Crossfoot. > > GK > > -- Gary Kjos garykjos at gmail.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com