Reply to: Databases

[MarillionFan]

I write stuff that I know 90% of contractors wont have a ******* a clue how it works let alone permies.

Why. Cause it's short-term baby and if you wanted a proper solution then you'd pay the developmnt money.

MF in 'KEEPING US ALL IN WORK' mode.

[Gonzo]

The thing is, when I turn up sometimes and I know its a small gig, I give 'em a spreadsheet using Macros, ADO & Power Functions

I'm sure they are fine. Its when you get users with a little bit of knowledge developing their own solutions that you can find some complete pigs ears.

EDIT - oh yeah, and the other pet hate is where they have had some contractor come in and knock something up for them using Excel and they can't tell you how it works!

[MarillionFan]

The thing is, when I turn up sometimes and I know its a small gig, I give 'em a spreadsheet using Macros, ADO & Power Functions

[Gonzo]

My client has decided at the absolute last moment to use a timesheet system which uses Excel files - which are uploaded into a Access database. Guess who got stuck writing the system?
We got stuck doing it 'coz the twit who was supposed to do it...took six months to decide that he couldn't do it. How he keeps his job....

Now I'm stuck with some anus auditor fellow who keeps loading the timesheets manually into a excel sheet - all 200 of them - to double check the database numbers. No wonder this place is constantly in a state of change!

Is there anywhere that is run well? Years ago, I worked at a place where the admin staff took before and after screenshots of every change that they made to the account records and filed them in the manual filing. It was because they did not trust the computer system.

[lilelvis2000]

My client has decided at the absolute last moment to use a timesheet system which uses Excel files - which are uploaded into a Access database. Guess who got stuck writing the system?
We got stuck doing it 'coz the twit who was supposed to do it...took six months to decide that he couldn't do it. How he keeps his job....

Now I'm stuck with some anus auditor fellow who keeps loading the timesheets manually into a excel sheet - all 200 of them - to double check the database numbers. No wonder this place is constantly in a state of change!

[Gonzo]

That's true, especially in the investment banking area, financial controllers love their spreadsheets, which are full of god knows how many macros - I saw some spreadsheets that the top investment bank uses everyday to control their trade, people have used these spreadsheets for years and years, no one knows how it works, but full of macros calling other sheets etc.

Same where I am at the minute. Over the last month I have been breaking them all and having to go around to fix the spreadsheets and access databases because very few of the users have the knowledge of how to maintain them.

The problem with spreadsheets is - that they are too powerful.

A lot of companies go on about replacing their spreadsheet solutions with software or a database - but to be honest the time to replace vs loss in functionality can sometimes not be worth it.

Agreed, Excel enables solutions to be put together very quickly but with my software house hat on I would point out that these user-developed solutions are never very robust. Any attempt at error handling seems to be something of a rarity.

[SandyDown]

and was venomous too not the sweet old lady/ granny type

[SandyDown]

Oi!

50 is the new 30...

Oh sorry, but she really does look old and shrunk ..like an old prune...

[Buffoon]

Oi!

50 is the new 30...

Seconded!

103 going on 48.

[Buffoon]

It’s not the only reason, but many applications are developed in Excel and/or Access because that is the only development tool available. Some companies are so anal on security that VB or God forbid C++/C# can never come anywhere near a users PC. Users want things delivered, they don’t trust IT departments to do that. They would rather knock something up in what they can get their hands on than let it be done in the IT department even if they would use a more appropriate technology. The failure of IT departments to deliver is also partly responsible for the amount of outsourcing to India etc.

[Spacecadet]

Out of interest, how did all you sql people get into this area - I mean from a newbie perspective. I have bought a few books but find it really difficult to learn things if I'm not being asked to deliver things in them.

First job after uni, I did physics at uni not even IT, was as a software developer, They started me off on Oracle database dev and then sacked me before I could move onto anything else.

Second job was as an actual Oracle database/web developer (which somehow paid more than a general software developer), then I moved on into SQL Server development and admin, systems design etc....

[SandyDown]

I think you'll find that most Big Co Excel spreadsheets are far more than rows of data to be imported into mysql at the push of a button.

They will contain thousands of formula, links to other sheets and workbooks, macros, Visual Basic classes and modules, VBScript, charts and possibly complex 3rd party addins and analysis packs.

So the "export to DB and done" is about 0.001% of the task.

Next.

That's true, especially in the investment banking area, financial controllers love their spreadsheets, which are full of god knows how many macros - I saw some spreadsheets that the top investment bank uses everyday to control their trade, people have used these spreadsheets for years and years, no one knows how it works, but full of macros calling other sheets etc.
Also when I worked with one of the most well known Insurance and investment companies in the UK (that was my last project), the whole of all legal entities' tax is actually being calculated on a spreadsheet.. and there was one little old lady (yes she was old around 50 years old) who understood how it worked- she did the whole of the company's legal entities' taxes (and they followed different GAAPs)- we tried to move her into a tax / accounting package, but she was adamant not to do it. At the end of each month she had to work day and night for 4 days to finish all the tax work .... she was in such a powerful position ..can you imagine at month end she works a day - then asks for an urgent meeting with Finance Director - ask for 100% salary rise or else

[MarillionFan]

The problem with spreadsheets is - that they are too powerful.

A lot of companies go on about replacing their spreadsheet solutions with software or a database - but to be honest the time to replace vs loss in functionality can sometimes not be worth it.

The only thing that would be useful is for Excel to be able to schedule and email out reports. An add-in am working on at the moment merges the functionality of Crystal into Excel and allows windows scheduling of processes and macros to run, thus removing the requirement of a plodder to do it daily.

[_V_]

I think you'll find that most Big Co Excel spreadsheets are far more than rows of data to be imported into mysql at the push of a button.

They will contain thousands of formula, links to other sheets and workbooks, macros, Visual Basic classes and modules, VBScript, charts and possibly complex 3rd party addins and analysis packs.

So the "export to DB and done" is about 0.001% of the task.

Next.

[Cliphead]

Import the spreadsheets into Access
Use a tool called AccessDump to create a MySQL dump file
Import into MySQL
Write some PHP code or use off the shelf (mostly open source), tools to manipulate the tables.

Next...