We have a master computer program which does most of what we need done for our employees to follow and to serve our clients.

We have added a front end database to enhance that basic program, which draws information from a separate client database and adds it to the database the employees need to do their job. The front end works pretty well, too.

Now, as of today, we're adding yet another layer to the mix, a way for supervisors to indicate what corrections they would like to see added by yet another office of schedulers. Their (the supervisors') corrections would not modify the program or database directly, but would substitute for paper and pen corrections, and would be used by schedulers to make modifications.

Why? Because we don't trust supervisors to make the corrections and modifications to their own data directly. Somebody centrally wants control and the stakeholders have to take the hind seat.

I'm a fan of simplification, not more layers of complexity and kludges. Especially when the track record is one of off-the-shelf programs which need to be modified for our particular use not working as advertised, requiring many workarounds and less than satisfactory outcomes.

*grumble* I wish we could hire some real experts in computer systems. *grumble*