It is quite an art saying No. Especially when you are a database manager and your users are continually asking you to do this and that and everything else, and you know that, yes, that latest request is technically possible (as opposed to something just not being possible at all) but, business-wise, data-wise, policy-wise, it is the wrong thing to do...
So, do you say No in such instances?
I applaud any database manager who does say No when they truly believe that it is the wrong approach to take. But it's a hard thing to do. †
Of course, what I hope a database manager can say sometimes is, "No, but…" i.e. no, what you are asking should not be done that way, but on the other hand, you can do it this way. And then hope that most users will understand and appreciate that. An example is how someone might ask for a new field or new code table to be added to a database, when you know that it is better practise to extend the use of an existing field/table.
But it's harder when the question doesn't necessarily have such an easy answer. e.g. Can we add a new screen to show data item x to department y… Can we import these z records from another system…
Both may well be possible technically. You might well be able to create a new form so that department y has a specific view of some data, but if that means that they won't see other relevant data which they should be aware of, or if it means it will be much harder to maintain in the future, then you might need to say No. And although you can explain why not, there isn't such an easy answer to what they can do instead - it might just be that it shouldn't be done full stop.
Similarly with importing records from another database. What for? Who will use them and how often? Will those records still be on another database - if so, how will you keep them all up-to-date? And so on. I have seen countless systems littered with useless records which have been added some years ago just because someone had the bright idea of doing this one particular project…
So stick to your guns, database managers. Remember what Zammo said (for those old enough to know what I'm talking about…)
† BTW, for any fundraisers reading this, who feel that their database manager is always saying No, then I feel for you too! They might be doing so for good reasons, but it could of course be a bad database you have or even a not so savvy database manager…
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