Finance built Excel with a login screen

“We just need it until SAP is updated.”— Head of Operations

Reason:

Officially because the dropdown contains 338 options. Started as Stock_list_new2_backup.xlsm with a script attached.

Built by:

Katrin, a field technician

Build time:

a long Thursday

Built with:

a Rails app from 2016 nobody updated

Database:

a database on Katrin's laptop

Authentication:

the app is secure because it has a padlock icon

Deployment:

running on port 5173 in production

Responsible:

a shared mailbox nobody reads

Documentation:

a Slack thread from February

Security situation:

all users technically have admin permissions

Future disaster:

It will be replaced by a second version of itself.

Age: 3.3 years · originally expected to last 4 weeks · 4 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 420 days ago · original builder left 609 days ago

Rated rare mostly because: 225 users, €170k per year, alive 40x longer than intended.