Network automation relies on pristine, structured data, yet many organizations still cling to Microsoft Excel as their ultimate source of truth for user-supplied information. This practice is increasingly causing friction between IT management and the engineers tasked with maintaining stable infrastructure. The reliance on manual spreadsheets to feed automated systems creates a fragile environment where a single formatting error can cascade into a network-wide failure.
In a recent discussion highlighted by networking expert Ivan Pepelnjak, the habit of treating spreadsheets as a definitive database is facing heavy scrutiny. Pepelnjak pointed to a sharp critique by Nikhil Suresh, which argues against relying on the software for critical data management and network automation tasks. The consensus among automation professionals is that spreadsheets simply lack the strict constraints required for modern infrastructure as code.
This frustration is echoing across IT departments as engineers deal with the fallout of poor data practices. One network professional, Bob, noted that he recently had to fight back against management directives that would have compromised their systems. He was pressured to inject manually extracted, unverified spreadsheet data directly into a production database.
I had to argue against my manager wanting to inject some unknowly sourced manually extracted Excel data into our DB a few weeks ago, and I faced the exact same excuses.
- Bob, Network Professional
The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheet Convenience
While Excel is universally accessible and easy for non-technical staff to update, using it as a Single Source of Truth (SSoT) for network automation introduces severe operational risks. Unlike dedicated databases or version-controlled systems, spreadsheets lack strict Data Validation mechanisms. This makes it dangerously easy for "unknowingly sourced" or improperly formatted data to bypass checks and break automated pipelines.
As enterprise automation scales, the gap between a manual spreadsheet and a robust database becomes a critical point of failure. Management teams often push for spreadsheet integration because it avoids the learning curve of proper database management tools. However, the time saved on data entry is ultimately lost when engineers have to troubleshoot broken automation scripts caused by a single misplaced comma or hidden space in a cell.
