Department of Finance dogged by Excel spreadsheet errors

Microsoft’s ubiquitous spreadsheet software has long been the workhorse of the public sector, and public servants use it for everything from office footy tipping contests to managing multimillion-dollar projects.The powerful desktop software enables staff to build powerful algorithms, without the typical safety and auditing controls software engineers use. Rather than queue up at the chief information officer’s office for a tech solution, they can have elaborate systems built quickly.

His report was hurriedly commissioned after the federal Department of Finance accidentally emailed tender pricing data and confidential contact information for the 410 members of the management advisory services panel to 240 firms late last year.What they have seen cannot be unseen The offending spreadsheet was meant to fix another pricing data breach, which occurred when procurement officials mistakenly attached confidential pricing data to the wrong part of the AusTender platform in early November.

Remarkably, Finance is not accredited to participate in the cross-government data-sharing scheme, not having the capability required by law. And it is unlikely to be accredited any time soon, if the cascade of missteps and 101 failings that led to the data leaks are any guide.Finance is also home to the Digital Transformation Agency, the entity charged with ridding the government of last-century work systems and practices.

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