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

Cell Formula

In the simple spreadsheet represented by Figure 2.6, the value of the highlighted cell is “7”. The number “7” by itself is “naked”. In fact any number, by itself, is “naked”. In order for the number “7” to have any meaning, the number requires context.

Figure006.jpg

And there is context – of sorts – associated with the number “7” in the spreadsheet. Every cell in a spreadsheet has an underlying formula. For example, the cell with the number “7” may have the underlying formula “A1 + C3 / B5”. This descriptive data would mean that the value of “7” was calculated by taking the contents of cell A1 and adding the contents of cell C3, then dividing the result by the contents of cell B5. This could be considered some context that is found within the spreadsheet itself.

But that’s not much meaningful information. The spreadsheet formula...