When the system is bypassed.
WHAT WORKAROUNDS LOOK LIKE
Spreadsheets maintained alongside Records entered late, in batches Processes performed outside the system Information exchanged informally
WHAT THEY INDICATE
The system does not support something people need.
WHY THAT FRAMING MATTERS
Treating it as non-compliance addresses the symptom.
WHAT TO DO
Establish what the workaround achieves.
WHAT THE ANSWERS USUALLY ARE
The system is too slow for the task It cannot handle an exception The person was never trained The process was never configured It genuinely does not do it
WHAT TO DO ABOUT EACH
Fix it, where possible Train, where that is the gap Accept and formalise, where the system genuinely cannot
WHY FORMALISING IS SOMETIMES RIGHT
An acknowledged exception is manageable; a hidden one is not.
WHAT TO NEVER DO
Ignore workarounds.
WHY
They become standard practice, and data becomes unreliable.
WHAT TO MONITOR
Whether transactions are entered promptly Whether reports reconcile to reality Whether spreadsheets persist
WHAT TO ASK PERIODICALLY
What do you still do outside the system?
WHY THAT QUESTION
It surfaces what surveys and reports do not.
