On Thu, 31 May 2007 06:41:01 -0700, sumGirl
wrote:

Hey all, before I get a bunch of wordy opinions based on the subject line
(grin) let me tell you what I am really looking for. I am proposing a small
business app be written in Excel and in order to get the proposal approved I
need to provide a risk assessment of what doing so means long term. I am
looking for some thoughts on what the risks are for building and supporting
an app in Excel and thats what I need from yuou guys!

I really need some good risks listed, not just cheerleading for excel /
office.

You might like to try:
- http://www.eusprig.org/
- http://www.acl.com/limitsofspreadsheets/
- the comp.risks archive (every software developer and development
manager should read comp.risks)

You really don't provide much information. If the application is to pick
up data from elsewhere, manipulate it and present it, then it is
entirely possible that Excel is the right tool.

If on the other hand you want something to maintain important and
complex data, and particularly if that data is going to be maintained by
a number of people over a significant length of time, then you need a
database, not a spreadsheet. Think of such things as data integrity,
avoiding data duplication, separating data from presentation etc.

(I am currently developing both an Excel app and an Access app, so I
think I can claim neutrality.)

--
Stephen Poley