Referential integrity

many organizations are using excel to set up and manage their dora register of information (roi) but excel simply isn’t built for this task the problem lies in the complexity of relational data dora expects strict links between entities, contracts, services, and providers excel offers none of the built in safeguards to maintain this structure excel’s fundamental limitations the dora register consists of interlinked tables for example, contracts must link to service providers, and business functions must link to ict services in this structure, referential integrity is critical if one row refers to a vendor, that vendor must exist elsewhere in the register and stay consistent with excel, it’s all too easy to reference non existent vendors paste data in the wrong sheet forget to update linked rows after a change these mistakes introduce hidden errors and compliance risks the importance of referential integrity under dora, the roi includes multiple templates, each representing a specific domain (e g , contracts, functions, providers) these tables must link precisely if a contract points to a provider id, that provider must exist and match the expected format in a recent esa pilot, most institutions failed validation because of issues like missing or mismatched ids invalid entity codes incomplete fields only a small minority passed the validation phase without serious corrections why excel isn’t a relational database excel is a spreadsheet, not a database it doesn’t enforce the logic required for relational models here’s why that’s a problem no built in referential checks excel can’t guarantee that ids used across sheets are valid or unique data redundancy the same info is often copied into multiple tabs, which go out of sync no automated rules excel relies on user diligence, and humans make mistakes a single broken link or deleted row can cascade into compliance errors human error and growing complexity as your register grows and more users contribute, the chance of error increases manual updates, edits across tabs, and duplicated data mean even the most organized excel file will drift from accuracy over time ongoing maintenance the hidden pitfall even if you build a clean excel file to start, maintenance is where things fall apart new contracts must be added in multiple places a single forgotten update can break internal links inconsistencies may only be discovered at the time of audit or regulatory submission this introduces compliance risk and undermines the trustworthiness of your data avoiding a false sense of security because excel feels familiar, it creates the illusion of control but under the surface, you’re working without guardrails excel doesn’t stop you from making errors, and you may not spot them until it’s too late conclusion the dora register of information demands relational integrity and high data quality excel lacks the tools to enforce that structure while it may be useful for early drafts, it’s not a viable solution for ongoing compliance to meet dora's standards and reduce risk use tools that are purpose built for relational data automate integrity checks and updates eliminate manual processes wherever possible stay informed want more insights on dora best practices and tooling? get practical tips for setting up your roi receive invites to webinars and peer discussions access early demos of new tools