Re: User Defined Fields - HELP PLEASE!

"news.hp.com" <bunchah_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:4213615e$1_at_usenet01.boi.hp.com...
> I've got a political (and technical question) I could use a hand with.
>
> I developed (and maintain) an inventory system for a large company. It
has
> over 150 regular users, one of which is bucking really hard for 5-10 "User
> Defined Fields". Read that as free-form text fields.
>
> Can anyone here present a strong argument as to why doing this as a bad
> idea? Management, as usual, doesn't understand that allowing users to put
> any random data they want in these fields is bad in the long run.
>
> It'd be nice if you can point me to reference material where this is
spoken
> against (either online or in currently available publications). I need
> something concrete to take with me to a meeting this afternoon.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>

There are many excellent reasons to not do this, but you can't win the argument. You will just look like a naysayer. I've been able to delay this "feature", but I have rarely been able to keep it out completely. Anyway, here are some reasons:

The data is essentially unsearchable. This is the same as the data being lost. May as well not have it. Any search that can be done will likely be incomplete and innacurate.

The data will not be used by anyone other than those "in the know". This means that some employees will have one set of information, while another set will have other information. And that's only if there is consistency among those "in the know".

The data can NEVER be summarized. It cannot be used for analysis of the business in any way at all. Again, it is lost data. Despite this, management will ask you to report on it.

The data cannot be transformed. Example- special codes and abbreviations will stay that way. Need to show a customer this data? Hope they can read Martian. No lookup tables possible. No decoding the codes and abbreviations. besides, each user will enter it differently. Then there are spelling errors. The list goes on and on.

The data is almost useless in reports. Need to filter on something in one of these fields? Forget it. Sort on it? Ha! Again, the data is lost.

The only right way to do this is to find out what the users think they need to record in these fields, and then build a proper place for it. The most common reason users want this "feature" is that they want to work around the business rules.

Good luck- you will need it. Received on Wed Feb 16 2005 - 22:14:56 CET