At 08:49 AM 12/16/97 -0500, Joe Geiser wrote:
>On Tuesday, December 16, 1997 6:57 AM, Tracy Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
>said:
>
>>An MIS Director at one place I worked solved these kinds of problems with
>>policy.  "If it wasn't purchased with MIS approval, MIS was not obligated
>>to support it."
>
>I've always followed that policy and it really ticks 'em off when its
>enforced - but ya know what they say - "TFB" (Too Bad)... it makes them
>think twice before they do it again.

I've had a case whereby someone on the late-night shift paged me at
2:00 AM Sun morning to report that a critical printer used to print
out weigh-tickets for railcars had stopped working and the railroad
was pulling cars at 8:00 in the morning.  During the course of the
conversation with the supervisor in an effort to get it working
over the phone vs. the hour drive to the plant, I discovered that
this printer was not located where it previously was!  It turned
out that they had decided to move it to another room and after
connecting up to the connections in the wall in the new room they
discovered that it now wouldn't 'print'!  At this point I told the
supv. that because they had decided to move it this on their own
that it was their problem and it didn't constitute an after-hours
survice issue and I wasn't coming out, it could wait until Monday.
Of course he pointed out to me all the repercussions that would
occur because I wouldn't come out and fix the problem, at which point
I basically bid him goodnight.

Sunday afternoon I called the plant production manager and told him
what had happened and he agreed with me about not making the trip.
Then, during the Monday morning production meeting, when the shift
supv. reported that due to a printer problem they weren't able to
ship 40+ railcars of product, the mgr asked some probeing questions
as to the problem and when it came to light, he certainly let the
shift supv know where he stood about plant personel moving computer
equipment...especially during after hours!

So, not only does one get into 'approved by IM', there is also the
issue of managing its location and use...., especially when connected
to a system/network... ;-)



/jf
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                        Monday, December 15th

  Yesterday (Sun), in 1799 - George Washington died at Mont Vernon.
                      1819 - Alabama becaome the 22nd state.
            Today, in 1791 - The "Bill of Rights", the 1st 10
                             Admendments, went into effect.

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