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The database.
You've probably already guessed that I believe that we have dropped the ball on this one too. (Isn't this guy EVER going to say something good? (Now that I've gone so far around the bend that I'm asking and answering my own questions, the answer is--As soon as I find something good.))
I believe, in fact, that most of us have never even seen the ball. Let's take inventory of your situation and see where you are. Do you have an up-to-date logical data model that includes everything? Has this model been translated to an equally up-to-date physical model? Is this the way 100% of your data is actually stored? Are all of your business processes exclusively tied to this structure? Is your name or Social Security Number in more than one dataset (as an element)? Do your part numbers have embedded meanings? Do your customers talk in terms of codes? Does anyone say, "The database requires that I....."?
My guess is that not 10 in 100 of you can honestly give the appropriate answers. This is not your fault. This is truly an industry or societal phenomenon. Most of us were taught to abandon common sense when it comes to storing and retrieving data. Somewhere along the line, complexity got substituted for reason.
Once that happened, we've been wide open for whatever crazy scheme almost anyone came up with. We've practically canonized some of the schemers even though they have simply written books about the things that you already knew.
Let's cut to the chase. "A place for everything; and everything in its place." This should be the canon of everyone in the business. Notice it says "A" place. One spot. Do not put the forks in with the spoons. Keep the apples with the apples, the oranges with the oranges. Do not make fruit salad. Do not make up subjects.
Before you go ballistic over this simplification; think about this real hard. You will realize that it is not a simplification; but exactly what you've wanted and needed to do for a long time. It is no trouble at all to find something when you know exactly where it is at all times.
Don't for a minute think that this cannot be done. The Customer Equipment Services Division of Eastman Kodak had this philosophy and structure in place in 1974, without a single line of database management software. They did it with ISAM, direct access, and ...
- Privacy rights' days may be (federally) numbered.(legislation to stop Social...
- Magazine article from: Insight on the News Paul, Ron August 17, 1998 700+ words
...to using the Social Security number as a universal identifier...to report the Social Security number of every new employee...recording in a national database. The second was the...abuse of the Social Security number is the congressionally...
- Viewpoint: Exploding the Social Security Number Myth.
- Magazine article from: American Banker Hansen, Bruce May 26, 2006 700+ words
...country can access databases and file cabinets filled...losing your Social Security number, everybody has it...numbers from the myriad databases and records they now...with his or her Social Security number. Instead of looking...
- SLAYING SUSPECT ARRESTED SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER LEADS TO CAPTURE IN 1987...
- Newspaper article from: Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) January 12, 2005 700+ words
...Writer A Social Security number tucked deep in...discovered a Social Security number Gormley had written...investigation, but said database searches were...and the Social Security number might have been...law enforcement databases, and it hit...
- IDENTITY THEFT CAN BE HARD TO FIX; THIEVES CAN OPEN ACCOUNTS UNDER YOUR NAME...
- Newspaper article from: The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) September 3, 2001 700+ words
...your identity - Social Security number or name - and uses...theft, a global case database open to law enforcement...from callers in the database of cases. By the end of last year, the database had 42,000 records...another person's Social Security number to open an account...
- How Your Social Security Number Is Used.
- Magazine article from: Consumers' Research Magazine March 1, 1999 700+ words
...years, the Social Security number (SSN) has come to...information in their databases. Simply stated, the...CDLIS), a nationwide database. States are required...SSNs to search this database for other state-issued...SSNs to search another database, the National Driver...
- Rapsheets Launches One-Click Criminal Search that Checks Aliases Associated...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire March 1, 2004 700+ words
...applicant's Social Security number. Statistics show that...searches a third-party database for all names and addresses...the subject's Social Security number. Rapfinity then searches its criminal records database using the first and...
- Social Security Number Mismatch Issues.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing September 27, 2002 700+ words
...advising them that there is a mismatch between a reported Social Security Number ("SSN") and a worker's name. Beginning with the SSA...reasons why the W-2 reports they filed do not match SSA's database. In addition, the letters provide detailed instructions...
- Keep an eye on who gets your number: the social security number has become the...
- Magazine article from: Insight on the News Cherry, Sheila R. July 15, 2002 700+ words
...identity of a deceased American and used the decedent's Social Security number (SSN) to gain employment and illegally remain in the United...year 2001, the FTC's Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse database received more than 86,000 complaints from victims of ID...