Assigning items to users without duplicating data

The situation

A user needs to assign items to users and view all items for one user together. The current system does not support this feature. The user requires a way to tag items by user and group them into per-user views. The existing system has a way to set item properties, but lacks a user-specific item grouping feature. The goal is to design a reusable feature that meets the user's requirements without constraining the design with existing pursuits or messages. This feature should be flexible and efficient. The user wants to achieve this without significantly altering the existing system.

What they weighed

• Reusable property field plus data-driven user views

  Chosen

• Create a hierarchy with one category per user

• Create a user list and link each item to one user record

What they decided

Reusable property field plus data-driven user views

Why

This option is the smallest change that uses the existing system, keeps items intact, supports zero or many user relationships, and produces the requested per-user grouping plus free unassigned and bulk-management views. It extends the existing system without duplicating items into categories. An item can be assigned or reassigned without losing its identity, and a user view shows the exact assigned items. This approach also allows for easy management and updating of item assignments.

The first step

Create the user registry and user reference field, add user and unassigned views, expose assignment and bulk reassignment

How they would know it worked

An item can be assigned to a user, appears in that user's view immediately, can be reassigned or cleared without duplication or loss, and the user and unassigned counts match the underlying item assignments

How it turned out

Not known yet. The result is added here when it comes in.