Audit and change analysis of spreadsheets
John C. M. Nash, Neil Smith · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2003
Because spreadsheets have a large and growing importance in real-world work, their contents need to be controlled and validated. Generally spreadsheets have been difficult to verify, since data and executable information are stored together. Spreadsheet applications with multiple authors are especially difficult to verify, since controls over access are difficult to enforce. Facing similar problems, traditional software engineering has developed numerous tools and methodologies to control, verify and audit large applications with multiple developers. We present some tools we have developed to enable 1) the audit of selected, filtered, or all changes in a spreadsheet, that is, when a cell was changed, its original and new contents and who made the change, and 2) control of access to the spreadsheet file(s) so that auditing is trustworthy. Our tools apply to OpenOffice.org calc spreadsheets, which can generally be exchanged with Microsoft Excel ®. 1. MOTIVATIONS AND BACKGROUND Scandals and debacles in the business world underline the need for better ways to audit and analyze business data, especially in the form of spreadsheets. Spreadsheet tools and models are used as the basis for many business, administrative and engineering decisions. The decision-makers need to have confidence that their spreadsheets contain reliable information, free from errors or malicious changes. Spreadsheets themselves – apart from the programs that process them-- can be complex and powerful programs, yet seldom are they submitted for quality audits or code assessments, as is standard practice in the