I worked for the govt for many years and it was a requirement to share information (and protect it at the same time). One of the requirements when purchasing any system was that the table structures would be available to any 3rd party for the explicit use in creating modules for interaction with the data at the govt's bequest. The table structures were separated from the code in the contract. This was written into all contracts when purchasing 3rd party software and if the company was not willing, then they lost the contract and probably all hope for any future contracts as well. No data was ever made available to 3rd parties. Typically, the 1st company would provide the structures along with 'dummy data' for this purpose. The new company providing the interface would use the dummy data to write the module/interface and beta test it onsite. I'm amazed that they reacted this way myself. What do the contracts with the original developers of the first system spell out as far as that goes? Anything at all?

Tracy

>Thanks Guys.
>I was afraid that you were going to say something along these lines.