-----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Dennis Williams Sent: Thu 9/22/2005 8:31 PM To: Paula_Stankus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: help Paula, > Then at the last minute the users (through looking at their reporting > system) request a massive update. The last minute massive update doesn't worry me. I just think that is the way the universe works. It probably just means the users have finally understood the application and users just don't understand data dictionaries anyway. The users work through the interfaces. What worries me is the last minute massive update that turns out to bollix up everything. That keeps me awake at night. Dennis Williams -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l The data is yours, insist that the vendor publishes the schema. Look for vendors that do. I worked on a medical application (electronic medical records) and we published a very complete schema with a lot of detail. It didn't hurt our competitive position. It actually made us more competitive. Users liked it. They still wanted us to create reports for them, but they could see the data and not have the app hold the data hostage. Jim Jim