TOOLS, TINKERINGS & CODE
You might have guessed by now that I work for a company with some very strange practices considering that they’re a ‘carrier grade’ ISP.
One such example of strange practices
They have a custom built administration system that has facilities to manage 90% of the customer related business without a single piece of paper (I aught to know, I made it). Yet they insist on doing a print out of the users details for every single change. They also insist on printing all the invoices even tho they’re permanently stored in the database.
Another example of strange practices
We use RT(Request Tracker) for our helpdesk and support system, which is more then capable of keeping complete histories for all users and problems, yet once again they insist on printing out tickets when they’re resolved.
Now, take all this paper, multiply it by 1500 (users) and keep it in files. The result is they have 4 admin staff to manage it all, and are always looking for more. They also consume more of the building for paper files then is consumed by servers and equipment for running the ISP.
Now work out what this is costing in paper, filing and toner…
Now I wonder why they don’t have any budget left over for the IT department (Which for all intents and purposes consists of ME, we have Mal who is good value and takes some of the load off me, and we have the helpdesk boys who manage internal office IT, but I run everything else) to upgrade servers, upgrade facilities (UPS’s, Generators, ETC – More on this later), get new time saving tools (IronPort anti-spam appliance – More on this later), etc.
No-body here has to jump through the hoops that I do to get the job done. (More on this later)
There is NO NEED for all this printing. They have used the arguemnt “What if we get audited” (DCITA for HiBIS/Broadband Connect funding), the easy reply there is “Click the print button”. Tell me it’s got to be easier sorting through a couple databases of information then it is to sort through 3 filing walls full of it.
They’ve also used the argument “I like to be able to just pull a file and have all the information at hand” – All the information IS at hand, yes you might need to log into 1 or 2 systems to get all of it (RT and our Admin have separate logins for now) but it IS all there