Hello Ryan Johnson, The two sentences cannot be used interchangeably. This is because they have different tenses. They are actually parts of sentences. "It made" is past tense while "It had been made" is a present perfect tense, For example, one can say I made a mistake yesterday. On the other hand, I can say Today, a serious error has already been made.

Not only does the second phrase use a different tense, it also is in the passive voice. It made a mess. - active voice in the simple past A mess was made. - passive voice in the simple past It has made a mess. - active voice present perfect A mess has been made. - passive voice present perfect

Hi Ryan. No, they can't be used interchangeably. "Made" is simple past tense. We use this tense to indicate that something happened at a specific time in the past. For example, "I made a cake yesterday." "Has been made" is present perfect tense. We use this tense, most of the time, to indicate that something was completed between some time in the past to the present moment, but we DON'T know exactly when. For example, "A cake has been made in this kitchen before." We know that a cake was made, but not exactly when. I hope this helps.