Cameraman Bruce has noticed some issues with the new SIRE numbering system, mostly that they are re-using older meeting numbers, which can cause major DATA issues. He has brought this up with the city clerk and several city councilors;
Sioux Falls is once again setting up to repeat the past by recycling SIRE meeting numbers. Why is it happening?
Since the December 2018 SIRE meeting system conversion, the meeting numbers have been recycled from the past. To the average user, this does not seem to be a problem, but for a historian or data manager, it is a disaster ready to happen.
All meetings should be set to unique identity numbers built on the key numbering field used in the past.
The recently recorded and posted meetings should be renumbered starting with at least #2797 to prevent future issues.
I’ve spent 40 years cleaning up the disasters caused by this kind of sloppiness. Is this the kind of disaster preparedness we can continue to expect from our city government?
It is hard to imagine a good data manager not raising a red flag to this disaster in the making. Is there a logical reason for recycling a unique key identifier field or just sloppiness? Is the plan to recycle all the previous numbers used? Is there any plan?
As with so many things done in Sioux Falls city government, there is no planning until there is a disaster. When we have the disaster, its always an act of the almighty causing it, not the lack of planning for contingencies. It’s as if we see our government setting up for the next disasters by the lack of planning. Why waste future money and time by letting this lack of planning carry on any longer? Fix the numbering system now while it can be.
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