No wonder SAP has such a bad reputation. If it's overly complex then it will lead to problems. Systems need to be made up of blocks which *can* be understood by one person. And these blocks are then put together to build bigger systems. It's the whole procipal of small, perfect tools which unix is built on. Once you built a perfect unit you treat it as a black box and use it as a tool. i.e if I'm steering a cruise liner I just want to turn the wheel - I shouldn't have to think about operating every relay, pump, generator, control panel etc between me and the rudder. If the central data set is not understandable then it has been designed incorrectly. Unless you want to believe the salesman that everyone else uses it and you must be too dumb to understand. Sometimes I think that the Emporer's clothes should be required reading in the first week of all computer courses.