Today's request becomes tomorrow's standard report

Information is constantly changing, and this is self-generating!

The more people know, the more they want to know.
The only thing that answers produce is more questions.

Pick your platitude they are all true. The general rule that I use is that 3 years from now 2/3 of the requirements for reporting are currently unknown.

If your organization is not geared to this constant state of change then you will be falling behind, if only from your competition!

What is behind all this.

Within any organization there are those that always want something different, either a new analysis, table or just the same data presented in a different way. It is not uncommon for such requests to go unanswered, simply because the level of effort required to respond is simply beyond the resources of the responsible department. It could be either available personnel, expertise or just no money to expand the current system.

But without this constant reminder that the current reporting systems are inadequate (if not now, then in the near future), the overall system and the organization that it supports will stagnate. I don't know of any industry where doing the same thing, year after year, promotes efficiency or expansion. Do you?

Given that we always need to expand and grow, we always need new information. This information must come from new analysis on existing data. If your organization suffers from DRIP, then there is no new information coming and failure, in some form, is in the future.

An organizations health, therefore, depends on the abilities of the SME's to produce this new information. They are a critical piece of the expansion plan. But in previous posts we have seen how their abilities are stifled and limited by others.