An interesting problem arises with the emphasis on the data provided by the database approach. Who should control the corporate data? Remember that standards are needed in order to keep the data consistent and make it useful to everyone. On the other hand, the data often come from individual users and departments. If the production department has its own collection of information, perhaps the staff should have more control over that information. Listen to Ilsa, the production manager, as she discusses her new database with Rick, the database administrator.
| Ilsa: | Rick, I have to talk to you. |
| Rick: | Uh-huh. I saved the first report for you. |
| Ilsa: | We have the new robots installed. They’ll be connected to the computers by the end of next week. We need to store the measurement information to use it for quality control. Also, we need access to the inventory and production schedule databases so we can configure the robots for each production run. Only we’re having some problems with the database team. They said management won’t let us use the customer data. We need you to talk to them. |
| Rick: | Yeah. Well, I try not to stick my neck out. These rules were created by a committee three years ago. We all agreed to them. You knew the rules going into this project. |
| Ilsa: | I can understand how you feel. Before all this started, I thought I had every thing I needed. But we’ve changed. We didn’t know about the robots three years ago. We can't live in the past. I tried to go straight to marketing, but the staff said you’re the only one who can help us. They seem upset that they don’t own the data anymore. |
| Rick: | Listen. Nobody owns anything here. And we all have problems. You know what it was like before. If it weren’t for these standards, you wouldn't even be able to ask for the customer data. It was so poorly managed that even marketing couldn’t use it. It took us almost a year to clean it up and test all the data. We can’t just give you open access to it now. I’m not going through that mess again. |
| Ilsa: | There must be something you can do. Look, if we can’t get access through you, we’ll just have to go around you. We can build our own customer and orders database. It’ll just take longer and cost us more money. |
| Rick: | Sure, but how are you going to keep it up to date? And how are you going to fit it in with the existing data? You'll end up duplicating everything we’ve already done. Pretty soon we'll be right back to the mess we had three years ago. I can’t allow you to do that. |
| Ilsa: | We don’t have any choice. Our work is too important to the company. OK, we can’t do it without your help. So why can’t you help us? There must be some way to set up our databases to match with yours. We’ll promise not to hurt your data. We’ll do whatever tests you need. |
| Rick: | It’s not that easy. Maybe we can work it out, but we can’t possibly finish it by next week. See, I have to play by the rules too. If I start changing the customer database, then marketing will be in here screaming. If I touch inventory, management will be on the phone. Plus, accounting has a bunch of changes they want me to make. I don’t think your modifications will match theirs. They've been complaining about security and insufficient audit trails. I have to coordinate these changes. We’ll at least need a committee and several meetings. |
| Ilsa: | All I’m asking for is a chance. Remember, Rick, this problem’s bigger than both of us. Sometimes we can’t play by the rules; they need to be changed. |
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