Book Image

Turning Spreadsheets into Corporate Data

By : Bill Inmon
Book Image

Turning Spreadsheets into Corporate Data

By: Bill Inmon

Overview of this book

Spreadsheets are a popular way to store and communicate business data, but, although they are easy to create and update, they are not reliable enough to be used for making important corporate decisions. With this book, you can gain insight into how to maintain spreadsheets, how to format them, and then convert them into a database of reliable and useful information. Turning Spreadsheets into Corporate Data starts with a quick history of spreadsheet usage. You’ll learn the basics of formatting spreadsheets, including how to handle special characters and column headings, and how to convert the spreadsheet first into an intermediate database and then into corporate data. You will also learn how to utilize the mnemonic dictionary that is created along with the intermediate database. The later chapters discuss the immutability of data and the importance of organizational and political considerations during the data transformation. By the end of this book, you’ll have the skills and knowledge needed to convert your spreadsheets into reliable corporate data.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Introduction
14
13: Case Study
15
Glossary
16
Index

The Data Model and Spreadsheet Data

When it comes to spreadsheets—and especially to spreadsheet data that is destined to become corporate data—the data model for this kind of data is the same as the data model representing any corporate data. However, there is one major difference in the role of the data model as it relates to spreadsheet data and as the data model relates to corporate data. When there is a difference between the data model and spreadsheet data, the data model is adjusted. In the case of corporate data, when there is a difference between corporate data and the data model, corporate data is adjusted.

There is an underlying assumption behind this subtle difference: in spreadsheet data, the owner of the spreadsheet is always correct. (Or at least, if the spreadsheet is not correct, only the owner can go back and make corrections to the spreadsheet).

However, with corporate data, if the data is found to be wrong, then the designer of the systems that...