Rant: USERS!
Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:27 pm
We need a user rants section. Here's my problem.
I'm writing a report for a user which pulls data and displays it in a table, averaging each row in an Average column and then averaging that column in the final Total row. Each cell is also an average of of three or four records in the db. OBviously, I want the data to be accurate, and so the data in the Average column is not an average of the averages in its row, but rather an average of the actual individual rows that went into each cell. The same goes for the Total number, not an Averages of the averages column, but rather an average of the actual rows again. I mean, this is the right way to do it. The information is accurate.
So, I give it to the user who must have immediatlely whipped out the trusty calulator and takes some averages of the averages he sees on the screen and determines that my math is off. So now he's <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> at me - "Why don't these numbers add up? How are we supposed to rely on this data, etc."
For two days now I have been trying to explain to him what the deal is. I mean I've tried everything to get him to understand it. I list the individual numbers in each cell rather than their average. He still doesn't get it and insists on the numbers on the screen matching up. So finally I give in and make the stupid thing show all these crappy averages of averages that aren't even accurate. Gah!
There, I feel better now.
I'm writing a report for a user which pulls data and displays it in a table, averaging each row in an Average column and then averaging that column in the final Total row. Each cell is also an average of of three or four records in the db. OBviously, I want the data to be accurate, and so the data in the Average column is not an average of the averages in its row, but rather an average of the actual individual rows that went into each cell. The same goes for the Total number, not an Averages of the averages column, but rather an average of the actual rows again. I mean, this is the right way to do it. The information is accurate.
So, I give it to the user who must have immediatlely whipped out the trusty calulator and takes some averages of the averages he sees on the screen and determines that my math is off. So now he's <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> at me - "Why don't these numbers add up? How are we supposed to rely on this data, etc."
For two days now I have been trying to explain to him what the deal is. I mean I've tried everything to get him to understand it. I list the individual numbers in each cell rather than their average. He still doesn't get it and insists on the numbers on the screen matching up. So finally I give in and make the stupid thing show all these crappy averages of averages that aren't even accurate. Gah!
There, I feel better now.