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  • Maybe You Should Upgrade

    Putting this in GWC because no one at the Site In Question (SIQ) is really sucky, management isn't really being moronic, and while it involves computers/tech, I don't really consider it solely about that.

    As I've mentioned in previous threads, I work the IT Service Desk on a government contract. While I'm at The Client's main facility ("The Mothership" as I like to call it), they have facilities all over the world. Most of these sites are supported by their own IT staff, as those of us here at home at the Mothership don't have the relevant accesses to fix things over there.

    We at ITSD routinely get calls from the SIQ because their virtual desktop sessions get hung and we have to reset them. These virtual desktops for The Client's SecNet are done via an application I'll call "MANA." (Major App for Network Access)

    A couple of years ago, The Client finally started pushing everyone to upgrade their systems from Old Network Environment (ONE) to a new one (ENVY). Sites abroad, including SIQ, were slower to upgrade to ENVY, and SIQ was one of the last big hold outs on it.

    Only, they're still technically holding out. Recently, I've noticed, while helping SIQ users with their hung MANA sessions, that they show up as having three possible sessions instead of the normal two. And the third one is explicitly labeled "Old MANA." In other words, they're still using older apps.

    I've also found out that a lot of the equipment out at SIQ is older, which given the nature of technology, is now more prone to breaking down. Twice in the last two weeks, I've gotten a call from a muckety muck out at SIQ stating that all the users out there can't connect to their MANA sessions. When I pass this information along to all the IT techs here at the Mothership, we check our systems and show there's no issues on our end.

    I got another call tonight about this, and dutifully passed it up the chain of command. The senior manager in charge tonight swung by my desk during one of her rounds and confirmed my suspicions-- once again, the issue is on SIQ's end. They can't connect to their Old MANA sessions, but the new MANA ones will work fine... it's just the system is going to disconnect or get hung after about 10 minutes. And there is absolutely nothing we can really do on our end to stop this happening on a permanent basis.

    SIQ's issues will go away if they'd just stop futzing around with old equipment and old systems and make the upgrade like everyone else with The Client has. Even the senior managers in charge agree with me on this.




    Oh, wait, I'm making sense again, aren't I? Silly me, I forgot that's not allowed.
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  • #2
    At least you know the problem and what the solution is! Where I work, they're rolling out new systems to all the sites. Two days install/training then onto the next site.

    However, the roll-out started some 8 months ago, and when they did our site a good portion of the products (like the stuff we sell tons of every day) wouldn't scan! Cue constant phone calls/annoyed customers to get it fixed, and then we discover (via gossip from a site which had the new system a month before us) that this is an issue that has afflicted every site from the very first to get the new system. Surely you'd pause the roll-out and fix the known issues before installing any more, but no.

    Our staff has said on several occasions that we'd rather have the old system back! There may have been issues with that one but at least we knew/had the option on the till to work round the problems and keep the customers happy! Now, a good portion of the things we could do on the till (mainly to do with returns/refunds) have to be done by a manager's login, and thus the cashiers have to tell people to come back/constantly leave notes for management so that the stocktake will be correct, because they can't just exchange products on the till any more.

    A month after the new system went in, and we've finally got the last non-scanning issue fixed. Although the new back office system still takes some getting used to by my Manager, who's trying to train me on it whilst learning it herself!

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    • #3
      The way to fix this is to cut off access to the old systems. Then people will make the shift whether they like it or not.

      I will give my company this... we are masterful at forcing people to switch to new systems. It doesn't usually go WELL, but we make them do it.

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