HR built a 'temporary' inventory system

“The data isn't that sensitive.”— Lukas, HR

Reason:

Because the spreadsheet has 233,112 rows and 12 tabs. With a settings page that does nothing.

Built by:

Lukas, a field technician

Build time:

a long Thursday

Built with:

Google Apps Script

Database:

localStorage. That is the whole backend.

Authentication:

IP allow-list containing 0.0.0.0/0

Deployment:

hosted on a cloud account costing €41.10/month

Responsible:

Bastian, currently on parental leave

Documentation:

none whatsoever

Security situation:

a security review was scheduled for October and quietly cancelled

Future disaster:

It will turn out to be the only system that knows the real numbers.

Age: 3.7 years · originally expected to last 2 months · 1 owner so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 420 days ago · original builder left 1094 days ago

Rated common mostly because: €221k per year, 2 accidental connections, alive 22x longer than intended.