Re: Any Excel Experts

(Bcc pdxpug)

Ok, this thread is done, Richard. Direct comments about the gig posting to
David, privately, folks.

Please, lets get back to talking about databases.

-selena
On May 6, 2011 6:03 AM, "Rich Shepard" <rshepard(at)appl-ecosys(dot)com> wrote:
> On Thu, 5 May 2011, David E. Wheeler wrote:
>
>>> I won't do it because you'd not have the budget for the hours required
and
>>> I have other project priorities that are more fun and satisfying.
>>
>> You words fill me with joy. :-(
>
> David,
>
> I wasn't being flippant. I spent many days with this effort. It involved
> moving blocks of data around on a single page so everything was in one
> contiguous block, exporting each tab as a separate file, writing a python
> script or figuring out whether grep, sed, or awk could reformat the data,
> then trying to copy it into the postgres table and fixing the errors the
> dbms found.
>
> Many organizations have SOPs on written documents: format, style, word
> usage and so on. I don't know of any such organization that has defined
> standards for spreadsheet usage. People become familiar with spreadsheets
> when they become familiar with word processors (or shortly thereafter),
but
> databases are not taught in schools or colleges. A dbms is an engine that
> needs to be used in specific applications, it's not an icon on the Windows
> desktop that opens a screen for immediate use. It takes thought and
> understanding, and these are not sufficiently common.
>
> From your description the work will be very labor intensive and require
> someone who deeply understands the need and what has to be done with the
> displayed data to fulfill that need. That's why I suggested an overseas
> organization like those that used to be used for digitizing paper maps
> accurately and inexpensively.
>
> Years ago I had some map data conversion done at the medium-security
> prison in Salem. Getting that project going was in interesting experience
> since I'd never before been in a prison. But the guys did an excellent job
> and it was part of their rehabilitative training. Perhaps they have people
> who can do your data conversion. And, the people doing the work have
nothing
> else to do with their days and they're a higher class of prisoner in these
> programs than at the maximum security prisons.
>
> Rich
>
>
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