Converting Spreadsheets to Tiered Enterprise Applications

At a time when companies are discussing their distributed computing plans, it may be alarming to find that many of these same companies are running critical business processes within a spreadsheet. It is not uncommon to see a PC off in the corner running a DOS version of Lotus 123, where Lotus macros generate data for users or other systems. With the year 2000 approaching, and no future versions of DOS or DOS-based spreadsheets on the horizon, these companies are faced with a decision: either upgrade to the latest spreadsheets, or reengineer them as enterprise applications. There is a cost associated with both; however, the results are very different. Upgrading the spreadsheet simply maintains status quo, with data, and the business rules for how to operate on that data, isolated to the desktop PC. However, converting a spreadsheet to a tiered enterprise application results in centralized data and distributed processing that can be shared by many clients across the enterprise, including spreadsheets. This article proposes a solution for companies that choose to move spreadsheets to an enterprise application using a tiered approach.