NYCPHP Meetup

[Mark Armendariz]

>On Behalf Of inforequest
 > - they will not listen to your reasons for changing the 
> Access database at this time.
> - they will not learn "in real time" from your own database 
> design/work
> - they *will* likely change their own schema at some point 
> (because they will learn and improve - and while it may be an 
> improvement, it will not match yours)
---
> So if these are likely, you really need to abstract your 
> interface to their data and make a clear specification for 
> what they will have to provide to you for updates.

>On Behalf Of Mitch Pirtle
> It may be more important to have error checking and controls 
> in place to ensure that your application does not fall prey 
> to the "garbage in, garbage out" disease.  This would also 
> give you the insurance that having a separate schema for your 
> app will not cause discomfort with the original application, 
> as you now have the chance to do some data transformation. 

More incredible points.  This whole thread has opened my eyes quite a bit to
the politics of application synching in general, as to ensuring all changes
are planned, spec'd and a process is put into writing ensuring both data
structures will continue to work together through future maintenance on both
ends.  

I've always put a great deal of time into planning and ensuring everything's
signed off on before my first '<?php' is typed, but mostly as a means of
ensuring an avoidance of scope creep and miscommunication.  Gotta love some
good perspective.

You're all kings, and +1 beer for the lot of ya (I mean it, be sure to hold
me to it).

Mark