Hi guys,
I am fairly new to using databases and SQL. I'm not trained in it as a profession.
I have a question about a public database that I am trying to acquire. I've been told the department needs to hours and hours of expensive programming so it can be readable on a PC.
Basically I've asked for a few fields to be removed and to have the database in some form that can be used on a PC.
I have spoke with someone who isn't the programmer and can't totally explain all the programming (or what platform they're using or what database manager - though I suspect the program was developed inhouse).
Basically they've told me the database is in EBCIDIC and needs to be translated into ASCII
They said they need to create a program to unload the data from a number of tables to create a flat file. Then write a program that converts it from EBCIDIC to ASCII. Some data is in a compressed format and will do programming to make it compatible with a PC
Then they must create a relational Access database to merge the data elements from the various fields. This requires coding and testing.
Then do some SQL Loader Script prep to take data from the merged files and load it into a new database.
They said this will take 44 hours of programming time (not including the time it takes the computer to run the program.)
This seems excessive to me. This is the first time I’ve heard of EBCIDIC to be honest.
Can’t they just extract the data (I’m asking for all the records within certain fields in the tables), translate it to ASCII, compress it and send it to me?
Can anyone provide me with some advice or help on working with this database?
If possible, could you contact me at tmcmahon@therecord.com
Thanks very much! |
