Re: Need DB Browser Suggestions

From: Francis Wang <wangf_at_interaccess.com>
Date: 16 Dec 1993 17:27:39 GMT
Message-ID: <2eq5qc$h1k_at_mailhost.interaccess.com>


Mike Tuason (mtuason_at_bio.ri.ccf.org) wrote:
: Our company will be evaluating end-user browser utilities
: for Oracle. I've seen Oracle Browser and I am impressed.
: Are there any other packages that anyone could suggest
: that would be good for novice end-users? Any help would
: be appreciated.
 

: Thanks in advance!
: Mike Tuason
: Cleveland Clinic Foundation

One of my client has been experimenting with the Data Browser on a muli-giga bytes machine. The plan was to rollout the Browser to a number of end-users. However, because of a number of issues we're not sure if Browser is the right tool. The issues are:

  • Browser locks up your Window during query execution. This is the most serious problem we face. Some queries take a few hours to execute. During this time, the user's computer is completly locked up.
  • We are unable to terminate a query (from Browser) once it is fired up.
  • When a user reboots the computer in the middle of Browser query the Oracle database process would still hand around. We had to kill the process manually using the Unix kill command.
  • Users can not tell how long a query will take. This varies from a few\ seconds to a few hours. Combined with the fact that Browser locks up your PC, this is a sure receipe for unhappy user.
  • Browser lacks central administration capability.
  • We're able to crash Browser several times.
  • We found Browser very difficult for end-users to learn. They need a good understanding of the data model to do useful queries.
  • We're unable to provide canned parameterized queries for users. Browser allows you to store queries in the database but does no allow you to specify parameters.

On the positive side, our programmers found Browser to be an exceptionally powerful query tools.

Actualy I'm interested in hearing other peoples response on the above issues. I'm not sure if there're any tool that adress all of our concerns. I have seen different tools that solve a few of the problems.

Final note: I think the biggest problem of exposing users to massive amount of data is the potential for user miss-interpretation of the data. For example, after exposing the users to our database, we found that some users were mis-interpreting the columns and tables and issuing wrong queries. Basing critical decisions on these results can be very harmful. User training is the key!



Francis Wang, Consultant
Intertech Associates, Inc.   Received on Thu Dec 16 1993 - 18:27:39 CET

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