The cumbersome flat file inventory management system that existed during and prior to the mid 2000′s weathered a number of attempts at whole sale upgrade. This isn’t to say that improvements were not made; herculean effort was exerted in improving the fidelity and coverage of the system. However, the inventory was recalcitrant to being migrated away from a flat file single read-write access model.
The magnitude of the precarious nature of the spreadsheet-based inventory seemed to be unrealized by most of the staff. This issue was known, but the potential size of the problem was poorly understood. Since the system was apparently operational, the specter of massive data corruption was largely unacknowledged. The possibility that a widespread yet subtle error went undetected for an extended period of time was not in the top worries of the personnel. All of the people working with the system were attentive, smart, and responsive to problems. Despite the best people and intentions, a few relatively minor data corruptions, that were identified and corrected, foreshadowed the possibility of a catastrophic failure.
Reluctance to move away from using an Excel spreadsheet is understandable. It is entirely managerial for small projects and seems scalable because it appears very simple. However, as a project grows in size the logic and complexity required to maintain it falls to the people running the project. Excel is a good spreadsheet, but it is not a database and has little ability to scale up.
