Spreadsheet Link Checking for Excel (ScanXLS) is a spreadsheet link checking system that scans directories for spreadsheet files in order to check links for risk analysis and auditing purposes.
Spreadsheet Link Checking for Excel assists in Information Technology audit compliance projects related to internal controls for risks in end user development of spreadsheet models. Originally developed for Y2K and Euro conversion projects, this inventory and cataloging utility has now been enhanced with complexity metrics to address concerns in 'Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 404' audits.
Spreadsheet Link Checking for Excel gives you data for these fundamental issues in an auditing project:
What spreadsheets exist on the network.
The person responsible (owner, user, developer).
How big the spreadsheets are, how complex, and whether they have any errors.
What dependencies and links exist between the spreadsheets.
Whether a spreadsheet has changed from an authorized or validated version.
The system scans any given directory and below and obtains a list of all the Excel spreadsheet files with the '.XLS' extension. All or some of the files can the be selected and the system opens each one in turn as 'read-only' and reports on some file properties, attributes, the presence of unusual features or settings that may represent a risk or are prone to human error, Excel error checking summaries, a list of other workbooks that it depends on through links, and a score based on how 'problematic' the spreadsheet might be. Spreadsheet Link Checking for Excel can also compare two workbooks to check whether their formulas or values are identical.
Spreadsheet Link Checking for Excel is intentionally designed to give immediately understandable answers to obvious questions which any auditor will raise about the extent of spreadsheet usage.