INTERACTIVE DEMO — SYNTHETIC DATA

Style Master Data Entry

A season's style master lived in a workbook where every attribute was a column. This is the same style in both shapes, and what an ordinary request costs each of them.

Every record on this page is fabricated. No production system, customer, employee or credential is involved.

The production system behind this demo was engineered by Prada Dipa — LinkedIn profile, opens in a new tab and Luthfi Aditya — LinkedIn profile, opens in a new tab. I managed and directed it — requirements, technical review, QA and rollout.

READ ABOUT THE SYSTEM

The same style, in two shapes

A style has colourways; a colourway has a bill of materials; a size has a measurement per point of measure. Three one-to-manys, and a column cannot hold a one-to-many — so the workbook numbers them.

WORKBOOK COLUMNS

72

DATABASE ROWS

48

ONE ROW · 72 COLUMNS · SCROLL →

The style as one workbook row, 72 columns wide.
STYLE_CODESTYLE_NAMESEASONCOLLECTIONSUB_GROUPSTATUSGAUGEMACHINEFOB_USDRETAIL_USDPACKINGCARTON_QTYSHIP_MODECW1_CODECW1_NAMECW1_YARN1CW1_YARN1_GCW1_YARN2CW1_YARN2_GCW1_YARN3CW1_YARN3_GCW2_CODECW2_NAMECW2_YARN1CW2_YARN1_GCW2_YARN2CW2_YARN2_GCW2_YARN3CW2_YARN3_GCW3_CODECW3_NAMECW3_YARN1CW3_YARN1_GCW3_YARN2CW3_YARN2_GCW3_YARN3CW3_YARN3_GWT_XSWT_SWT_MWT_LWT_XLCHEST_XSCHEST_SCHEST_MCHEST_LCHEST_XLBODY LENGTH_XSBODY LENGTH_SBODY LENGTH_MBODY LENGTH_LBODY LENGTH_XLSLEEVE LENGTH_XSSLEEVE LENGTH_SSLEEVE LENGTH_MSLEEVE LENGTH_LSLEEVE LENGTH_XLSHOULDER_XSSHOULDER_SSHOULDER_MSHOULDER_LSHOULDER_XLARMHOLE_XSARMHOLE_SARMHOLE_MARMHOLE_LARMHOLE_XLNECK WIDTH_XSNECK WIDTH_SNECK WIDTH_MNECK WIDTH_LNECK WIDTH_XL
MER-2601MERIDIANAW26KnitwearCrew NeckDevelopment7GGFlat bed48.50189.00Folded, polybag20SeaCW-01OATMEALLambswool 2/28 Ecru340Merino 2/30 Natural74Nylon Binder 1/7022CW-02SLATELambswool 2/28 Slate340Merino 2/30 Natural74Nylon Binder 1/7022CW-03MOSSLambswool 2/28 Moss336Mohair Loop 1/1478Nylon Binder 1/702241243646148851747.049.552.054.557.062.063.565.066.568.058.059.060.061.062.040.541.742.944.145.321.021.822.623.424.217.518.018.519.019.5

59 of these 72 columns exist only because the workbook has to fake a one-to-many with numbered slots — colourway slots and size slots. The blanks are slots with no data in them, and every style in the book carries them.

Ask for something ordinary

A fourth colourway and a sixth size are the two most ordinary requests a style master ever gets. Watch which shape treats them as data.

The dropdowns teach themselves

A yarn or a packing method typed once becomes an option the next person is offered. It is a distinct-values query and nothing more, and it is the difference between a column you can group by and a column you cannot.

6 yarns known. 6 offered.

THE SAME YARN, IN A FREE-TEXT COLUMN

  • Lambswool 2/28 Ecru
  • lambswool 2/28 ecru
  • LAMBSWOOL 2/28 ECRU
  • Lambswool 2/28 Ecru
  • Lambwool 2/28 Ecru
Distinct strings, as typed
5
After folding case and whitespace
2
With a dropdown
1

Folding closes four of the five and cannot close the last, because one is a missing letter rather than a format. A dropdown does not repair spelling — it removes the opportunity to spell. Which is why “which styles use this yarn” is a question one of these shapes can answer.

One edit, four statements

Somebody changes a price, adds a colourway with its bill of materials and corrects a weight. That is one action to them and four statements to the database. Fail one of them on purpose.

  1. 1

    Price → 51.00, packing → “Folded, polybag, hangtag”

    UPDATE styles SET fob_usd = ?, packing_method = ? WHERE id = ?

    PENDING

  2. 2

    Colourway CW-04 STORM

    INSERT INTO colourways (style_id, code, name) VALUES (?, ?, ?)

    PENDING

  3. 3

    Bill of materials — 4 yarn lines

    INSERT INTO colourway_yarns (colourway_id, yarn_id, placement, consumption_g) VALUES …

    PENDING

  4. 4

    Finished weight, size XL → 521 g

    UPDATE style_sizes SET finished_weight_g = ? WHERE style_id = ? AND size_id = ?

    PENDING

THE OPERATIONAL CONTRACT

Not a simulation — none of this runs on this page. It is what was delivered, written down, because an office that cannot restore a system does not have one.

SET UP
Two commands. A pre-built interface ships with it, so an office machine never runs a build.
RUN
One command. API and interface are one process on one port.
BACK UP
Copy one file. The whole database is that file.
RESTORE
Put the file back.
VERIFY
The README is written as an operator manual: how to check the install worked, the top three failure modes and their fixes, and what a forced reseed destroys.

The migration that preceded day one moved 237 styles, 705 colourways and 214 yarns out of the workbook. Those are figures about the delivered system; nothing on this page is derived from them, and no record here came from it.