Every company has that one spreadsheet. The master one. The one only Carol knows how to update. When Carol goes on vacation, the whole management team argues about whether revenue was $1.1 million or $1.35 million.
In a 35-person plumbing supplies wholesaler, the spreadsheet war got loud enough for me to hear it from across the building. Sales had their own file. Finance had theirs. The warehouse had a third. The difference between the three versions was $260,000 — and nobody trusted any of them. Their ERP Consulting engagement started with a simple, uncomfortable exercise.
The “What Did We Decide” Test
I asked them to pull up last month’s meeting minutes and the number they used to decide on a purchase. Then I asked them to find that same number in today’s spreadsheet. It took three people eight minutes. In a meeting, eight minutes is an eternity.
Run the Number You Actually Use
- If that figure lives in more than one spreadsheet, merge them into one file in a single afternoon; if they won’t match up, the problem is process, not math
- Put a single date stamp and responsible owner at the top of any shared file you live by
- Define one number per topic: one for inventory value, one for gross margin, one for promise dates
Light Rules Beat Heavy Software
The best part? The fix didn’t require heroic information technology. The ERP Consulting effort produced one shared report, updated daily at 6 p.m., that everyone agreed to treat as the single source for meetings. Six weeks later, Carol could take a holiday and nobody screamed.
Your move this week: pick the most controversial number in your company and ask two people to find it in their own records. If the answers differ, you’ve just found your starting point.