$5 Fixes

I have a wish list of 5 things I would like to see added to current Financial Applications.  They’re not that difficult . . . .

I have a wish list of 5 things I would like to see added to current Financial Applications.  They’re not that difficult (at least to the end-user’s way of thinking), and I call them, “$5 Fixes.” I realize they would take time to implement, and the impact on the system’s selling price would be nil.  However, the impact of these features for the end-user would be a day-to-day revelation!

Here they are:

Fix #1:  A visual-lock message on a record that is being modified by another user BEFORE you start to edit that same record, instead of when you try to write your edited record back to the file.

Fix #2:  A real-time update when someone has changed a record that you are currently viewing, so that your screen automatically reflects the changed information without you having to refresh the screen.

Fix #3:  Allow the end-user to build and save their own search filters.  This feature alone will save considerable time on daily, repetitive operations.

Fix #4:  Save answers to dialog questions for routine reporting and procedure functions.  Why enter the same information every time you run a routine report or update files?  Make sure you can also edit the dialog as needed when you run them.

Fix #5:  Accurate timestamps on ALL records.  If you have ever had to go back and reconstruct what someone did, this feature will save hours and help to analyze what happened.

Fix #6:  Okay, I lied.  There are at least 6 things I want changed.  Give the application administrator “column-level security” (read/write on each field in a record).  Some systems give “row-level security” (by record), but column-level security is really needed.

This is a short list.  I could go on and on, but I would really appreciate it if any developers would address these $5 Fixes.  You know how developers are, cheap and lazy!