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February 23, 2006
Small SWAMP Projects Upgrade and Parts Reports
The Physical Plant's SWAMP application received a minor modification to the projects module over the past 3-4 weeks. I've added in two new pages to the main Projects tracking page. The first is a Miscellaneous page that tracks projects that have been formally approved, but are not yet definite with their funding source. For instance, there are quite a few projects that will likely fall under the "Tier 1" funding source, but that money is not yet available. We cannot wait until the last minute to identify and plan for these projects, so they have been approved, but have no funding yet.
The second page is an informal list of projects, or possible projects, that project managers have identified as needing to be addressed in the near future. These projects have no identified funding source, and have not been formally approved yet. This new list includes projects such as roof repairs, EMCS upgrades, and upcoming "Smart Room" remodels.
These two new pages are designed to assist in planning for upcoming projects. By the way, each project has a direct link to the SWAMP work order assigned to it, so a project manager can see what has been spent on a project to date with one click - pretty cool (but not new).
Finally, Marsha has been upgrading her paperwork with regard to various groups of stock items. For example, one area that's heavily used is janitorial/cleaning supplies. Over time items are added and other items are removed, so the list gets outdated. So, I have generated some newer reports reflecting current stocking information. SWAMP keeps excellent information on each item in stock, plus an abundance of historical data on obsolete items, so it was pretty easy to generate the information needed. Still, the reports were pretty nice.
Posted by rossm at 1:37 PM | Comments (0)
MBS 2005.2 Upgrade Moves Forward - Slowly
The MBS software is due for a major upgrade, called 2005.2 (even though it's now 2006). In order for this to happen our web server needs to be upgraded, Java needs to be installed, then the 2005.2 upgrade can be installed. Well, let's just say that so far we've gotten our web server switched over to an Apache web server. The entire upgrade should be accomplished in about 3 weeks (so, realistically maybe 4 or 5 weeks). But, we've learned not to be in too big a hurry on these upgrades as the first few stores that implement them wind up being guinea pigs and ironing out the inevitable conflicts/bugs that pop up. So, my goal is to just keep pushing the thing forward.
On a related note, we have been informed that our MBS web store has been scheduled for obsolescence. This means that it will no longer be supported by MBS after December 31, 2006. MBS has a new product, called InSite, that replaces their generic web product. InSite is technically superior as it resides on their beefy server, not on our local server. It also allows for much more flexibility in the design of the site. It also costs more (I'm guessing). We're in the process of collecting the relevant information such as costs, migration, and development.
Posted by rossm at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)
Some More Wilbur
After getting a slow start today, Dale and I once again delved into the 129 schemas on Wilb that need/needed to be migrated to Aero. With the notable exception of Admissions, which Summer is in the process of rewriting, Dale and I agreed that it was as ready as it could get. We updated our Excel spreadsheet that tracks all the schemas, and also Dale made his first Wiki page (WilbUrls).
We created WilbUrls as a handy reference for the schemas that are still being hit on Wilb, even though the applications have been migrated to Aero. That way, the help desk can easily direct lost users to the correct URL they need to get to the Aero version of their app.
Next, Dale and I decided we'd like to learn to be Oracle DBA's, make a bunch of money, and retire to the Bahamas. Well, maybe we'll just expand our knowledge of Oracle DBA stuff. There is a lot we'd like to learn including backup and recovery (RMAN), upgrading to 10g, using Oracle Enterprise Manager, upgrading our SQL skills to utilitze the new grid computing elements, and many more.
Posted by rossm at 1:08 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006
POS Controller V3R3 Upgrade
Last night I burned the "midnight" oil and stayed over in the bookstore to apply an application upgrade. This is the upgrade that is supposed to prevent the controller from randomly re-booting itself and taking all our cash registers off line.
The upgrade went smoothly and the store re-opened this morning as normal. Now we wait and see if this was the cure.
Posted by rossm at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)
Nailing Down Wilbur
Dale and I continued our assault on the loose ends of database migration from Wilb to Aero today. We have been collecting data on which packages are still being used for about two weeks. For all schemas except three, we're as ready as we're going to get for shutting down Wilb. We have posted notices that appear in each schema directing users to the Aero URL, but without doing so automatically.
Three schemas are in the process of major rewrites, so there's no choice but to leave them on Wilb until the rewrites are completed. Summer is working on Admissions, Ron is working on a web calendar application, and Camilla is working on a library reference app.
Dale and I both felt pretty good about the status of Wilb now. By the way, if you are a member of UCS staff, there is an excel spreadsheet on i:\\db_migration_aero\newschemas.xls that contains information on all the schemas.
When we got done with our Wilbur chores, Dale showed me the way to use LDAP authentication. I've got a campus-wide app that needs to be converted over to use LDAP, so will begin work on that soon.
Posted by rossm at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2006
Just say NO to Wal-Mart
You probably saw the allfacstaff email regarding the showing of the movie about Wal-Mart ("The high cost of low prices"). I went to see it. Never again am I shopping at Wal-Mart. That movie was a real eye opener. This gigantic corporation has managed to crush everything and everyone in it's path. From employees to local businesses to local governments to workers in their sweat-shops in China. Wal-Mart has screwed them all over.
It's ironic, but a lot of people tell me that they MUST buy their goods at Wal-Mart because they can't afford to spend a few more dollars for the same thing somewhere else. I know there are a lot of people struggling to make ends meet, and this is one way they do it. And yet, by making your purchases at Wal-Mart, you support this corporate monster that feeds itself by crushing people, creating a situation where those people can't make ends meet....
Anyway, the closest I'm getting to a Wal-Mart store from now on is to stand out front with a sign saying "Danger: Keep Out"!
Posted by rossm at 1:28 PM | Comments (0)
Recent Happenings at the Bookstore
I spent some hours last Monday night upgrading the MBS system and backing up the POS (no, it stands for Point Of Sale) controller. Everything went very well, and it was good to have the system all up to date with fresh backups of everything.
However, the POS has started acting up. It has developed a nasty habit of doing a system dump and shutting itself off at random times. This has the unfortunate effect of taking all of the cash registers off line. A call to MBS verified that a number of their customers had this problem after, guess what, performing the latest upgrade.... To make a long story short, the repairs are "in the mail" and should be applied to that POS Monday night.
It's not all bad news, though. The upgrade came with a newer version of the GUI tool (this is an IBM system running OS/400, so a graphical interface is not automatic like with Windows - it is an add-on). I've gotten all of the bookstore desktop PC's upgraded to this new version, and it has improved the interface for the system users.
Posted by rossm at 1:19 PM | Comments (0)
Attacking WILB
For the past three weeks Dale and I have been readying WILB for the great computer boneyard. Our idea was to go through ALL of the WILB schemas and place email calls in key procedures to track which schemas are still being used. We dropped the redirect procedures which had been in place, and added in a procedure that gives a user the correct, new URL, but does not redirect them there. In other words, all links to WILB are more or less dead ends. We felt like this was a good "half-way" measure before WILB goes away permanently.
Everything has now been migrated to AERO with the exeption of the Admissions schema which was so bad that Summer is just rewriting the whole thing. Thank you, Summer! Dale and I wrestled with the current application, and got most of it's errors cleaned up, but it had gotten pretty ugly.
For now, Dale and I will monitor the procedures that are still being accessed on WILB. Hopefully, those will diminish over the next few weeks, and we'll be able to gracefully say goodby to our old production database WILB.
Posted by rossm at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)
Where Ya Been??
OK, so it's pretty easy to check and see when my last Blog entry was. Guilty of Blog AWOL. I don't even have an excuse like Joe does. I guess blogging is sort of like exercise. Sometimes you're ready to do a lot of it, and sometimes you're not!
Posted by rossm at 1:05 PM | Comments (0)