Sales built a 'temporary' inventory system

“It's read-only. Mostly.”— Chen, Sales

Reason:

Because someone built a prototype during lunch. Started as Headcount_old_use-this-one.xlsx with a script attached.

Built by:

Chen, the management assistant

Build time:

one weekend

Built with:

a no-code builder on a personal account

Database:

a mini PC behind the reception desk

Authentication:

the security model is "it is behind Cloudflare"

Deployment:

SSL certificate expires in 14 days

Responsible:

Operations, but they strongly disagree

Documentation:

none whatsoever

Security situation:

the firewall rule is labelled TEMP

Future disaster:

It will be migrated into SAP and then quietly migrated back.

Age: 2.9 years · originally expected to last 14 days · 6 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 420 days ago

Rated rare mostly because: 334 users, 63% chance of becoming business critical, alive 74x longer than intended.