Five analysts each maintain a separate Excel pivot of revenue for the same municipal enterprise fund, and the totals disagree in every council packet. What risk does unmanaged spreadsheet analysis create?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Five competing pivots of revenue is like five umpires each calling a different strike zone. Unmanaged spreadsheets fork the metric until nobody trusts the number. High-stakes figures need a governed source of truth, not another copy.
Full Explanation
Unmanaged spreadsheet analyses readily diverge through filter choices, join logic, and informal definitions, producing conflicting totals for the same named metric. At civic decision stakes, prefer governed semantic sources and documented calculation logic over proliferating personal workbooks. Local files do not inherently improve auditability or align to enterprise definitions. Governance of metrics reduces packet-to-packet contradiction.