Re: In defense of the lowly MR

James,

In a message dated 97-06-06 12:44:48 EDT, you write:

> Maybe I'm living with different people than you or others in this list
>  are with. :)

You MUST be!!!

>  It's just been my experience that these are not issues to contend with. 
>  If a user wants data off the 400 they ask which file to get, we tell
>  them.  We may even set up logicals to make it easier.   We don't have
>  users accessing information without prior knowledge or consent.  We
>  "jealously guard" our files more for security than anything else.  Heck
>  as far as I'm concerned any user can have whatever data they are
>  authorized to get.  We'll even help them get the data.  But to have a
>  user browse around the system and grab whatever suits there fancy? I
>  don't think soooooo.  I guess it all depends on the shop rules.

Is everyone well paid and fed in your world too -- no wars or racial hatred,
my THAT would be nice :-).  No offense intended, but you really DO have a
nice environment!  Most large sites, and many small ones, have SOME form of
EIS (Executive Information System) installed these days.  ShowCase, FOCUS,
and just plain Query/400 (among others) are available to allow user access to
data formerly proprietary to the IS department.

I cannot BEGIN to detail the number of meetings that a member of my client's
IS departments have been called into to explain the results of a user-defined
query.  Something like:

Management:  So why are we showing three THOUSAND shop orders open for this
item, when we have closed all but two?

IS:  Uhh, let me run a quick SQL.  Hmm, I show only two.  Did you check for
an "open" status on the shop order?

Management:  Never mind...

User access to data is a REAL problem, and I'm not really sure how to address
it.  All I DO know is that "power users" have become "users with the power to
drag you into a worthless meeting" lately...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@AOL.COM

"In America, anyone can become President.  That's one of the risks you take."
-- Adlai Stephenson
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