RE: Justification for modifications?

Ron,

I believe it is our job, as professionals, to create "stupid user"
fixes.  It is our job to protect the data and if we let the user's shoot
themselves in the foot, no matter how stupid they are, we are failing to
protect the data.  I always urge my staff to create what I call "Steel
Boot Applications" to prevent the user's from shooting themselves in the
foot.

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ron Adams
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 10:45 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Justification for modifications?

I have a question and slight rant I wanted to throw at the group.

My customer service group at one of our 4 locations is requesting a
change
to the sales order entry application to prevent users from entering a
date
in the quantity field. More specifically, they want to restrict access
to all fields except the dates on the screen for the order planners
whose
specific task is to maintain orders entered by the CSRs and add
realistic
expected ship dates. Mind you, this change is necessitated by the fact
that
one particular user keeps entering the date in the quanitity field at
least
once a month which causes the bookings reports to show incorrect
amounts.
There are 4 other planners who have no problem with the way the system
works
and have never had this problem in the 7+ years I've been here. The
system
requires the user to press Enter twice before advancing to the next
order
line, and it shows a status screen when they complete the order. So,
it's
not like they can do it without seeing their mistake, unless their just
lightning fast in their keystrokes and/or not paying attention to what
they're doing.

I'm not against making changes to the system where they make sense and
it
will help the users do their job more efficiently. However, where do I
draw
the line between what would be a reasonable improvement and a
stupid-user
proofing fix.

Thanks,