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

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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

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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?)

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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

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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...

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And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:59:55 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> 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...

Well why don't you? Get the codes call up MS and say "About this training  
that's included with our purchase when can you come down?". What's HQ  
going to do bawl you out for NOT spending any money on training; heck if  
it's not invoiced will they ever know?

-- 
Phil Cook

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

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Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:59:55 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did 
> spake, saying:
> 
>> 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...
> 
> Well why don't you? Get the codes call up MS and say "About this 
> training that's included with our purchase when can you come down?". 
> What's HQ going to do bawl you out for NOT spending any money on 
> training; heck if it's not invoiced will they ever know?

Heh. Well, if training is the issue, then I think the problem is really 
that the guys with their fingers on the master controls don't really 
know what they're doing. Our people over here really don't have access 
to very much. It's more the people at HQ who seem to need educating on 
how to work the software (not to mention how to do accounting...)

Apparently each year you have to get external auditors to come in and 
check the books. Well one year, the people HQ hired eventually walked 
out and refused to complete the audit because the books were too much of 
a mess.

And these are the people saying my wages. Should I be concerned?

(Bennie seems to think that the wages they're paying me are a "ripoff" 
anyway, and that I should leave before the company goes under. Hmm.)

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Let me tell you what just happened here.

First, somebody from HQ sends me an email asking for the service code on 
our Dell server or something. So I tell him. Then he replies saying "OK, 
I'm gonna update the service contract on that. Say, by the way, how are 
you doing for servers anyway? Need more, need to consolidate, need more 
horsepower, etc?"

I nearly fell off my chair...

And then of course, I realised that nobody's offering to *pay* for more 
gear, they're just asking if I'd *like* more gear. ;-)

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And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:26:45 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> And lo on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:59:55 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull>  
>> did spake, saying:
>>
>>> 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...
>>  Well why don't you? Get the codes call up MS and say "About this  
>> training that's included with our purchase when can you come down?".  
>> What's HQ going to do bawl you out for NOT spending any money on  
>> training; heck if it's not invoiced will they ever know?
>
> Heh. Well, if training is the issue, then I think the problem is really  
> that the guys with their fingers on the master controls don't really  
> know what they're doing. Our people over here really don't have access  
> to very much. It's more the people at HQ who seem to need educating on  
> how to work the software (not to mention how to do accounting...)

Well yeah, but you get in the MS trainers and they constantly saying "So  
you do this" and you answer "We can't" then you've not just got your  
'whiny' accountant making a fuss you've got the people who actually wrote  
the software saying there's a problem.

> Apparently each year you have to get external auditors to come in and  
> check the books.

Sorry that statement is so funny to me for so many reasons I can't explain.

> Well one year, the people HQ hired eventually walked out and refused to  
> complete the audit because the books were too much of a mess.

Say you're not the EU Commision are you, oh  no wait it's just 13 years  
that their accounts haven't been signed off on.

> And these are the people saying my wages. Should I be concerned?
>
> (Bennie seems to think that the wages they're paying me are a "ripoff"  
> anyway, and that I should leave before the company goes under. Hmm.)

tum te tum.

-- 
Phil Cook

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

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On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:29:03 +0000, Invisible wrote:

> Let me tell you what just happened here.
> 
> First, somebody from HQ sends me an email asking for the service code on
> our Dell server or something. So I tell him. Then he replies saying "OK,
> I'm gonna update the service contract on that. Say, by the way, how are
> you doing for servers anyway? Need more, need to consolidate, need more
> horsepower, etc?"
> 
> I nearly fell off my chair...
> 
> And then of course, I realised that nobody's offering to *pay* for more
> gear, they're just asking if I'd *like* more gear. ;-)

Tell them that you'd certainly like to discuss the needs in your office, 
then do an assessment of what would make things *better* and start 
prioritising the needs.

With a new IT staff at HQ, perhaps some things will improve.  It can't 
hurt to ask, but approach it seriously.

Jim

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