Which design alternative can reduce offline Excel maintenance when users frequently use custom-created formulas in Excel?

The design alternative that can significantly reduce offline Excel maintenance when users frequently utilize custom-created formulas is ad hoc forms. These forms allow users to interact with data in a structured, guided manner, enabling them to input and manipulate data without needing to rely heavily on custom Excel formulas.

Ad hoc forms are designed to be user-friendly and provide a clear interface for data entry and analysis, which minimizes the need for complex calculations that would otherwise be handled outside the system in Excel. By converting many of the calculations into built-in functionalities within the EPBCS framework, users can access and report on their data directly within the application, eliminating the repetitive task of maintaining custom formulas in Excel.

In contrast, other options like cell commentary are focused more on providing additional information rather than reducing formula dependency. Reports may help in presenting data but do not address the issue of data manipulation directly through user-defined formulas. Smart forms, while useful, may still require users to leverage complex calculations and thus may not alleviate the offline Excel maintenance burden as effectively as ad hoc forms.