IT administration

Accelerated ERP Implementation Risks

To this day (…and possibly forever) I remember August 1, 1999 not with fond memories, but rather with a complex set of emotions which begin a churning upset in my stomach.  The day was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable days of my life for its stress level.  It was the perfect example of an ERP implementation gone wrong!  In retrospect it is understandable that it was.

What has brought this infamous day to mind was reading a white paper entitled “ERP at the Speed of Light“, an excellent white paper which I discovered this morning as the result of an email. Looking back for me as I read the white paper’s list of “key risks” of an accelerated implementation, we experienced each of the risks outlined in the paper, as well as a few more not mentioned — not the least of which was “buggy” and incomplete software.  While we made every effort to work with the “out-of-the-box” processes offered, they just didn’t work.

The article states that “…in any scenario, there is a certain level of disruption of existing operations in the course of an ERP engagement…”, and we certainly experienced that to the utmost!  Our implementation accomplished only one primary goal in its early stages — our unmanageable different applications inherited during growth through acquisition were replaced — as a company we were now all “on the same page”, the page hating the new software.  We had in fact been united!

Power and Dollar Savings for IT

Green IT — the very name for me conjurs up images of a lush field in Vermont on a sunny day — the air is clear and clean — just a beautiful sight!  Then from there my images go to the “long green” currencies which I’ve had in my hand, and surely the saving of the “long green” speaks loud and clear to any well managed IT department.  Yes Virginia, there is a green IT — and it can save the green of the fields, and the green cash in the company coffers.

There have been a number of articles published recently about green IT and saving power.  Certainly the increasingly popular use of server virtualization where multiple physical servers are replaced by a single physical server running multiple virtual servers can produce a dramatic energy savings.  I suspect that one possibly over-looked area of potential savings exists by replacing existing “old” computers with up-to-date energy efficient systems.

A recent article in January’s Microsoft TechNet Magazine by Jim Lynch of Techsoup.org got me thinking green again.  The article “What On Earth Is Green IT?” is available on-line.  Available on-line at Techsoup is a useful 1 page list entitled “10 Green Technology Resolutions for 2009“.  Both are worth taking a look at.

User Flexibility vs Simplicity

Once again I have found myself really struggling with what seems to be conflicting requirements for an application currently being developed.  I have blogged on more than one occasion here that to create an application which “hides” the complexity of its workings from its users is no trivial task, yet I believe, one that is truly worth the effort.  Providing flexibility for users can also be a challenge during development if the developer is “looking ahead”.

By “looking ahead” what I mean is that the developer might be working on a custom application with a particularly narrow functionality focus, yet be very aware that the functionality desired now will probably NOT fit the needs in the future, perhaps as soon as a few months.  While in the program where possible it may be desireable to build in the functionality desired for the future, but somehow “turn it off” for the current application iteration.  Doing this of course assumes a long-term commitment to the application and maintenance of it.

A common way to create an application which can be “flexible” in this manner is through the use of what might be called “switches” — or another term I’ve seen used is “parameters”.  These have proven to be quite effective — to a point at least.  There does come a point in time I believe that the value of “switches” is no longer useful.  I actually worked with some software where there were so many “switches” to be set (they bragged about having over 4000!), that a week of “training” in setup was required.  Unless the application is going to be used in a large environment with a dedicated IT department that would be (IMO) excessive.  Additionally this software had many dependencies built into those “switches” - i.e. if parameter 2003 is set to true, then 3014 and 4002 must be set to false.

As with so many things in software development, there are always tradeoffs, as well as a multitude of considerations.  I believe that the more of these types of considerations that are taken into account throughout the entire development life cycle, the better will be the resultant software.

Another IT Moment for the Developer

Some years ago I worked very hard to extricate myself from the “hardware” issues which I found myself having to deal with instead of developing — which (at least most of the time) I love doing!  Dealing with “hardware” however I do NOT love doing.  Then comes the panic call — customer down, application partially unavailable, state auditors coming in for 3 weeks of audit just after the Thanksgiving holiday!

Result? — deep into the throes of a hardware issue I go — day before the Thanksgiving holiday  (timing is everything!), was looking forward to knocking off a bit early — but… not to be!  So I meet with my friend (also their hardware guy) and we head to the site.  It seems that communication between their office and main operations facility is not working.  It is normally linked via a fiber optic cable running the 300 feet or so between buildings.  Now, I inherited this installation which was done some 8-9 years ago, and until today hadn’t had to do anything with it.  In fact, it has been at least that long since I connected my last site.

Our challenge for the day was to get the 2 very different media converters talking with each other — without being able to test either of the original units to determine which had gone bad.  This would be somewhat of a trial and error operation.  When replacing the unit on one end, testing for link and having none, we were dismayed since it had been a power “issue” in the remote building that had caused the original outage, which led us to believe that it was the unit in that building which “must” have gone south with the power.  However, in desperation we decided to try replacing the unit we “thought” to be the good one.  Well, imagine our surprise to find that by replacing that unit we had communication!  It was a beautiful thing!

Moral of this story?  Sometimes the independent software developer must wear other hats.  Customer service is primary — while this long term customer of my friend is a relatively new customer of mine, the task they needed accomplished took the skills of both myself with my experience and knowledge set, and that of my friend “the hardware guy”.  Together we were successful, and our customer who was seriously behind the eightball as a result of the failure is now able to work efficiently again.  I expect they will continue to be a loyal customer.

Reflections from an IT Guy

Somewhere around this time of year I always find myself reflecting upon where I am in forwarding my goals for the year, what I have accomplished professionally, and what I have accomplished personally.  I find myself also looking at the relationships built over the past year, and how I have or have not been a positive contributor to those relationships.  In short, I find myself deep in thoughts of what has recently been as related to what my perceived possibilities for the time have been.

Often I find that the past year has looked nothing like what I had expected, and also I often discover that what has occurred was in fact better than I could have imagined — even though it didn’t look like I thought it should.  Life in the IT business tends to be full of surprises!

In my last post I touched upon the importance of taking time to balance work and “life”.  This morning I received another newsletter from one of my favorite web writers — Bob Lewis of itcatalysts.com.   In his “Keep The Joint Running” newsletter for 11/23/2008 “Random Thoughts” I immediately sensed that he was about to write (once again) on “thoughts” which could have been the subject of what I might write.  I find that VERY often what he writes could have been written by myself.  Perhaps that is why I enjoy his writing so much.  The fact is that back in September of 2007 when I first started with this blog one of my hopes was that somehow I could find within me some measure of writing ability to keep readers interested in  the way that Bob Lewis’s writing always has for me.

Anyway, that aside, Bob’s writing for this week starts out with a poem ”Temporary Well Being” which alone is worth reading I believe.  However, Bob builds on the poem in a manner and with cleverness that I admire.  I recommend reading Bob’s latest — “Random Thoughts“.

Holiday Madness

As we in the U.S. approach our annual Thanksgiving Day celebrations I am reminded once again of the importance of setting priorities for work-life balance.  This came to my attention as I found myself “filling-up” on “things”  (business related) that I could do during the time that my clients won’t be “…disturbing me…” about problems, new ideas and requirements or any such items.  YUCK!

I know that I am not alone in this custom development, IT consulting or independent developer arena in my ability to find more areas to fill up a holiday weekend than there are hours to fill up!  I’ve seen it over and over again how easily a potential change-of-pace weekend turns into just another few days — filled with events that frustrate and leave me feeling that I “lost” my weekend!  (Which of course I DID!).  It is even more disturbing to realize just how often the problem has been caused 100% by me!

While it is true that (sometimes) there can be “real” requirements to work on a holiday weekend, such as when a long weekend is the “only” time that such things as a major database re-structure or hardware upgrade can be accomplished.  Let’s face it, IT is a demanding (as well as rewarding) career, and sometimes that does require some “odd” hours.

My hope for this post is that someone out “there” who reads this will have a better holiday weekend because I posted.  To all — best wishes for your Thanksgiving weekend, and if Thanksgiving is not a part of your tradition I wish you a weekend of freedom from the stress and strain of your IT involvement, whatever that might be.  May your weekend be truly recreational for both body and soul.

Data Storage, Government and Computer Systems

A lengthy article that caught my attention earlier today wrote about concerns that the U.S. Government’s new Electronic Records Archives program may not be ready for the big time.  OK, so that really isn’t unusual - but - other statements made in the article truly indicate a magnitude of information almost unthinkable to have 2 months to process.  The article “Bush’s exit to put new e-records system to the test” states that the Bush Administration is expected to turn over some 140 TB of information to be added to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) where it will be properly catalogued and stored. 

Following up on this article I also found a GAO article very much of interest to me as a developer, even one whose general clientele is small business.  “Challenges in implementing an Electronic Records Archive” is the GAO article I refer to.  The idea of implementing “…an initial operational capability with somewhat reduced capabilities…” in my experience is almost always beneficial, whether part of the initial implementation plan OR as the result of “issues” encountered in the development.  Also referenced in the article is that “…a parallel development of a separate part…” (of the system) is being considered.  It is interesting to note that this “separate part” of the system itself may not be ready to take on the Bush records in January 2009 as required — reason? — “…NARA and its contractor are still negotiating the precise scope of work and system requirements…” Since this system is to be created using “…a commercial product that provides some of the basic requirements for processing presidential electronic records…” I have to wonder what there is really to be negotiated.  It seems to me that what there is to do is to get going with what is known to be required - time is running out!

For years now I have found myself becoming very frustrated with what I believe to be an over zealous effort to pre-define a “perfect” system, negotiating and re-negotiating — another example of what I would call “Analysis Paralysis”.  FYI — The GAO article was released in May 2008.

Maintenance vs New Design

My previous post made reference once again to the human interface design of an application and application speed considerations. As a follow-up to that post, I find myself thinking once again about a few of the issues which I have previously posted about code maintenance and new design. “Software Quality and Maintainability” was one of my earlier posts which may be of interest.

The topic of maintenance vs re-design once again (as with so many of my topics) has been prompted as the result of fresh experiences with my clients. My earlier post made reference to factors beyond the programming considerations which might otherwise be no problem, such as hardware or O/S issues. The current issue I’m dealing with however is really a useability issue. The client needs have changed so much that another maintenance band-aid to the existing program just isn’t appropriate. It is past time for updating - new design is the only logical option.

There is of course the shrinking budget — and that is an issue for this client at this time whether they were to decide to buy off-the-shelf or build. Perhaps this is a time for them to ignore? I think not! Their need is there, the budget isn’t. This is where they should be making plans for the future. They’re still working with what they have, and, inefficient though it is, they are getting by. However, by using this time for planning future IT infrastructure improvements they will be well served and perhaps be able to establish a method where their investment can be “piece mealed” and thus keep moving forward.

Girls, Technology and Career Paths

Once again I have found myself drawn to an article dealing with “girls”, technology and careers.  The article in question, “Girl Power! Summer camp grooms tomorrow’s techies” introduces us to a summer high tech camp for girls 11-14 years old.  It seems that these girls are experiencing opportunities to see technology in action in what is referred to as a “girl-friendly” atmosphere.  The hope of the program being that this program will “…make technology relevant — even cool — for this at-risk age and gender group…by exposing them to women in technology-related careers”. 

As I look back at my experiences in this industry I see but a handful of women who have chosen to make software development their career, and even fewer seem to be involved with other IT functions.  To my way of thinking, we are missing out!  I don’t think we need hard headed “know it all’s” of any gender, but I strongly believe that we do need the perspectives that only a women brings to a project, and the lack of women involved in technology restricts us.

While I have heard many a snide remark made regarding some of the female perspectives that those daring enough to voice did in fact voice, I have often wondered about how many of the impractical, almost “toys” that have come and gone in the corporate world would never have gotten off the ground had there been respected female perspectives listened to.

I hope the program referenced meets with successes way beyond their stated goals.  The statistics presented in the article about women and their technology careers tells us something is missing - and indeed it is - the female talent. 

Top 5 Characteristics of an effective IT professional

Staying with my recent top 5 theme  here is my list of most desireable characteristics for an effective IT professional:

1. Patience, patience and more patience - IT can be stressful, fun, challenging and a whole lot of other things!  Having an overflowing supply of patience - with users, with other techs, with software, with hardware, with vendors, with bosses and with self is of major value!
2. Ability to adapt quickly to change is another ingredient that I believe is essential.  IT needs, tools and equipment is constantly changing - and keeping up with it can be a challenge.  Those that can adapt quickly shrug off the discarded work of the past in favor of attacking the new, without seeing the past work as being futile or a “waste” of time. 
3. A positive outlook is a must have for an effective IT professional.  Change and “issues” of all kinds crop up daily in the IT world - so having a positive attitude brings about stability in self and the environment - things are jsut better.
4. The effective IT professional is not a 9 to 5 person - IT functions often require that work be done “off” hours.  The most miserable IT person I ever worked with really just wanted a job to go to between 9 -5.  Needless to say, he didn’t work out!
5. A love for challenge rounds out my top 5 characteristics of an effective IT person.  IT is NOT easy street — it is NOT narrowly defined — it can be multi-disciplined, requiring knowledge way beyond the technical.  IT is NOT for everyone — good thing — if it was, everyone would be doing it whether they posses these characteristics or not!

Have you also read my Top 5 Reasons to Love IT and my Top 5 Reasons to Hate IT?