Your Data and the KISS Principle.
Often I find situations with customer where their data is largely out of synch because of inconsistent set-up and usage. Most often these situations are created because the KISS (Keep It Simply Structured) principle is not being followed when it comes both adding new data and updating existing data.
Data structure actually works against them because it creates a scenario where people won’t use it because it is too complicated, takes too much thought, or too much time to implement or maintain. These situations can also cause issues with data-mining later because of inconsistent set-up.
Some examples of this are…
Item Costs – Either no cost being entered, or the cost is not being changed as users are entering receivings.
Item Categories – Multiple Categories or Sub-Categories defined for the same thing when that data is supposed to be distinct (i.e. Category "10", "H", "HW", "HWDE, "HARDWARE" are all supposed to be one category for "HARDWARE" items), and in some cases this involves end users randomly assigning data in order to speed up the process of whatever they were working on at the time.
Customer numbers – inconsistent customer numbering, or other data entry issues such as putting phone numbers, or other notes into the email address field. This causes issues later when data is mined to produce mailing list, or when Smart Alerts is attempting to run a background function on the data.
If you need assistance with defining structures or corrected some of the issues referenced above, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department.