[kwlug-disc] What's the simple next level beyond OpenOffice Base?

[Insurance Squared Inc.]

Excellent point, and not something most of us would think through at the 
spreadsheet level.

I worked in the pricing department of an insurance company back in the 
nineties doing technical pricing work.  I created a couple of Excel 
spreadsheets for the underwriters to use to assist them with their 
pricing work.  5+ years after I'd left the company an underwriter 
thanked me for the spreadsheets - they were still using them.  As far as 
I know, they're still using them today, well over a decade after I've left.


>
> This is the start of "code sprawl". Instead of spreadsheets being just 
> data,
> they contain code (business logic) in them, and in effect, you have an
> "application".
>
> An application is something you have to maintain for many years to come:
> debug, modify, extend, ...etc. They have a life of their own, and require
> time and effort to continue to exist. Application development is not a 
> one
> time thing. It is an on going effort.
>
> So, whatever you decide to replace that with, take this into account. For
> better or for worse, you have an application that needs to be maintained
> for the foreseeable future.