Maslow's hammer beats again

The design and engineering departments at work have started to use the SolidWorks (SW) program; it is intended that this program will replace AutoCAD in a few years. Presumably because SW creates more files than AutoCAD, the person running the project is considering using a Product Data Management (PDM) system which integrates with SW (good idea). Unfortunately, the PDM costs a lot of money and the powers that be wish to delay the purchase of a PDM until they see that SW is integrated properly into our work practices (another good idea).

What to do in the interim? The same project manager sent off an email a few weeks ago saying that "a jointly managed Excel file saved on a network drive would maintain the SW file list". I almost had an apoplexy when I read this! I immediately sent back an email stating that Excel files might be fine as long as they are personal, but multi-user Excel files suffer from a multitude of problems, mainly due to file locking. They are also unsophisticated. What we need (I wrote) is to appropriate the database functions of Priority in order to maintain such a list; automatically we will get such advantages as proper multi-user handling, numerators, indices, auditing and text handling (an optional text screen in which users can write comments). 

We had a meeting about this on Sunday, attended by several grey Russians who tend to the inflexible. At least one was horrified by the suggestion that we maintain this database in Priority; he calmed down somewhat when I explained to him that this 'database' would be maintained in a corner of the program and would neither impinge on the rest of the program nor would require the user to be conversant with the rest of the program (although one of the huge benefits of Priority and other ERP programs is that once one has learnt how to manipulate one screen, that person can then manipulate all the other screens in the program with little additional effort, otherwise known as leveraging). Presumably this gentleman is fearful of Priority; I wonder how he is managing to learn SW. It took me about an hour to set up the database tables, screens and triggers necessary to implement what was agreed.

This discussion demonstrated a point which is very close to my heart: unsophisticated people will use a given tool, not because it is the best tool for the job but because it is familiar to them. In other words, this is a case of Maslow's hammer: when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. In this case, the hammer is of course Excel.

This is the sort of behaviour which I intend to examine once I start my DBA.