RE: Hillside Yellers?, and a Business Week article

["Allen Woods" <allenwoods@jit-software.com>]

Alan

It isn't often I contribute to this forum mostly I sit and watch and
(mostly learn).  But I am afraid I really must take issue with the text
below:

"However, I think it's time this Forum started to look at what a new
genre of enterprise-wide, web-enabled, SPC-based performance dashboard
software can enable in systemic and performance terms. 

Forget manual charting; think click mouse to get individual moving range
charts, benchmark charts of comparative performance, Pareto charts,
frequency histograms, etc, all derived from source data, with no
re-keying or data entry."

I know that you are particularly close with a bunch of guys who write
what I think is interesting reporting tools, but the last bit "all
derived from source data with no re-keying or data entry" really is
fantasy land.  There is a plethora of reporting tools that claim to be
able to do what you describe, but invariably don't in no small measure
because of the lack of a systemic and systematic approach to their
implementation.

I really do wish that people who buy the kind of toys you describe
understood four things before they buy them.....  
1. What they need to know
2. where the source data they require is located, 
3. how it is
structured and perhaps more importantly 
4. how much effort is required to
maintain the data in a usable state.

They are not casual issues

Allen Woods
JIT Software Limited
01980 843113
Skype ID apw808
http://www.jit-software.com