The intent of Version 0 is to show what can be achieved. A taster with a promise of jam tomorrow. My worry is that executive thinking is "if they developed this with in no time and no resource then I can get a lot for very little outlay".

As in an earlier post there has to be careful management of expectations.

I've had a proof-of-concept backfire on me spectacularly where most of the people involved agreed that the POC had failed in almost every tangible way but mission critical functionality had found its way into the POC so it went ahead anyway.

I am also extremely wary of Excel. I think I've seen it described as a Spreadmart! On one hand the business get great utility and early pay back. On the other hand they've driven a very large truck down a very tight cul-de-sac.