Why Excel isn’t enough for DORA reporting: key lessons from the ESA dry run

the digital operational resilience act (dora) requires financial entities to report detailed contractual information about ict third party service providers starting january 2025 in a recent voluntary dry run exercise conducted by the european supervisory authorities (esas), many institutions learned a hard truth excel is no longer enough to meet these reporting demands key findings from the esa dry run 1\ high error rates out of 1,039 participating financial entities only 6 5% passed all data quality checks a staggering 93 5% had at least one error this clearly highlights the risks of manual processes and reliance on spreadsheets 2\ missing mandatory fields more than 86% of all data errors were due to missing mandatory fields, including identification codes for ict third party providers details on ict services and contractual arrangements while the dry run allowed partial submissions, final reporting will require complete and validated data 3\ complexity will increase the dry run included optional fields from 2025 onward, all fields will be mandatory , significantly increasing reporting complexity why excel falls short excel may seem familiar and flexible, but it introduces several compliance risks human error managing complex data manually is prone to mistakes validation gaps excel doesn’t enforce advanced data validation like a real data point model (dpm) scalability issues excel struggles with large, structured datasets and slows down reporting workflows the solution robust tooling to meet dora’s demanding requirements, financial entities should implement automated, purpose built tools that ensure data accuracy and completeness streamline reporting workflows validate submissions against regulatory technical standards institutions adopting the right tools won’t just comply — they’ll improve their overall ict risk management capabilities final thoughts the esa dry run sends a clear message excel isn’t sustainable for dora compliance https //dora solutions com/ or mailto\ info\@dora solutions com?subject=please%20contact%20me\&body=dear%20dora%20solutions%20team,%0a%0aplease%20contact%20me,%20i'm%20interested%20in%20\[ ]%0a%0abest%20regards,