another day another problem: "Migration User" migration@smartsheet.com??

Joe Williams

 

We run some reports which look for recent lline item changes (past 7 days) in certain sheets.

 

Lately i'm seeing way more hits on these reports than i should.  Upon investigation, it turns out something called "Migration User (migration@smartsheet.com)" is making an "update" to several line items.  Really nothing material has changed.  I've checked every field.  NOTHING has changed except this univited "migration user" shows up in the "modified by" field, with a modified date on a line item that was last changed in may, and the new date is 8/6/2016.  Awesome!  I love bad data!   The modified date is thrown way off, which of course throws off the entire report!

 

Not a single peep from anyone on this topic?  I can't believe i'm the ONLY one who noticed this problem?  What good is a system date modified field if it's not even reliable!  If it's not one thing it's another.. 

 

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Joe-- In order to transition to the new formula engine, sheets were migrated from the old engine to the new engine, and the appropriate changes (as required by the new engine) were made to the sheet by "migration@smartsheet.com". Though we tried to mitigate the effects of this migration to the best of our ability, it is impossible to completely eliminate the impact that the migration had on sheets. If this user does appear as the last modified user, it indicates that there were actually (very minor) changes made to sheet data as a result of the new formula engine running. Hope that clears things up.

John Sauber

Why don't you just filter away modified by=migration@smartsheet.com from your report?

Joe Williams

Two reasons. 

 

1.  It won't work (wrong logic)

2. System fields should be reliable.

 

#2 is self-explanatory and any DB admin or sys admin worth their salt would agree.  Now I have to re-evaluate the risk of this field being inaccurate in a future migration, and the criticality of a report that relies on it.  

 

#1 you're making a logic mistake by assuming that all migrated line items are in fact not recently user updated.  Some are, some aren't.  It's impossible to tell from that filter alone.  

John Sauber

Take it easy, man. Your original post contains no specific information about your application, so there's not a lot for the Community to go on. Fortunately for you, It sounds like you know all about what a good data admin is all about, so why don't you come up with a solution on your own.