<snip>
Some say it's DB2 other say it's a file base system in a DB2 environment
</snip>
I'd like to know why they say this. I say the argument ranges from "they
might have a point" to "Some <expletive deleted> who will always prod IBM
to add some feature that he's heard about on some other database"
The "they might have a point" argument starts out with:
Someone running multiformat physical files that are only internally
defined and have no external definition, or, if any, a very limited one
with maybe two fields: Record type and Data.
Then some say that any file created with DDS instead of DDL doesn't count.
I much prefer DDL but I don't follow this argument.
Some say that any system without referential constraints showing the
relations between the different files doesn't count. This is a big help,
especially with many of the reporting tools. This can be done with DDS
accompanied with CL commands or DDL.
In that same vein, having decent views which also show the relationship
between files. Is a step in the right direction. Good views can also
rename many of the columns thrust upon us by vendor software and do some
of the simple calculations (like our vendor package which has no inventory
on hand column).
Some BI tools just require you rebuild everything into their "metadata".
Even if they don't copy the data you still have to redefine everything
into their metadata.
See also
http://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-09
Rob Berendt
midrange.com
