https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/10/nz_health_excel_spreadsheet/ # # Sign in / up The Register # # # Topics Security Security All SecurityCyber-crimePatchesResearchCSO (X) Off-Prem Off-Prem All Off-PremEdge + IoTChannelPaaS + IaaSSaaS (X) On-Prem On-Prem All On-PremSystemsStorageNetworksHPCPersonal TechCxOPublic Sector (X) Software Software All SoftwareAI + MLApplicationsDatabasesDevOpsOSesVirtualization (X) Offbeat Offbeat All OffbeatDebatesColumnistsScienceGeek's GuideBOFHLegalBootnotesSite NewsAbout Us (X) Special Features Special Features All Special Features Nvidia GTC Ransomware in Focus The Future of the Datacenter Cybersecurity Month VMware Explore Cloud Infrastructure Month Vendor Voice Vendor Voice Vendor Voice All Vendor Voice RapidScale - AWS Security & Compliance SourceFuse Amazon Web Services (AWS) New Horizon in Cloud Computing Pure Storage Klika Tech HERE and AWS GE Vernova with AWS Google Cloud Data Transformation Google Gemini (X) Resources Resources Whitepapers Webinars & Events Newsletters [front] Software 78 comment bubble on white $16B health dept managed finances with single Excel spreadsheet. It hasn't gone well 78 comment bubble on white It's just one of 6,000 apps that New Zealand thinks might be best tamed with ERP icon Simon Sharwood Mon 10 Mar 2025 // 04:31 UTC # The body that runs New Zealand's public health system uses a single Excel spreadsheet as the primary source of data to consolidate and manage its finances, which aren't in great shape perhaps due to the sheet's shortcomings. The spreadsheet-using agency is Health New Zealand (HNZ) which was established in 2022 to replace 20 district health boards in the expectation it would be more cost-effective and deliver more consistent services. The org has a budget of $NZ28 billion ($16 billion) and advised lawmakers it would stay within it for FY 23.24. That prediction was incorrect and HNZ blew its budget, leading to a review of its finances that last week delivered a damning report [PDF] that found the org lost "control of the critical levers that drive financial outcomes" and had an "inability to identify and respond to the disconnect between expenditure and revenue." [front] The Deloitte-penned report also found an Excel spreadsheet was the "primary data file used by HNZ to manage its financial performance" and was used for "consolidation, journals, business-critical reporting, and analysis." [front] [front] The report also noted five big problems with the sheet used at HNZ: * Financial information was often 'hard-coded,' making it difficult to trace to the source or have updated data flow through. * Errors such as incorrectly releasing accruals or double-up releases were not picked up until following periods. * Changes to prior periods and FTE errors in district financial reporting Excel submissions, would not flow through to consolidated file. * The spreadsheet can be easy to manipulate information as there is limited tracking to source information where information is not flowing directly from accounting systems. * It is highly prone to human error, such as accidental typing of a number or omission of a zero. Relying on the spreadsheet also meant Health NZ moved slowly: The report found "monthly financial reporting usually took 12-15 days to consolidate and five days to analyse." The report suggests that's a long way short of where Health NZ needs to be. "The use of an Excel spreadsheet file to track and report financial performance for a NZ$28bn expenditure organisation raises significant concerns, particularly when other more appropriate systems are present on the IT landscape," the report states. * Membership of New Zealand's domain registry suddenly triples, which isn't entirely welcome * New Zealand minister OKs Kim Dotcom extradition to US * Techie told 'Bill Gates' Excel is rubbish - and the Microsoft boss had it fixed in 48 hours * Excel Hell II: If the sickness can't be fixed, it must be contained It gets worse: Health Minister Simeon Brown last week delivered a speech in which he said HNZ operates "an estimated 6,000 applications and 100 digital networks" - or roughly one application for every 16 staff members. He also said HNZ's Senior Leadership Team members "have only just begun weekly in-person meetings, and have continued to operate from different offices, despite the majority living in Auckland and the organization being two and a half years old." Most work in different buildings. [front] However the Minister doesn't have a plan to get off Excel, or fix HNZ's tech leadership woes. In his speech, Simeon promised to investigate "creating a separate Health Infrastructure Entity under Health New Zealand, to manage and deliver physical and digital assets." But there's no word on when that investigation might conclude Reg writers who learn of organizations that contemplate ERP as the fix for an unruly estate of legacy apps, with Excel holding things together in the middle, know they're a chance of spending years chronicling the resulting mess. So good luck, HNZ, you might one day wish for the bad old days of running the org with spreadsheets. 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