A library consortium due-diligence task has five vendor URLs and matching archive links. A junior analyst insists on writing a crawler before collecting anything. What is the right call?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Five bookmarks do not need a factory. Using a spreadsheet here is like taking notes with a pencil instead of building a printing press for a grocery list. Automation is a tool you pick when volume or repetition earns it—not a religion.
Full Explanation
Light automation is in scope when it reduces error on a bounded, repetitive job. A five-URL civic check is already bounded: record the live links, archive copies, retrieval times, and notes by hand. Waiting on a crawler, expanding to registrar-neighbors, or demanding a bot 'certify' pages delays evidence and inflates scope. Choose the simplest method that still produces a sourced report.