And lo on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:37:33 -0000, Francois Labreque  
<fla### [at] sympaticoca> did spake, saying:


>> And lo on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:46:50 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull>  
>> did spake, saying:
>>
>>> Phil Cook wrote:
>>>> And lo on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:11:41 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull>  
>>>> did spake, saying:
>>>>

>>>>  But at a 4x heightened efficiency no doubt.
>>>
>>> Well, it's Cisco, so at least you can geniunely say it's the best  
>>> product on the market. (Unlike the Dell thing...) It's expensive, but  
>>> at least you can say you're getting build quality.
>>  It is kind of like buying gold-filigreed oars carved from the finest  
>> woods by master craftsman in order to paddle your hide coracle.
>>
>
> Having worked with many brands of switches, Cisco gear clearly  
> outperforms the others when it comes to troubleshooting.  This might  
> have factored in.  Of course, maybe the guys in the US simply went for  
> the "Oooh Shiney!" ads.

Odds-on for 'Shiny'.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:37:33 -0000, Francois Labreque 
> <fla### [at] sympaticoca> did spake, saying:
> 
>> Having worked with many brands of switches, Cisco gear clearly 
>> outperforms the others when it comes to troubleshooting.  This might 
>> have factored in.  Of course, maybe the guys in the US simply went for 
>> the "Oooh Shiney!" ads.
> 
> Odds-on for 'Shiny'.

+1

*sigh*

Post a reply to this message

> 1. We had a different accounts package at all 5 sites. Obviously, this is 
> highly suboptimal. So we decided to standardise. On Micro$oft Axapta. This 
> cost us $1 million US. And yet it doesn't seem to "understand" about VAT.

Did you actually train any of your staff to use this $1m software package? 
I can assure you that MS Axapta can handle UK and EU VAT perfectly well, as 
well as printing VAT numbers on invoices and far more complex things.  If 
you sent them on a training course then they could just ask how to do this 
and they would be shown...

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
>> 1. We had a different accounts package at all 5 sites. Obviously, this 
>> is highly suboptimal. So we decided to standardise. On Micro$oft 
>> Axapta. This cost us $1 million US. And yet it doesn't seem to 
>> "understand" about VAT.
> 
> Did you actually train any of your staff to use this $1m software 
> package?

What??

Don't be silly! ;-)

On 24 hours' notice, we found out that some guys were coming over from 
the USA. (Nice of you to give us some notice... We only found out when 
somebody asked "you have got accomodation for next week, right?" "Uh, 
next week??") They spent 5 days importing all the data from Sage into 
Axapta. Then they said "there you go, here's your new software", and 
left. That was "it". Initially, our accounts guys didn't even have 
passwords to get into the system.

>  I can assure you that MS Axapta can handle UK and EU VAT
> perfectly well, as well as printing VAT numbers on invoices and far more 
> complex things.  If you sent them on a training course then they could 
> just ask how to do this and they would be shown...

The last thing I heard on the matter was this:

"There's a UK add-on module that gives you support for VAT and a couple 
of other things. We won't be purchasing it. It's just too expensive."

In other words, "this is only a problem for the UK so we don't really 
care about it". Almost all problems that only affect the UK 
automatically get an extremely low priority.

In all honesty, it's really hard to determine whether Axapta is a bad 
product, or whether the guys who set it up just don't know how to work 
it properly. Nobody I have ever spoken to seems to have any great 
knowledge of how to work it.

Certainly the finance people in HQ like to invent needlessly elaborate 
ways of doing things to make themselves feel important. Hardly a week 
goes by without them issuing some decree that something we've been doing 
for years we now have to do in a completely different and much more 
convoluted way. (Usually so that the guys at HQ can be "in charge" of 
it, which seems to make them happier...)

Post a reply to this message

>>> 1. We had a different accounts package at all 5 sites. Obviously, this 
>>> is highly suboptimal. So we decided to standardise. On Micro$oft Axapta. 
>>> This cost us $1 million US. And yet it doesn't seem to "understand" 
>>> about VAT.
>>
>> Did you actually train any of your staff to use this $1m software 
>> package?
>
> What??
>
> Don't be silly! ;-)

1) Stay with your old system
2) Upgrade to Axapta
3) Upgrade to Axapta and train the staff

Option 1 is good because it's cheap (2 and 3 are roughly the same cost). 
Option 3 is good because it will (should) make your company more effective. 
Option 2 is just, well, pointless.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> Does anybody else feel frustrated at work?
> 
> It just seems that HQ are forever taking simple systems that work, and 
> replacing them with complex systems that don't work.
> 
> The irony of all this is that they do this to "simplify" and 
> "streamline" our business process. Ha!
> 
> One of the main things they like to do is change it so that al 5 sites 
> do things the same way. Well, it does make sense to standardise. But 
> *why* do they insist on standardising on the worst possible thing?
> 

Didn't you say a while back that they had NO IT at HQ?

Tom

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin wrote:

> Didn't you say a while back that they had NO IT at HQ?

Yes, that's true - after the head guy was fired and his clueless second 
in command promptly quit.

They have since hired a whole bunch of new people. Most of these seem to 
be a lot less arrogant and a bit less disorganised. Some of them even 
seem to know how to operate computers. But... confidence inspiring? No, 
not really. :-S

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:

>>> Did you actually train any of your staff to use this $1m software 
>>> package?
>>
>> What??
>>
>> Don't be silly! ;-)
> 
> 1) Stay with your old system
> 2) Upgrade to Axapta
> 3) Upgrade to Axapta and train the staff
> 
> Option 1 is good because it's cheap (2 and 3 are roughly the same cost). 
> Option 3 is good because it will (should) make your company more 
> effective. Option 2 is just, well, pointless.

...you noticed!

(What, you mean just having the latest shiny whizz-bang *won't* 
automatically solve all your problems?)

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:28:11 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> scott wrote:
<snip>
> On 24 hours' notice, we found out that some guys were coming over from  
> the USA. (Nice of you to give us some notice... We only found out when  
> somebody asked "you have got accomodation for next week, right?" "Uh,  
> next week??") They spent 5 days importing all the data from Sage into  
> Axapta. Then they said "there you go, here's your new software", and  
> left. That was "it". Initially, our accounts guys didn't even have  
> passwords to get into the system.

Going to be so fun come audit time.

>>  I can assure you that MS Axapta can handle UK and EU VAT
>> perfectly well, as well as printing VAT numbers on invoices and far  
>> more complex things.  If you sent them on a training course then they  
>> could just ask how to do this and they would be shown...
>
> The last thing I heard on the matter was this:
>
> "There's a UK add-on module that gives you support for VAT and a couple  
> of other things. We won't be purchasing it. It's just too expensive."
>
> In other words, "this is only a problem for the UK so we don't really  
> care about it". Almost all problems that only affect the UK  
> automatically get an extremely low priority.

So what's the bet that despite this someone's actually bought the UK  
localisation pack and just hasn't installed it as it's 'not necessary'?


-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:28:11 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did 
> spake, saying:
> 
>> The last thing I heard on the matter was this:
>>
>> "There's a UK add-on module that gives you support for VAT and a 
>> couple of other things. We won't be purchasing it. It's just too 
>> expensive."
>>
>> In other words, "this is only a problem for the UK so we don't really 
>> care about it". Almost all problems that only affect the UK 
>> automatically get an extremely low priority.
> 
> So what's the bet that despite this someone's actually bought the UK 
> localisation pack and just hasn't installed it as it's 'not necessary'?

Why construct unsubstanciated rumour when we have verified truth to be 
horrified at?

The $1 million price tag includes something like 200 hours on-site 
training from Micro$oft. As far as I know, we have never taken them up 
on that...

Post a reply to this message