RE: Normalization was Left AS/400 and Returned

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: rob@xxxxxxxxx
> 
> The users are going to generate their own queries.  If we insisted on
a
> strictly programmer controlled access via stored procedures, etc, then
> what would happen but the users insisting on us duplicating all data
to a
> PC so that they can run their own queries against it.

You've said this sort of thing before, and I simply disagree.  The users
don't need access to every field in the database.  In addition, I'll bet
that there are lots of calculations that would be better served if you
provided a single programmatic access rather than forcing them to do the
calculations themselves.

But we're out of architecture and into the land of business
requirements.  At that point, you have to decide whether your business
requirements override best architectural practices.  I can't make that
decision for you, obviously.  I can just tell you that you are locking
your database into your user's Excel and Access queries, and from an
architectural standpoint that's a bad place to be.

Joe