Even regulators are moving away from Excel ???

One of the key requirements under DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is the Register of Information, but maintaining it properly requires more than just an Excel spreadsheet.

The Register of Information is a centralized database that records all contractual agreements a financial institution has with ICT third-party service providers. It provides detailed information about the services used, providers, and the business functions they support, enabling firms to monitor dependencies and risks more effectively.

This register is also crucial for regulatory reporting and ensuring supervisory authorities have the necessary insights into an organization’s ICT risk exposure.

While all ICT services must be documented, critical or important functions require more detailed reporting. Given the complexity and relational nature of this register, many have asked whether the European Banking Authority (EBA) would provide an Excel template to maintain it.

The response?

“We don’t believe that Excel is the tool for the actual maintaining of the register. Excel can be used as an intermediate step, for the visual representations, to help prepare the CSV files used for reporting. But we don’t believe that this is the most appropriate tool for the actual maintaining of the register, given the relational nature of the register of information.?So you need to find the most appropriate tool for your organization.”

This makes one thing clear:?Excel is no longer enough!