Hi Scott,
Regarding the first one:
>>The first is asking for the ability to have DFM/OCUM custom comment fields be cached and usable by WFA. I can see the value in this, but I can also see where it could generate an enormous potential for problems. Is this even up for consideration, if so, I can submit an RFC/RFE.
Can you clarify whether you are requesting this for 7-Mode or Clustered Data ONTAP?
If it is 7-mode, we already have a representation (dictionary entry) and caching for comment fields from DFM/OCUM.

Using this, you can write filters to filter based on comments on objects.
Example: If there was a comment field in DFM named "purpose" or "business_unit" and these comment fields were applied to storage systems, you can write a filter to filter arrays of only a specific business_unit assuming values are set in DFM/OCUM.
Also, there have been some other posts in this area where users have written commands to set comment values for specific objects after provisioning.
See: https://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-29349
By the way, could you let us know the type of comment fields and the type of objects it is being set in your customer's use case?
Thanks,
Shailaja