Controlling the Information Flow in Microsoft Excel with Extensio

There is no denying that spreadsheets have become critical for all operational processes including reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis. Microsoft Excel has essentially become a scratch pad and a data browser that can quickly be put to use for information gathering and decisionmaking. However, there is little control in how data comes into Excel, and how it gets updated. The information supply chain feeding into Excel remains ad hoc and without any centralized IT control. This paper suggests the use of Extensio technology for data collection and data maintenance process in Excel. It then describes how Extensios service-oriented architecture (SOA) based information gathering and control techniques ameliorate the pitfalls of using Excel while improving the integrity of data, boosting the productivity of the business users, and building controls to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

For more information, please contact: sales@extensio.com, or call 1.408.961.6050. Copyright Extensio Software, Inc. 2005. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

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here are plenty of examples of full-fledged Microsoft Excel based business applications with multiple inputs, outputs, and graphs that are being used for critical business processes in many companies. The reasons for Excels widespread adoption by its 400 million users include its perceived simplicity, familiarity, and modeling abilities. However, the businesses also have to live with the various data collection and logic errors that creep into these spreadsheets. In this paper, we would be focusing mainly on the errors in data collection and in the flow of information in and out of Excel. While primitive data gathering tools that import external data into Excel have been available from the inception, most users still depend upon populating their handpicked data into Excel using Control-C and Control-V . Given the nature of critical operations that the business users perform with Excel, and the increased control measures mandated by the SarbanesOxley Act, it is increasingly becoming urgent for businesses to remove dependency on Control-C and Control-V primitives and also address the quality, freshness, and the accuracy of data in Excel. This paper describes how the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) based Extensio Information Delivery Server coupled with a customized Excel Add-In addresses the problems associated with the information supply chain of Excel for regular business users. Extensio enables users to automate data collection through the use of Information Services instead of Control-C and Control-V operations, and enables them to update the data in the back-end applications from the spreadsheet itself. The Extensio technology for Excel boosts user productivity, improves data integrity, and addresses some of the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley Act without compromising on the flexibility and ease-of-use of Excel. 1. MANAGING INFORMATION INSIDE EXCEL SPREADSHEET Spreadsheets started off as a personal productivity tool for calculations and managing operations with persistent data. It then evolved into a scratch pad to keep lists, perform mathematical functions, and show graphs. Later, Excel began to be used for collecting data from multiple places, building information models, and conducting iterative and incremental analysis. Somewhere along this time, Excel also started getting used as a group productivity tool even though there were no specific features that helped with the collaborative effort. Today, Excel based applications exist in most

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companies performing tasks ranging from simple ones such as weekly reporting to complex ones such as financial accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and operational planning. Despite huge investments in IT, most business users still depend upon handpicking data for Excel from CRM, ERP, Portals, and databases. In a survey by CFO IT [Durfee 2004] of 168 finance executives on the use of IT by corporate finance departments, they found that only 2 out of 14 finance-specific technologies were widely used, and they were spreadsheets (100%) and basic budgeting and planning systems (66%). The survey also reported that when executives were asked about the usage of spreadsheets five years from now, 91% of them thought that the spreadsheets would have the same or more importance. The extent of Excel usage in enterprises is indeed quite deep and widespread. According to Forresters Keith Gile [Gile 2005], 14 percent of end users are producers - those who create analytic reports and author enterprise reports. The remaining 86 percent are consumers of the information and data. He further adds that most business users (25% of the total) and casual users (30% of the total) prefer canned reports, or reports in Excel formats that they can then parameterize and use. Further, the extended enterprise users (38%) need read-only Excel reports. As Excel is here to stay for a long time within businesses, it is important to mitigate some of the pitfalls without sacrificing its ease-of-use. Excel is indeed a free-format scratch pad, but unfortunately is getting used by business users who are not trained in structured programming, and version control [Panko 2000]. The free world of spreadsheets makes them vulnerable to the following types of errors: Input errors: These errors are due to inaccurate cut-paste, inadvertent changes in cells, incorrect links, import of incorrect data or import with wrong parameters. Logic errors: These errors are due to incorrect formulas, and incorrect input data. Usage errors: These errors include incorrect use of functions, ranges, and references. For the remainder of this document, we would be concerned mainly about input errors, how data comes into Excel, and how it is maintained in the spreadsheet.
1.1 Current Methods for Getting Data into Excel

Here are the drawbacks of the common ways/tools used by users to get data in Excel: Tools Used Copy-paste external data with Control-C, Control-V Limitations Manual process, with high error and no validation No trace of the source of data Users need to reformat data as per their requirements Neither systematic nor reproducible process

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Tools Used Import the .xls or .csv file created by the application

Limitations No linkage with the originating application Users need to reformat data as per their requirements Does not support update of data using Excel Limited use when data is in multiple applications Import from databases Considered complex for typical business users as it using ODBC requires knowledge of database structures and SQL Not applicable when the source is not a database Practical only with few resources and few users No meta-data available for advanced manipulations Import using web Typically used for HTML reports from public pages query Requires users to specify the complete URL along with parameters and embedded authentication information. No ability to select fields, or header information. Import data using web Considered complex for business users as they need to services (Excel 2003 specify the web service, and map the XML schema Prof. edition only) Works only with web service resources Authentication issues with multiple web services Access data warehouse Works only against historical data in data warehouse with Excel Add-in Unsuitable for daily operational needs of typical users Not possible to update data None of the above approaches are satisfactory as they have the following deficiencies: Loss of Linkage. Once data is copied without tracking the source of data, any updates in the source cannot be propagated to the eco-system. No Support for Multiple Sources. Much of the data needed comes from multiple types of sources. Doing it manually is error-prone and time consuming. Stale Data. Without easy ways to refresh data, decisions are made with old data if it takes a long time to collect data. Non-repeatable and difficult-to-manage process: Each user performs these operations independently on their own spreadsheets making it impossible for IT to verify, automate, audit or validate the data transfer mechanism. Further, due to lack of IT management and control, efforts spent in building expensive data imports/exports cannot be re-used within the organization. Read-Only Data. Without being able to update the back-end right from Excel, users have to learn new applications, and depend upon copy-paste to transfer data. Lack of Ease-of-Use. If the data collection process is cumbersome, the users are likely to go back to their current cut-paste model to meet their objectives. Missing Audit Trail. Without the means to track the spreadsheets as they change, compliance and auditing becomes difficult.

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1.2 Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Enters the Picture

The SOX regulations mandate that companies need some controls over all aspects of financial reporting. Most data that business users touch have some impact, whether direct or indirect, into the financial reporting of the business. Starting from a sales person, to an inventory manager, or a warehouse manager, all submit their figures using Excel. The channel or the resellers also aggregate their bookings, returns, and forecasts, all using Excel. Computer World [Horowitz 2004] reported, Fannie Mae made a $1.2 billion accounting error last year because of what it called honest mistakes made in a spreadsheet. TransAlta Corp. took a $24 million charge after a snafu caused by a cut-and-paste error in an Excel spreadsheet. The real problem is that the Control-C, Control-V primitives take zero time to master, and while this works in the favor of busy business users, it doesnt create a systematic and reproducible process that can stand the scrutiny of their departmental policies and financial auditors. This increases the long-term cost of the Excel-based solution including its maintenance, auditing and compliance. Excels autonomy is what made it popular, but without adequate controls, this can become a huge liability. The challenge is to address the following SOX compliance issues while keeping usability into consideration: Control over the data input and output process for spreadsheets Control over who is authorized to get that data Control over who modified the data, and when Control over how repeatable is this entire process
1.3 Paying for the Inefficient Information Supply-Chain for Excel

The key constituencies that pay for these inherent Excel weaknesses are: a) Business Users: The users pay dearly by the hours they take in data hunting-andgathering. They also take hours in learning how to get data from multiple sources. b) IT Department: The IT departments pay because once the data leaves their home repositories they lose control over it. As the data spreads through the enterprise, there is loss of the attached metadata, security, management, integrity, and data constraints. Locking the data repositories from user access is not a viable alternative, as it would force IT to do all the reporting work, and increase their load. c) Business: The business suffers because decisions are made with stale, inaccurate, and insufficient data. There is no single version of truth across the enterprise. 2. CONTROLLING THE INFORMATION FLOW WITH EXTENSIO There are two root causes for the information flow problem. The first is that the users deal with data directly and touch it by hand, and the second is that there is no control over the data once it leaves the IT managed application repositories and reaches Excel.

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The Extensio Information Delivery technology provides the means for controlling the flow of information in/out of Excel. Essentially a service-oriented architecture (SOA) based Information Delivery Server and an Excel add-in, Extensio provides an abstraction layer that extracts data from multiple back-end data sources and delivers them directly into Excel.

The Extensio technology is designed to hide the end-users from the technology complexity of underlying multiple enterprise applications, and it provides an easy-to-use mechanism of delivering information services that the user can pick, choose and drop on desired Excel cell locations. This approach ensures that the users work with simple and easy to use interfaces, while technology is handled and managed by the IT side, which is equipped and trained to handle for this complexity. Further, since information services are built, designed and managed by IT, it provides for better data and access controls.
2.1 Introduction to Information Services

Information Services, broadly speaking, can be defined as a logically grouped set of information elements, extracted from data source(s) about an information entity (the key). An information service may have information elements combined from multiple data source, or could be the result of some transform operation on the original data. For example, a Customer Information service may take a customer ID and return the Customer name, address, phone number, and credit rating. End users view and consume this service without knowing that the customer name, address and phone numbers have come from their back-end CRM application, while the credit rating has come from their custom database application or a SOAP service. These information services are typically hosted on a server within the data-center.

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By moving to a service-based approach, the users just specify the service they want (e.g. customer rating service), and then get the related data from the service directly into their Excel cells, without having to know the where, the how, and the when of the data. It is the service now that knows the details of getting the data and not the user.
2.2 Extensio Information Delivery Technology for Excel: Key Benefits

The Extensio SOA based Information Delivery Server and the Extensio Extender for Excel at the users desktop provides the foundation for managing the information flow into Excel. The underlying SOA architecture improves the accessibility and quality of data from backend resources, while the Excel Extender automates data delivery, and limits the human error. Here are the main benefits of Extensio enabled Excel: Automates data collection: Allows users to collect/refresh data without copy-paste Ensures data integrity: Enables one version of truth by linking cells to the source. Updates data: Allows users to update data in back-end sources directly from Excel. Audits cell updates: Allows viewing of previous n values for auditing or tracing. Version Control. Enables users to easily switch between versions of worksheets. Centralized control. Centrally manages all service/resource changes and security. Primed for growth. Supports a large user base, both internal and external.
2.3 The SOA based Extensio Information Delivery Technology

The Extensio Information Delivery server using service-oriented architecture provides a loosely coupled integration of the back-end resources such that it masks the application consuming this data from the underlying IT complexity. This complexity includes the backend resource structure, data-format, session management, security, and connection pooling. The main value of the Extensio SOA-based architecture is in deriving value out of the existing applications and resources without duplicating data, business logic or security efforts. The SOA based Extensio framework is composed of the following elements: Resource Native Interfaces to connect, authenticate, and access back-end sources using SOAP, SQL, HTTP, SAP BAPI, or other custom protocols. Information Integration Layer to combine the data from multiple sources. This can be a simple JOIN statement to complex scripting depending upon the needs. Information Delivery Layer to expose the combined data elements as an information service that can be consumed by end-users, or devices. Information Service Directory to publish service directory and service schema In addition to the SOA framework for collecting data, the Extensio technology implements these additional components to provide end-to-end Information Delivery: Presentation Layer Modules to map the result data to interfaces such as Excel Authentication Protocols to connect and authenticate various end-user interfaces Front-end interface specific service publication and registry Front-end interface specific update process

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The Extensio Information delivery server contains the service metadata elements such as the data keys, connection details, transformation, assembly, resource information, and security. The service specific meta-data is stored in a XML rules database and used at run-time for request processing. If there are any changes to the query, they can be made centrally without any user impact. The server publishes a directory containing the services and their attributes. When the user chooses the service and the input parameters, and sends the request to the server, the server responds by calling the enterprise application, getting the result in the native format, extracting the relevant data, converting the data format and finally sending results to the end-user. The Extensio Extender, implemented as an Excel Add-in, provides the end-user interface and the delivery component. It sends the users parameterized requests to the Extensio server using XML/HTTP. The Add-in then interprets the XML results sent back by the server and updates the cells. By sending the results back as XML, the Extensio Server retains the ability to send any other related meta-data such as refresh period, associated update services for this element, any special formatting, and other future requirements.
2.4 The Extensio Extender for Excel

The Extensio Extender for Excel is an Excel Add-in that gets downloaded on users desktop from the web. Extensio leverages the well-defined Excel Add-in interfaces to add custom commands and features. While most Add-ins typically just manipulate static Excel data, the Extensio Add-in does a lot more including contacting the Server, and fetching/updating external data. The Extensio Add-in embeds a toolbar as shown to enable the user to invoke services.

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3. DATA COLLECTION AND UPDATE USING EXTENSIO

3.1 Select the Service

The Excel users use the toolbar from their Extensio Extender to browse their authorized services as service menu with information elements. As shown in the adjoining figure, users click on the Query button from the toolbar, select the service category, and then select one of the authorized the services. In this particular case, the user has selected the Product Lookup service from the set of authorized services.
3.2 Inputs for the Service

After selecting the service, the user provides the input parameters, if required. The parameters are provided either as values, the location, or a range of addresses. The range is typically useful in cases where the use may want to fetch multiple items such as a range of product items (e.g. =A2:A10). With input parameters, services can take inputs directly from users current spreadsheet.
3.3 Output Locations

Once the inputs are provided, the user selects the output locations such as the starting cell where the results should be pasted, and the specific fields of interest. This allows the user to embed the selected data at the location or column of choice without interfering with the existing format of the spreadsheet. The flexibility of both the output and the input are key for the acceptance of such solutions.

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3.4 The Result in the Spreadsheet

The request is then sent to the Extensio Information server, and the resulting data is displayed in the users spreadsheet based upon their preferences as shown below. The user still retains the freedom to delete the rows/columns, or move them as required.

Once the data has been obtained, these data values can be refreshed as explained later to keep the data in sync with the back-end applications.
3.5 Preformatted Reports

Extensio also enables users to get preformatted reports along with their predetermined fields, headers and footers. Users choose from the authorized reports made available from the Extensio Server, provide any input if required, and specify the location of the report. Once the report has been obtained, the report can be refreshed later. Preformatted reports are especially useful when the users want to get pre-canned reports in just one click.

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3.6 Data Refresh

Once services or reports have been imported into the spreadsheet, the data can then be refreshed on demand or after a predetermined time interval automatically. If the user has multiple services in the same spreadsheet, they can be refreshed separately. The user can also decide to refresh the entire worksheet or the entire workbook at the same time. With one-click refresh of data, the decisions can be made quickly, and with more accuracy.
3.7 Related Information with Bubble-up

One of the deficiencies of Excel is in being able to get related information about any specific cell value. For example, if a user is looking at the Product availability sheet, he/she may want to find the product pricing. The only way to get this data today is for the user to use some ERP, CRM, or SCM application to get those details. This requires training, takes time, and distracts the user from the current task at hand. Extensio provides a quick way to bubble-up related information about any cell. The user just picks the service from the desktop toolbar, ALT-clicks on the given cell, and gets the related information in a popup window. For example, if the user is looking at the Product availability sheet, but wants to find the product pricing, the user can invoke a query using ALT-Click from the cell itself to get the results as shown. In addition, the user can click on any of the other services on the left hand side of the menu to get a 360o view on that object.
3.8 Data Update Using Extensio

In addition to the lookup service, the user can use the Extensio Extender to update, insert, or delete data in the back-end systems from the current spreadsheet itself as shown. The Extensio Extender gets the details of columns of the data to be updated from the user, and performs the basic validation function on the data provided, before sending the user request to the Information server. The server sends the updates to the respective sources.

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Both the server and the back-end systems may apply additional logic before accepting the user updates. Any later updates can be made using the established templates that define the location and the service to be used for updates. By being able to use Excel as a frontend for update, the users do not have to learn other applications, and do not have to again resort to copy-paste to get the data to the application. 4. SPREADSHEET MAINTENANCE USING EXTENSIO For Excel to become a reliable and dependable tool, in addition to the automatic collection of data, it also has to be able to audit, checkpoint, and look at the cell properties.
4.1 Cell Level Audit

Extensio allows the user to audit every cell to find out the values over the history of the spreadsheet along with information such as who changed it and when. This audit feature is specifically useful when the spreadsheet is reviewed by others, or when others have updated the spreadsheet, and the user wants to know the previous values for historical or comparison purposes.
4.2 Version Control

Most users typically maintain various versions of the spreadsheets such as their monthly and quarterly reports, but managing multiple files gets cumbersome. With Extensio Checkpoint and Restore, the users can maintain multiple versions within the same Excel file. Users just checkpoint their data at appropriate time, and then on need restore the spreadsheet

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for auditing or archiving.

4.3 Highlight Linked Cells

In any complex spreadsheet, users find it difficult to track their input cells, the external cells, and their own cells. The Extensio Extender provides visual cues to the user so that the spreadsheets can be analyzed easily using the appropriate cues for input (green), output (purple) and users own custom data (no shading). When external data is mixed with internal user data, it is important for the user to be able to easily see the different types of cells for faster debugging and auditing. This improves the usability and acceptance by the regular business users.
4.4 Block Cells from Unintended Modifications

In any critical spreadsheet, it becomes essential that users ensure accuracy of data by locking certain cells from getting modified. The Extensio Block feature disallows any modifications from end-users in the Extensio delivered cells, while still retaining the capability for them to be refreshed from the Extensio Server. 5. DEFINING AND BUILDING INFORMATION SERVICES The IT department in conjunction with the business analysts and users typically develops the Extensio information services. Alternately, the application vendors can ship prepackaged information services that access their own applications, and then the IT department can modify those services, and change the layout and the fields required by the users.
5.1 Building Services with Extensio Studio

The IT Developers use the Extensio Studio, the service development environment and follow these steps to build the services: 1. Identify information entities such as customer, products, shipment, or employees and define their programmatic or custom validation and mapping. 2. Identify the data sources that contain information elements for the entity.

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3. Define the rules to fetch/update data from data sources using the resource specific wizards such as the SQL query wizard, SOAP wizard, XML/HTML filter, LDAP wizard, and the IMAP filter. One such panel for the database adapter is shown below. In addition to SQL query, it can also execute stored procedures.

If it is a SOAP web service, it can access the service details from the provided WSDL location, or the developer can provide the method details. In addition to the above listed technology adapters, Extensio also provides adapters to popular ERP and EAI technologies. The Extensio adapter development kit could also be used to write new adapters. 4. Optionally transform and map the result data using Java and JavaScript. 5. Optionally invoke additional request processes, whether in series or in parallel, that can take the result of the existing request process for further processing. 6. Assemble the results returned from multiple request processors with a simple dragand-drop process, or add some custom processing to further filter the results.

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7. Define the presentation format as appropriate for Excel, desktop, PDA or mobile. T h i s f i g u r e s h o w s The above figure shows the presentation layer for Excel where the developer can change the default suggested layout and headers. 8. Publish the information service on the Extensio tool bar, the Extensio services directory for the end-user. 9. Assign user/group permissions for information services. Depending upon the complexity of the service, it may take from a few minutes to a few hours to build a set of information services, whether for lookup, reports, update, or alerts. The meta-data attached with the information service is typically stored in a XML rule that is then used at run-time for processing the service request. If there are any changes required such as a modified query, they can be made at the server-level without impacting the user.
5.2 Security Considerations

Security is an important consideration for information integration and delivery approaches using SOA. It is important to support applications own access control and authentication, and yet provide a unification layer that simplifies administration, ease-of-use, and strengthens security. Many of the issues are the similar to the ones faced by portal implementations as portals also integrate and unify data from multiple back-end resources.
5.2.1 Authentication

In addition to supporting its own native username and password authentication, Extensio integrates with the existing LDAP directories for user password verification. Custom singlesign-on (SSO) modules can be built to accommodate the SSO requirements.

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If the application requires individual user logon, Extensio provides a secure credential store that provides the user credential at run-time to the application. Alternately, if the application trusts the Extensio server, it can proxy on behalf of the users.
5.2.2 Authorization

Extensio enforces access controls for service registry lookup and service execution (read, update, alerts) at both user and group levels. Depending upon the application requirements, the application can also enforce its own access control policies.
5.2.3 Encryption

Extensio provides transport encryption between Extensio Add-in and Extensio Server using HTTPS. It also implements the available encryption protocols between the Extensio server and the various back-end resources.
5.2.4 Separation of Role for Administration

Extensio supports special roles for service development with Extensio Studio, server administration with Extensio Console, and user management with Extensio UserManager.
5.3 Performance Considerations

The Extensio Information Delivery server adds a thin-layer between the client and the backend resources. Depending upon the service requirements, its own processing and assembly overhead ranges from a few milliseconds to tens of milliseconds. The Extensio Server can pre-fetch data or tables so that there is minimum load on the operational data stores. It also caches the results for faster processing.
5.4 Deployment Configurations

The Extensio Information Server supports the most commonly deployed Microsoft Excel and desktop OS within the extended enterprise. Please refer to the Appendix for details. The Extensio Server connects to a variety of back-end systems with its Technology Adapters for standards based technology, Application Adapters for ERP systems and portals, and Middleware Adapters for EAI systems. The Adapter development kit can also be made available for connecting it to other sources. The J2EE based Extensio Server itself runs on a wide range of commercially available and open source software for application servers, databases, and LDAP. For details, please refer to the Appendix. 6. BENEFITS OF EXTENSIO ENABLED EXCEL The Extensio Information Delivery Server and the Extensio Extender for Excel work in tandem to manage the information flow into Excel spreadsheets.

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For any IT solution to succeed, it is important that it address the requirements of all major constituencies including the end-users, the business and the IT. The end-users on one end want agility, flexibility, and immediate delivery of data, and the IT on the other hand wants control, ease-of-deployment, and reuse of existing investments.
6.1 Benefits for the Business User

By supporting a service-based model with Extensio Information Delivery server and Extensio Add-in, the enterprises can provide their employees, partners, and customers all of their relevant data right within their daily tool, Excel. In particular, Extensio benefits the users in the following ways: Provides relevant data to a wide variety of business users in Excel while maintaining the ease-of-use and flexibility of Excel. This includes casual users, power users, management, and extended enterprise users. Boosts productivity by eliminating the time spent in moving data in/out of Excel. Having a replicable and verifiable data collection process minimizes risk, and increases the confidence in the numbers. Enables decisions with accurate and latest data without the users having to deal with the complications of the back-end applications. Extensio provides one version of truth, minimizes data conflicts, and reduces spreadsheet proliferation. Updates the back-end applications from Excel directly instead of copy-paste, and thereby improves productivity, and eliminates errors. Provides audit trail of changes and version control within Excel for tracking, archival, and maintenance of spreadsheets. Reduces dependency on IT staff for periodic reports as users have direct access to their relevant data.
6.2 Benefits for the IT Department

By moving to a SOA based Extensio Information Delivery, the IT benefits significantly in the following ways: Shrinks the load of creating custom reports with the users becoming selfsufficient with authorized access to their relevant data. Connects existing internal and external applications to Excel without rip-andreplace, but with the embrace-and-extend model using SOA. Support internal and external users with support for HTTP/HTTPS, and support for all existing versions starting from Excel 2000. Reduces compliance issues by providing fresh data, avoiding copy-paste, eliminating user errors, and centralized control over information access. Extensio provides controls for SOX compliance, and makes the data collection and update process repeatable, verifiable and controllable. Secures the Information Supply Chain with centralized control and encryption. Provides centralized control over data and services. Extends the enterprise data to all desktop applications and mobile without any additional effort, and thus increases the value of the IT investment to all users.

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7. SUMMARY Most businesses depend upon spreadsheets for financial reporting and managing operational processes. However, this flexibility comes at a significant cost of data integrity, loss of productivity, and loss of IT control. The paper highlighted some of the reasons for these information flow problems, and proposed a service-oriented architecture through which one can have adequate controls to mitigate these risks. With its SOA based Extensio Information Delivery Server and Extensio Extender for Excel, users can use information services instead of cutting-and-pasting data. This retains the link of the Excel with the enterprise data sources, and improves IT control over the data in the spreadsheet. Besides helping in compliance with Section 404 under Sarbanes-Oxley, the proposed approach boosts productivity, improves data integrity, and increases security while retaining Excels flexibility and ease-of-use. REFERENCES
Panko R. (2000), What We Know About Spreadsheet Errors, http://panko.cba.hawaii.edu/ssr/ Horowitz, A. and Betts, M. (2004) Oops! Many spreadsheets have errors, Computer World, May 24, 2004, http://www.computerworld.com/databasetopics/businessintelligence/story/0,10801,93294,00.html Gile, K. (2005) How Sexy Reporting Has Become, DM Review, Jan. 2005, http://dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleID=1016330 Durfee, D. (2004), Spreadsheet Hell, CFO.com, June 2004, http://www.cfo.com/printable/article.cfm/3014451?f=options

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APPENDIX: SUPPORTED CONFIGURATIONS AND PLATFORMS Supported Client Configuration for Extensio Extender:
Desktop OS Microsoft Excel Desktop Applications Internet Browser Disk-space on Client Memory Needed Windows 98 and later Microsoft Office/Excel 2000 and later All Windows applications including PDF, Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Powerpoint Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and later 2 MB downloadable Add-in, and 4 MB of disk-space 64 MB and higher

Run-time Environment for Extensio Information Delivery Server:

Application Server Server OS Database LDAP Processor Disk-space Memory requirements IBM Websphere, Oracle Application Server, JBOSS, Pramati, Tomcat Windows, Linux Oracle, IBM, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, mySQL Microsoft Active Directory, IBM, Sun, OpenLDAP Pentium class III server machine with 1GHz or higher 100 MB 512 MB or higher

Supported Back-end Resources:

Extensio Technology Adapters for Standard Interfaces: Databases: Oracle, IBM, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, mySQL HTTP/HTTPS SOAP/XML Microsoft Excel Flat files LDAP IMAP Extensio Application Adapters: SAP IBM WebSphere Portal Server Microsoft Exchange Extensio Middleware Adapters: WebMethods EAI IBM MQ Series This list keeps getting revised on a regular basis. Please contact sales@extensio.com for latest information on support for specific versions of applications and technologies.

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