Metrics-Based Spreadsheet Visualization: Support for Focused Maintenance

TL;DR

This paper explores how complexity measures can guide the selection of visualization techniques to improve understanding and maintenance of spreadsheets, addressing their diversity and complexity.

Contribution

It introduces a metrics-based approach to support focused visualization selection tailored to individual spreadsheet complexity.

Findings

Complexity measures can effectively indicate suitable visualization methods.

Different spreadsheets require different visualization strategies.

The approach aids in maintaining and comprehending complex spreadsheets.

Abstract

Legacy spreadsheets are both, an asset, and an enduring problem concerning spreadsheets in business. To make spreadsheets stay alive and remain correct, comprehension of a given spreadsheet is highly important. Visualization techniques should ease the complex and mindblowing challenges of finding structures in a huge set of spreadsheet cells for building an adequate mental model of spreadsheet programs. Since spreadsheet programs are as diverse as the purpose they are serving and as inhomogeneous as their programmers, to find an appropriate representation or visualization technique for every spreadsheet program seems futile. We thus propose different visualization and representation methods that may ease spreadsheet comprehension but should not be applied with all kind of spreadsheet programs. Therefore, this paper proposes to use (complexity) measures as indicators for proper visualization.