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How to avoid the FINAL_FINAL_V2 arms race!

By | March 13th, 2015

JANE (loudly across office): Hey Bob, there are two documents in the folder on the G Drive. Which one should I be using … V.4.1 or “V.4.1_Final”?

BOB: It was Final but I think Jim may have reverted to the other one again this morning. We were talking about it when we grabbed a coffee. Check when it was last saved.

JANE: It says it was saved at 10.07am but haven’t you been working on it since then.

BOB: Yes, but I only changed a few fields, it should be OK

JANE: OK, I’ll use that one

BOB: Which one, the V.4.1 one or the one called V.4.1_Final?

JANE: The Version 4 version.

BOB: Cool

JANE: Don’t worry, I’ll rename it V.4.1_Final_Final when I’m finished. Can you tell Jim to use that one if he has any last minute changes. Tell him I’ll make sure the second final is in capital letters

BOB: Righto, and if I have to make any changes before I send it through to Sandra to be uploaded into the database I’ll rename it V.4.1_Final_Final_Final just in case you need to go back into it for any reason. I’ll email it to you as well just so you know you have the most up to date version.

JANE: Sounds like a plan … I think

Sometimes spreadsheets take on a life of their own regardless of where they are kept and who has editing rights. It only takes one person to misinterpret the naming protocol, or worse, start a new spreadsheet and data is compromised!

Inaccurate and incomplete data leads to bad decision making, lost opportunities and even poor staff morale.

A secure, shared platform such as Netsuite ensures all stakeholders have access to the most up to date information – be they finance, marketing, sales, production, shipping or any other workflows in the business that require sharing, collaboration or approval.

There’s no need to rename the final version of a file: FINAL_FINAL_FINAL_V2 because record management is in itself the most recent. Records can be accessed concurrently by multiple users and are updated in real time, with corresponding numbers and values live.

If your team members are engaging a FINAL_FINAL_FINAL_V2 “Version ArmsRace”, you need to talk with us.