Getting invalid column name without access to system tables

What query are you running when you get this message? Your answer lies there. One of the columns in the query that is running is invalid. If you can run the query, then you can see the "system tables" that contain information about the tables in the query. Simply start a SQL*Plus session and do a describe on the table (or tables). One of the columns in your query will not be a valid column name in one of the tables.

If you don't know which SQL statement it is, then you could turn tracing on to try and find the statement in error. The DBA might need to help you with this if you're unfamiliar with how to do it.

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