Beyond belief???
I still can't believe this, the more I think about it the less I believe it but it happened today. I'm currently working for a client that is having their entire manufacturing and accounting system replaced with a new Informix based system written by a third party software house. Lots of data conversion and table loads and file transfers - nothing difficult. Obviously to make sure to two systems are the same the software house are running comparison reports. Again nothing special. But where the software house surpass themselves is in the generation of the difference reports. To report and correct the data they do the following. 1 Flat file both tables in their entirety. 2 Use awk to extract the columns they are interested into two more files 3 Sort these files into a new set of files 4 grep to the two files together to produce a difference report 5 Use the difference report as the input to another grep to find the full lines 6 Combine the difference lines with the original load file 7 Drop and reload the table 8 Repeat all the above to ensure no rows where missed. When asked why they did all this I was told it was the only way. But why not just compare the two tables in Informix I was told by one of the installation guys that he didn't know you could do that. Paul Watson # I don't suffer from WF Software Ltd. # stress, I'm just Tel. (+44) 1436 674729 # a carrier Fax. (+44) 1436 678693 # www.wfsoftware.com
In article <memo.19991005233151.11969G@wfsoftware.compulink.co.uk>, paulw@wfsoftware.co.uk wrote: > I still can't believe this, the more I think about it the less I believe > it but it happened today. I'm currently working for a client that is > having their entire manufacturing and accounting system replaced with a > new Informix based system written by a third party software house. Lots > of data conversion and table loads and file transfers - nothing difficult. > Obviously to make sure to two systems are the same the software house are > running comparison reports. Again nothing special. > > But where the software house surpass themselves is in the generation of > the difference reports. To report and correct the data they do the > following. > > 1 Flat file both tables in their entirety. > 2 Use awk to extract the columns they are interested into two more > files > 3 Sort these files into a new set of files > 4 grep to the two files together to produce a difference report > 5 Use the difference report as the input to another grep to find the > full lines > 6 Combine the difference lines with the original load file > 7 Drop and reload the table > 8 Repeat all the above to ensure no rows where missed. > > When asked why they did all this I was told it was the only way. But why > not just compare the two tables in Informix I was told by one of the > installation guys that he didn't know you could do that. > > Paul Watson # I don't suffer from > WF Software Ltd. # stress, I'm just > Tel. (+44) 1436 674729 # a carrier > Fax. (+44) 1436 678693 # > www.wfsoftware.com > Have you asked them to ensure the new system is year 1900-compliant ? I guess it confirms the old adage about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. No chance of naming names, I guess, to ward other UK- based potential clients off from this software house ?? Go on, Paul - you can always take the fifth amendment. Regards Glyn Balmer -- If it always works, why don't parachutists pull the emergency 'chute first? Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.