Rapid Application Development / Advanced Excel Development

Defensive Designs

• How will I test this?
• Clearly identify Input areas
• Group items that need updating with similar frequency
• Place formulas where they are safe from accidents
• Don't use sheet protection, its weak, annoying, counter productive, and reduces peoples ability to check and understand your logic (it creates more problems than it solves),(Trust - but check) Use a compiled component if security is a genuine concern.
• Use cross checks
• Use a (simple) consistent convention to separate items that should be treated differently (inputs/formulas or actual/forecast)
• Use blanks cells around different blocks (enables 'Current Region')
• Consider using a status sheet with summary error reports on it
• Consider support structure - Index, assumptions, accountability.
• Consider personal and tool comfort zone
• Place check controls where they will be noticed