We all like a good horror story, especially a data one. It's like when you pass an accident on the road – you can't help but slow down to have a look and then you’re thankful it wasn't you. Data horror stories are just like that. It gives us comfort to know that we are not the only ones suffering and that there might be people in even worse situations out there.

This chapter will be a little bit different. Instead of just slowing down to look, I’m going to stop and help. It's inevitable that these scenarios will happen at some point so I’m going to suggest what you might be able to do if that situation occurs. You have to finish the book on a happy ending, right?

Let's start with a couple of stories that made the news.

Scenario: Edinburgh children's hospital

There was a new £150 million children's hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, that had to delay opening in 2019 due to a spreadsheet error from 2012. Not only did it halt the opening of the hospital, but it resulted in £16 million worth of remedial action to correct the error.

So, what happened? Well, according to BBC News, the Grant Thornton report stated:

When the project went out to tender in 2013, one of the bidding companies spotted the error and corrected the spreadsheet when they submitted their bid. They did not win the bid and their correction was not picked up by the team evaluating the bids. In addition to this, there was another error spotted within the same spreadsheet in 2016, but this one was not picked up and an independent tester also failed to pick up on these errors.