Sometimes the best way give a user a new feature may be to think outside the (database) box.

Example: The manager of a group that had a service response time commitment (two business days) had been asking the database development group for a way to track the response time on each request for 2 years. The requests came in via an email form (which was automatically entered into the database) or by phone (manually entered into the database) for processing. The group that designed the database said that there was no way to provide a report of the normal business day (NBD) time each request required. When my manager became responsible for the system's maintenance, I got the "Get this guy off my back" assignment

Looking at the database structure showed that every step of the process was date/time stamped, so the total time for any request could be determined. I built a prototype Excel sheet that used VBA to extract the pertinent data and compute the NBD time. When the group's manager saw the unpolished prototype, his response was "I want that on my desk today." Although I added some functional enhancements later, the manager never asked that the (rather stark) user interface be improved. He was happy with the functionality; my boss was happy that the manager was happy; I was happy with the raise 😉

The only change to the database was a new user account with read (only) privileges to the needed data.