Who is using Base? What are they using it for?

[drewjensen]

Hi,

Just a note to the list
- I am planning on making a few suggestions with regards
to questions for the next User Survey over on the UX
discussion list in the next day or so.

Thought it not a bad idea to bring up here first. Perhaps
others had some ideas along the same lines.

Thanks

Drew



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[Reizinger Zoltán]

Hi Drew,

Drew Jensen írta:
> Hi,
>
> Just a note to the list
> - I am planning on making a few suggestions with regards
> to questions for the next User Survey over on the UX
> discussion list in the next day or so.
>
When I filled the 2009 user survey my feeling was that these questions
not a good enough.
To give  real picture about OOo Base use.
I agree in that we can submit some, better options.
> Thought it not a bad idea to bring up here first. Perhaps
> others had some ideas along the same lines.
+1
Zoltan

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[drewjensen]

Reizinger Zoltán wrote:

> Hi Drew,
>
> Drew Jensen írta:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Just a note to the list
>> - I am planning on making a few suggestions with regards
>> to questions for the next User Survey over on the UX
>> discussion list in the next day or so.
>>
> When I filled the 2009 user survey my feeling was that these questions
> not a good enough.
> To give  real picture about OOo Base use.
> I agree in that we can submit some, better options.
>> Thought it not a bad idea to bring up here first. Perhaps
>> others had some ideas along the same lines.
> +1
>

Well a month goes by pretty fast doesn't it.

I suppose one thing I would bring up is in relation to the performance
section.

In April there was a post on the UX list regarding users perception of
OO.o performance.
(Subject line was: [ux-user interface] OpenOffice User Survey II:
Performance Findings)

Following is an excerpt:
> Compared to the overall system performance rating we can identify the
> following tasks that are rated significant worse:
>  1. Program start-up
>  2. Base
>  3. Math & Chart
>  4. Draw
<snip>
> For a deeper analysis, i.e. what tasks people did who have voted
> negative on OOo's performance, requires additional tooling and some
> more time.

Ok, so that was a full quarter ago (see time does go fast when we are
having fun).
Question: Does anyone know if 'tooling' in that remark meant
adding/augmenting questions?
Does anyone know if that was done, with regards to Base?

Thanks

Drew

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[drewjensen]

Ok - let's start with the first page.

Question 2: Which OpenOffice.org applications do you use or plan to use?
(all that apply)
one of the option lines is:

chart module (OpenOffice.org Chart in Writer/Calc/Impress)

Shouldn't at least the Report Builder be listed there? Should it be
asked as,  "Base reporting", perhaps?




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[drewjensen]

second page of survey,

For which tasks do you use the database application OpenOffice.org Base?
Check any that apply  
 address management (for example mail merge for form letters)
 human resource data management
 DVD or CD management
 photo archive maintenance
 database administration
 other
 
 
a few additional ideas:

bills/invoices
Inventory management
Contact management ( for example follow up sales calls)
surveys (for example compilation of survey results)


Any other ideas?

Drew




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[Frank Schoenheit, Sun Microsystems Germany]

Hi Drew,

> Question: Does anyone know if 'tooling' in that remark meant
> adding/augmenting questions?

Don't know.

> Does anyone know if that was done, with regards to Base?

We (Ocke, in particular) did quite performance improvements in Base -
see the dbaperf* CWS', or [1] -, but that was not triggered by such
tooling, but more by issues and user complaints.

Ciao
Frank

[1] http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Base/Performance

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[Frank Schoenheit, Sun Microsystems Germany]

Hi Drew,

> Question 2: Which OpenOffice.org applications do you use or plan to use?
> (all that apply)
> one of the option lines is:
>
> chart module (OpenOffice.org Chart in Writer/Calc/Impress)
>
> Shouldn't at least the Report Builder be listed there? Should it be
> asked as,  "Base reporting", perhaps?

In general, those questions are probably better directed to the UX list,
where the professionals responsible for this survey linger ...

In my personal opinion, I wouldn't see SRB fitting there, as it's not an
application on the same level as e.g. chart. In fact, I consider SRB an
integral part of Base, which for reasons beyond our control is
unfortunately shipped as separate extension :-\

Ciao
Frank


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[drewjensen]

Frank Schönheit - Sun Microsystems Germany wrote:

> Hi Drew,
>
>  
>> Question 2: Which OpenOffice.org applications do you use or plan to use?
>> (all that apply)
>> one of the option lines is:
>>
>> chart module (OpenOffice.org Chart in Writer/Calc/Impress)
>>
>> Shouldn't at least the Report Builder be listed there? Should it be
>> asked as,  "Base reporting", perhaps?
>>    
>
> In general, those questions are probably better directed to the UX list,
> where the professionals responsible for this survey linger ...
>  

Yes - that is the idea, just thought I'd see if others had any ideas or
suggestions before I did so..
(although there might better be a better person then me to carry the
request there)

mmm, didn't really make myself clear at all...the question I was asking
was regarding the Chart Module:
i.e. change to

chart module (OpenOffice.org Chart in Writer/Calc/Impress/Base)

Since the SRB supports embedded charts. I didn't mean a separate line item for the extension per se.


Drew

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[Brian Steel]

surveys (for example compilation of survey results
 
The difficulty here is that Excel type formats are not really suitable for survey analysis. You cannot get the depth of analysis that specific survey analysis programs like SPSS can provide. Frequency tables and cross-tabulations may tell you where you have been, but give no indication of where you should be going. The modules to SPSS do this and, what is important, they are user friendly...  If you want to see what survey analysis can really do then go to www.kudos-dynamics.com   However cost is a major consideration - best if you can link with someone who has a license. Many universities  have SPSS licences or you can prepare a data file and get someone like the above refernece to run it for you.
 
While Open Office is open source, beware of the open source analysis programme PSPP - it is NOT a clone of SPSS and you get what you pay for (nothing).  It is full of bugs.  A cheap way of getting into SPSS is its student edition - it has some limitations that can be overcome - if you have queries then ask me
 
Brian Steel
 




________________________________
From: Drew Jensen <userslist@...>
To: users@...
Sent: Monday, 6 July, 2009 7:24:55 PM
Subject: Re: [dba-users] Who is using Base? What are they using it for?

second page of survey,

For which tasks do you use the database application OpenOffice.org Base?
Check any that apply  address management (for example mail merge for form letters)
human resource data management
DVD or CD management
photo archive maintenance
database administration
other


a few additional ideas:

bills/invoices
Inventory management
Contact management ( for example follow up sales calls)
surveys (for example compilation of survey results)


Any other ideas?

Drew




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[Frank Schoenheit, Sun Microsystems Germany]

Hi Drew,

> Yes - that is the idea, just thought I'd see if others had any ideas or
> suggestions before I did so..
> (although there might better be a better person then me to carry the
> request there)

(why not?, you're doing good here)

> mmm, didn't really make myself clear at all...the question I was asking
> was regarding the Chart Module:
> i.e. change to
>
> chart module (OpenOffice.org Chart in Writer/Calc/Impress/Base)
>
> Since the SRB supports embedded charts. I didn't mean a separate line item for the extension per se.

Ah, okay.

Seriously, I do not know, this prolly depends on what data you want to
collect, how you plan to evaluate it, and what questions you want to be
able to answer. If I would know, I'd be working in some market research
company :)

My very personal opinion, again: Subsuming all those "chart in
application X"es in one item doesn't sounds reasonable at all to me. But
if one does, then yes, Base resp. SRB would belong there, too.

Ciao
Frank

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[drewjensen]

Hi Frank,

hmmm...Well you and Ocke are the decision makers here. Truth is that if
there isn't anything in particular that you guys would like to try and
get from the survey then I don't see a reason to waste everyones time.

Which in all honesty was why I posted here first.

Drew

ps - did I just say that I don't care about wasting YOUR time?

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[Frank Schoenheit, Sun Microsystems Germany]

Hi Drew,

> hmmm...Well you and Ocke are the decision makers here.

Ehm .... :)

> Truth is that if
> there isn't anything in particular that you guys would like to try and
> get from the survey then I don't see a reason to waste everyones time.

I appreciate that. The truth, however, is that I do not feel too
competent here. Teasing out (of your audience) that kind of data is a
profession, not a hobby, I suppose. Which doesn't mean I don't have some
... punctual opinions (like, for instance, that asking for chart usage
should be done on a per-app basis, not with some one-for-all question).

So, don't let my Monday-mood stop your efforts :), I think that an
improved survey could indeed help finding out how we could best meet our
user's needs, it's just that I fear I can contribute little to such an
improvement. But perhaps we should indeed move this to some UX list.

Ciao
Frank

--
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