Hi,
I'm still fairly new with WS, but I've already identified a bunch on things that could be improved in future releases of the software. In some cases it might be just me now knowing about certain functionalities :)
Let me know if you share any of my little pains. And happy to hear from WS how they feel about end-user suggestions :)
1. When linking transaction and query scripts, it seems that there's no option to select 'custom' or 'from first script' run options. This causes problem with login pop-up. I understand that query and transaction have different run options, but it doesn't mean that some of them (like login) couldn't be shared. Especially that it can be bypassed by scheduling script to run on a certain time- it offers an option to skip double logon. It's a huge disadvantage.
2. It should be possible to
temporarily disable steps in the script (like keep it in the mapping window, but greyed out, instead of going into long disabled fields list). In that way it would be easier to test and check why something is not working. Currently it's troublesome to search for them in a long list of disabled fields, even if I have added a comment before disabling.
3. The 'transform message' option could have been made more user-friendly. If I'm making a test run inside winshuttle, it should store all messages received, and offer them for selection when using transform pop-up (instead of manually typing in the message class and ID).
4. There should be an 'unpublish' option in winshuttle. It does know that a script is already published in selected file (won't let me publish again), so there should be a simple unpublish button. Much easier than opening the file in excel and removing hidden tab. Also 'republish' (remove published script and publish new one) would be a nice feature.
5. There are problems with OneDrive:
- Occasionally (let's say 2% of cases), WS won't let me save changes made to a data file that is stored on my PC and synched to OD.
- it's not possible to time schedule scripts from data files that are stored locally and synched with OD, since WS treats them as network files. Well, they are not. OD is a back-up in this case.
OD is a popular corporate back-up method these days, so WS should be compatible with it.
6. WS direct - some BAPIs have additional 'X' tables (e.g. BAPI_FIXEDASSET_CREATE1), in such cases I need to pick a table field and a corresponding X-table field to make it work. The table names are alike, and the field names are the same. So WS could automatically (might be as an option to enable) pick the related X-table fields whenever I'm making a selection from the basic table. It's logically tied, there's no point in selecting one without the other.
7. It seems that WS always calculates all transform formulas.
I have several IFs in my script, and most of the conditions are not met. Yet WS calculates all formulas from the scripts, regardless of the condition status, doing all transformations. That's a huge waste of resources and increases runtime. It should transform only those line where conditions are met.
8. There should be an option to enable quick filtering in mapping view. 'Search' option is not always convenient.
9. Opening two scripts with the same data file makes it impossible to save. Example: I have 3 scripts that will be chained, and thus they will work on the same data file. As you can imagine, some fields, IFs and/or transformations will be common for all 3 scripts. Therefore I'd like to recreate them without a need to re-write all the conditions and formulas. So I open the previously created script to copy in a second WS window, and... now I can't save in the first one. It's a bit annoying to be forced to close the second WS window before each save, and reopening it later to work further. The second data file should be opened in read-only mode and not interfere with saving inside the first WS instance.
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Radoslaw Poziomek | BSC Continuous Improvement Specialist
Owens Illinois |
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