Changes = Weekends Lost!

How many times have you needed to do a mass change in an application?  Let’s say the Controller comes in and says, “You need to change the department code for the Janitorial Service department, as they now report directly to Maintenance.” Do you tell the Controller that this should have been thought of before building the stupid chart of accounts?  Do you cancel plans for the weekend?  Worse yet, you need to ask the IT staff if they would write the script to make changes in the Database. You don’t want to ask them to do anything because of the never-ending !#@)☹! you’ll have to put up with.  Time for a career change?

There are 2 challenges here.  First, there needs to be a tool that creates a Database script that you can use without getting IT involved and without having to become a DBA yourself.  Second, the entire Database has to be restructured because the department code is a major key in the Database.  As it is now, this job translates into hours and hours of time and effort, and for Heaven’s sake don’t make a mistake!

It’s not just in General Ledger that this happens, it’s in all applications: changing 500 customers from one sales territory to another, giving everyone in a certain department a 5% raise, changing the default liability account on 1000 vendors, and the list goes on.

You would think that if we can put a camera, a calculator, a stereo, an e-mail device, a television, a Jacuzzi, and who knows what else in a small portable phone, they ought to be able to solve this problem.  (Just kidding about the Jacuzzi.)