Marta
Cross-referencing information from different places
What a filter cannot do and a question can.
A filter answers a simple question: what meets this condition. When the question crosses two things — which suppliers on this site have something expired and have also gone quiet — the filter falls short and manual work begins.
The kind of question worth asking
| Question | Why a filter cannot give it |
|---|---|
| Which suppliers on this site have something expired and are not responding? | It crosses two conditions and a history |
| Which clients have we asked the same thing twice this year? | It needs the pattern, not the status |
| Which cases resemble this one that stalled? | It is a comparison, not a filter |
| What documentation is missing before we can invoice this client? | It joins things from different places |
Important
Before acting on an answer that crosses things, open one of the cases and check. The more elaborate the question, the more pieces where something may be out of date — and the answer sounds equally confident either way.
How to ask better
Watch out
If the answer surprises you a lot, be suspicious before celebrating or panicking. An unexpectedly long list usually means the question was understood more broadly than intended.
Worth knowing
When a cross-referenced question serves you every month, it deserves to become something fixed. Asking is for exploring; what repeats belongs set up.
›Can it cross with data from another of our systems?
Not on its own; that is what the integration is for.
›Are complex questions more expensive?
Each query consumes the same; what changes is what it saves you.
›What if it finds nothing?
It says so. Finding nothing does not mean nothing exists: the question may not have been the right one.
A real case
The situation
A manager needs to know which subcontractors on a site are incomplete and have gone quiet for three weeks.
What you do
- Asks naming both conditions and the period
- Opens two of the cases to check
What you get
Comes away with four verified names in five minutes, instead of cross-checking two lists by hand.
The situation
The figure is in one document and the context in another.
What you do
- Asks about both at once
What you get
The answer cross-references without opening anything.
The situation
Two suppliers' material is compared by hand.
What you do
- Asks for the comparison
What you get
The cross-reference is immediate.
The situation
You want to know which files share a problem.
What you do
- Asks about the pattern
What you get
The pattern appears without walking them.
The situation
The answer crosses data from different periods.
What you do
- Specifies the period in the question
What you get
The comparison is the one intended.
The situation
Information is crossed from files you cannot see.
What you do
- Checks the scope before relying on it
What you get
The answer is read knowing what it covers.
This article answers
- cross-reference supplier and site data
- ask about several things at once
- find information spread across places
- the filter does not give me what i need