## Metadata - Author: [[Lindsay Clark]] - Full Title:: [[Excel]] Recruitment Time Bomb Makes Top Trainee Doctors 'Unappointable' - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/12/excel_anesthetist_recruitment_blunder/ - Read date:: [[2023-10-13]] ## Highlights > Only when one of the candidates challenged the decision did ANRO realize its error. A subsequent Significant Incident Review showed a complex and confused approach to using spreadsheets led to the disaster. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hcncsc14x1zqdsfjnjme268c)) > The interview scores are stored in an [[Excel]] spreadsheet. Each of the seven [UK] recruitment regions creates a separate spreadsheet, but these have no standardised template, naming convention or structure. After being manually amended, all of the various scores are entered into a Master spreadsheet. This is carried out row-by-row and takes several days, likely to be subject to interruptions," the report said. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hcncsn9gmc3ef50c800rc981)) > The report – only published in July following a Freedom of Information request – reveals that poor choice of technology for organization-wide decision-making was compounded by inconsistent practice, including the erratic use of Excel's "[VLOOKUP](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1)" function designed to transpose data from one spreadsheet or data source to another. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hcncyep5nnf1d4eq8p997g87))