The risks of spreadsheet use do not just come from the misuse of formulae. As such, training needs to go beyond this technical aspect of spreadsheet use and look at the spreadsheet in its full business context. While standard training is by and large unable to do this, task-based training is perfectly suited to a contextual approach to training. 1 THE SITUATION 1.1 What Are The Risks Of Spreads...

We describe RDF123, a highly flexible open-source tool for translating spreadsheet data to RDF. Existing spreadsheet-to-rdf tools typically map only to star-shaped RDF graphs, i.e. each spreadsheet row is an instance, with each column representing a property. RDF123, on the other hand, allows users to define mappings to arbitrary graphs, thus allowing much richer spreadsheet semantics to be exp...

We consider the challenge of creating guidelines to evaluate the quality of a spreadsheet model. We suggest four principles. First, state the domain—the spreadsheets to which the guidelines apply. Second, distinguish between the process by which a spreadsheet is constructed from the resulting spreadsheet artifact. Third, guidelines should be written in terms of the artifact, independent of the ...

Programming knowledge can be characterized in the form of goals and plans that describe what must be achieved and how this is done. We have conducted interviews of spreadsheet users and analyzed spreadsheet applications qualitatively. The analysis resulted in a set of basic programming goals and plans describing spreadsheet programming knowledge. This paper introduces a model for spreadsheet pr...

Accuracy in spreadsheet modelling systems can be reduced due to difficulties with the inputs, the model itself, or the spreadsheet implementation of the model. When the "true" outputs from the system are unknowable, accuracy is evaluated subjectively. Less than perfect accuracy can be acceptable depending on the purpose of the model, problems with inputs, or resource constraints. Users build mo...

Spreadsheets are commonly used and commonly flawed, but it is not clear how often spreadsheet errors lead to bad decisions. We interviewed 45 executives and senior managers/analysts in the private, public, and non-profit sectors about their experiences with spreadsheet quality control and with errors affecting decision making. Almost all of them said spreadsheet errors are common. Quality contr...

Spreadsheets that are informally created are harder to test than they should be. Simple cross-foot checks or being easily readable are modest but attainable goals for every spreadsheet developer. This paper lists some tips on building self-checking into a spreadsheet in order to provide more confidence to the reader that a spreadsheet is robust.

End users need a simple and intuitive methodology for service composition. HUSKY is an end-user environment designed for composing services based on spreadsheet paradigm. This paper presents a spreadsheet-based paradigm which incorporates the concept of time that enables end-users to intuitively express concurrency through a visual arrangement of activities within spreadsheet cells.