Month: August 2014

40 Useful Facts to Know about a System

40

A list of points I should remember to ask when doing ongoing system development, total re-design or external purchase.

For alternative systems rank both existing and new and compare.
Collection of facts is as objective as I could make it – interpretations and consideration as ever is subjective.

I have my own self built project software that records most of these points. The users and user roles is particularly useful my home baked pm software is integrated into my contacts which means if individuals titles and contact details change then the details below are automatically updated.

1. Name of system
2. Version number
3. General Description of the system (written)
4. Date of Creation
5. Name of Creator along with contact details
6. Name of Administrator along with contact details (If different from Creator)
7. Name of the person responsible for backing up the system
8. Backup description
9.Names of existing users – should include administrators and creator
(Name – Organisation Position – e-mail – contact no – approx time used per day – Method of access – Role in system – Description of tasks carried out – Machine tag numbers if required)
10.Names of potential future users
(Name – Organisation Position – e-mail – contact no – approx time used per day – Method of access – Role in system – Description of tasks carried out – Machine tag numbers if required)
11. Operating system runs on (Windows / Linux / Mac / Wine) If Linux please indicate distro
12. Backend Database type (SQL Server, Oracle, MS Access, Filemaker Pro, Omnis, Fox Pro, DB2, MySQL, PostGres, PostGIS, VoltDB, MongoDB, NoSQL)
13. – unc name of database server(s)
14. – unc name of web server(s)
15. – Important directories on particular servers
16. – name of backend database
17. Has the application been designed specifically to allow for geo referencing ( This is not a question as to whether the back end is spatially enabled ) – (Yes / No)
18. Front End technologies – list
19. Main programming languages
20. Is this a client facing system (Yes / No)
21. Could it be a client facing system (Yes / No)
22. Do individuals presently access this from mobile phones (Yes / No)
23. Do individuals presently access this from tablet devices (Yes / No)
24. Is the information available to the general public if they make a freedom of information request. ( Yes / No )
25. Please indicate the information in the system that would not be distributed even if someone requested it. [Description]
26. Is there a statutory requirement to keep this information ( Yes / No)
27. Was the system originally internally or externally created (Internal / External)
28. Capital cost of original construction (if relevant)
29. Estimated annual revenue cost of system ( not interested in wages of individuals only interested in actual costs paid to outside bodies )
30. Can we get a table structure of the system complete with all field names and field types. (Yes / No) – Please attach if yes
31. Is the process unique to the organisation( Yes / No )
32. How often is the design of the system altered ( As and when required, Changes are batched and pushed through periodically, Only in exceptional circumstances, Never)
33. Who can request changes to the system ( Anyone , only management , there is a working group of disparate users who request changes to an outside company , pretty much no one)
34. If that is an outside company makes the changes how often is that done (monthly, yearly, very rarely, never)
35. Are users presently happy with the system ( Yes / No )
36. Are management presently happy with the system ( Yes / No )
37. Any obvious other systems it could be combined with (No – Yes please list)
38. How is performance (Very good, Good, Adequate, Poor, Very Poor)
39. Can you list other organisations that use the same software (No, list of organisations)
40. Lastly where do you consider the application to be strong and where weak and do you have any specific proposals that could significantly improve your interaction with the system. [description]

VBA access code – Passing a selection of e-mail addresses to Outlook

This is similar to the previous post except uses the inbuilt SendObject object to pass the string sBcc directly to Outlook. Outlook picks up the variables and so there is no need to set up public variables.

Private Sub CommandGroupEmail_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_CommandGroupEmail_Click

DoCmd.DoMenuItem acFormBar, acRecordsMenu, acSaveRecord, , acMenuVer70

Dim MyDB As DAO.Database
Dim rsEmail As DAO.Recordset
Dim sBcc As String
Dim sSubject As String
Dim sMessageBody As String

Set MyDB = OpenDatabase("\\SERVERNAME\DIRECTORYPATH\" & "TARGET.MDB")
Set rsEmail = MyDB.OpenRecordset("SELECT ... STATEMENT", dbOpenSnapshot)

With rsEmail
.MoveFirst
Do Until rsEmail.EOF
If IsNull(![E-mail]) = False Then
sBcc = sBcc & rsEmail![E-mail] & ";"
sSubject = ""
sMessageBody = ""
End If
.MoveNext
Loop
End With

DoCmd.SendObject , , , , , sBcc , sSubject, sMessageBody, True

Set MyDB = Nothing
Set rsEmail = Nothing

 
Exit_CommandGroupEmail_Click:
    Exit Sub

Err_CommandGroupEmail_Click:
    If (Err = 2467) Or (Err = 91) Or (Err = 2483) Then
      Resume Next
    End If
    Resume Exit_CommandGroupEmail_Click
    
End Sub

VBA access code for pulling together a list of e-mails and passing to a form

Below some standard code that I use to loop through a selection of records and create a string from the individual [Email] s in the below case the e-mails are passed to a form (FORMTOOPEN) – if you are using this then all text in capitals will need to be replaced by application specific information. You want to set up a global variable that is made public which you can pass the combined rsemail (in this case SendBCC) string to between opening up forms.

I tend to have a module called modGlobalVariables and I would put this in

Public SendBcc as string

Remember to be careful with your variable definitions – If you have the same variable dimensioned locally within a command and publically over the whole project values may not appear as expected when you get them.

Private Sub CommandGroupEmail_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_CommandGroupEmail_Click

    DoCmd.DoMenuItem acFormBar, acRecordsMenu, acSaveRecord, , acMenuVer70
    MsgBox "Please note all available e-mails are placed in BCC section of a new form in alphabetical person name order. If a person doesn't have a listed e-mail address he/she will be omitted", , "APPLICATIONNAME"

    Dim MyDB As DAO.Database
    Dim rsEmail as DAO.Database

    Set MyDB = OpenDatabase("\\SERVERNAME\DIRECTORYPATH\" & "TARGET.MDB")
    Set rsEmail = MyDB.OpenRecordset("SELECT STATEMENT HERE"
   
    With rsEmail
    .MoveFirst
    Do Until rsEmail.EOF
    If IsNull(![Email]) = False Then
    SendBcc = SendBcc & rsEmail![Email] & ";"
    MessageSubject = ""
    End If
    .MoveNext
    Loop
    End With
    
    stDocName = "FORMTOOPEN"
    DoCmd.OpenForm stDocName, , , stLinkCriteria
    
    Set MyDB = Nothing
    Set rsEmail = Nothing
    SendBcc = ""

     
Exit_CommandGroupEmail_Click:
    Exit Sub

Err_CommandGroupEmail_Click:

    If Err.Number = 2501 Then
    MsgBox "The e-mail was cancelled without sending", , "APPLICATIONNAME"
    Exit Sub
    
    If Err.Number = 3734 Then
    MsgBox "There are no Records Cancelling", , "APPLICATIONNAME"
    Exit Sub
        
    Else
    
    MsgBox Err.Number
     
    End If
    
    End If
    
    Resume Exit_CommandGroupEmail_Click
    
End Sub

Note on loading of the new form you will need to pass SendBCC into whatever text box you wish to see it in where Me.Bcc is the name of the field receiving the SendBCC string.

Private Sub Form_Load()

 Me.Bcc = SendBcc

End Sub

Connecting to SQL Server – authentication and QGIS

Within QGIS when you set up a connection to a MS SQL Server instance you are presented with two options. Here’s a bit of clarification on what the two options entail.

* Trusted connection – this is the same thing as using Windows Authentication and authentication is managed by the domain and authorization is handled by SQL Server – This could be handled by an Active Directory Security Group.

* Login – SQL Server can also use its own logins such as a user. These are both authenticated and authorized by SQL Server. They are only viable if SQL Server is configured to run in Mixed Authentication mode.

image001

The Importance of a Booking Confirmation and Careful Communication

rsvp

With booking systems there are a lot of important things that will make a system successful – good operational speed – a well designed table structure – great UI and good stability but without really really great communication and confirmation with the customer you’re missing a golden opportunity.

I would argue that wedding invites represent the absolute gold standard in organising communication between parties in what is essentially a booking contract.

* Firstly you give the responsibility of organisation to a responsible and motivated party who is familiar with the whole process and why they are doing what they are doing.
* Then great care is taken in the timing of when items should be sent out (not too long before not too short)
* Addresses of all parties are carefully and thoroughly checked
* Extreme care is taken in the wording and importantly formating of communications (and often flexible and personal messages included for specific parties)
* Extreme clarity is taken to ensure party’s know who to contact if their circumstances change and RSVPs come back to the persons that sent them out.
* Direct contact is encouraged in situations lacking clarity
The RSVP process is formalised to reduce confusion ensuring that the original party can identify who communications come back from and simplified to require the minimum amount of effort on the part of the guest.
* All the while the process is constantly overseen by senior management who have complete visibilty and problems are tackled when they arise.

A good booking confirmation will act not only as a great piece of promotion for the organisation (you have the attention of the individual concerned they are listening to every word you write) but superb quality and clarity reduces confusion, reduces the requirement for clarifying further work resulting in less errors, increases the likelihood that the individuals will return to do business, probably will encourage them to book more courses and give confidence that the contract will be actually carried out.

To my mind this kind of detail should be born in mind for all system communications.

An important consideration when designing new systems.

The Gunslinger and the Indian

There’s a fight on your computer over a girl called Planned Obsolecence

the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-600x254
I get that you need to update software periodically and I definitely want to see software developers paid an appropriate amount but what happens when no one can think of anymore functions to add? With my older applications I definitely change them less and less as time goes on. What then? Can we keep our ten year old software packages which still have the distilled mathematical knowledge from 2 millenia of scientific knowledge 95% of which we have never used?

How will software houses make their money? Temptation is to either by accident or design discourage or deny companies the ability to buy and maintain software outright for local installations rather requiring them to rent from proprietary servers to steady their reducing income streams? (cough splutter splutter Adobe)

I’m sure it will act as a tempting vacancy for the Open Source community, especially on the desktop.

What does the user do?

Go with the native Indian who is less familiar and sometimes rough around the edges but has a far more sustainable and economical way of life or the mercenary gun slinger who you always kind of half suspect has his own agenda and may leave town quickly.

To the horses boys there’s a fight coming.

MS Access SQL for randomising the results from a query

bullish_fractal

I was wanting to randomize the source of a form so that I could test myself on some Russian within a table. Turns out its very simple. Basing a Query on the following SQL will achieve it.

SELECT TableName.PKID, TableName.Field1, TableName.Field2
FROM TableName
ORDER BY rnd(INT(NOW*PKID)-NOW*PKID);

The nice thing about basing a form on this is that every time you open the query it will run a query and give you a complete random list but importantly if you want to navigate through the records in the form it will remember the random order and you can go back and forth in the list and it will be in the order as originally opened.

The interesting thing about this code is that it takes its seed from the time (the function NOW) the next thing I am thinking about doing is making that a definable variable that can be set automatically by the user. As I said I have used the above code to test myself on Russian Vocabulary. I have a dictionary of all the words that I have come across at present. I am given a phrase or word in English and I must type it out in Russian. This was good except when I opened the form it would test me on the table in the same order everytime. Great except I new the first part of the table well and steadily got worse as I went through the table. The table is now so big that I would never sit down and work through the whole table. Randomising the table prior to opening the form solved this but introduced a new problem. Having the same list was useful for building up knowledge of the words it effectively broke the table into a small subset. By having a variable that the user could define they or myself will be able to only move to a random list once I am confident of those words. My thinking is that this will break down what is now quite a large list into smaller parts to learn but I can still use repetition to improve my competency and rate of learning.