What's the standard term for removing data and embedded code modules from a database before publishing?

Question

Hopefully this question isn't too application-specific; I'm thinking about it with regard to Excel, but I think it applies to any file-based database that includes embedded code.

I'm working on an application that removes certain worksheets and code modules from an Excel workbook before it is distributed to a group of end users, so that they will not have access to that data and functionality in the final workbook (for various reasons, it's not enough to simply password-protect the VBA and make the sheets very hidden). What is the typical term for doing this with a file? I've thought about "sanitize" and "redact", but neither of those seem to really get at the intent of the activity, which is basically to produce a simplified version of a database by removing data and functionality irrelevant to the user's role.

Answer 1

Sanitization is a process of removal of malicious or sensitive data. It is often applied to user input but has wide enough semantics for your purpose.

Answer 2

I would call this foolproofing or making it foolproof.

In a comment above, you described the process as making it "idiot-proof". This sounds like a very accurate description of what you're doing, though I assume that the issue with this is the implied negative connotations - you don't want to call your users idiots.

The term foolproof means roughly the same thing, but has less such connotations - people rarely mean or interpret it to mean that you are actually calling the user a fool, but rather that you are merely making it difficult to fail with while using.

This term is not specific to your task, nor to technology in general, though I suspect that there is no more specific of a term. A general term will help keep your terminology itself foolproof, in a nice meta-sort-of-way.