Reply to: Delay in userid requests causes contract termination

[Freamon]

At a client a few years ago who had IBM working for them, one of the contractors on the IBM side didn't get his PC at all during the entire 9 months he was there. After a couple of months he gave up waiting and (with the approval of the PM) installed the IBM standard build on a VM on his laptop.

[cojak]

One of my many talents is IdM, amazing how many Big ClientCo's don't have it....

IdM - Identity Management? As a talent?

Do go on - I'm intrigued

[stek]

One of my many talents is IdM, amazing how many Big ClientCo's don't have it....

[Support Monkey]

This^

At my previous gig it took 4.5 weeks from me turning up to them getting my dev. PC set-up and working. Took in my own laptop and did as much as I could, along with reading lots of documentation. Client was apologetic, I kept on invoicing. No problems.

WHS, just make yourself look busy, read all the manuals, get one of the permies to login for you, bribe the support department, do whatever it takes to get it sorted yourself, and whatever you do keep the mentioning of the situation low key, don't keep going on about it cos your more likely to get canned for being a moaner than not doing the work

[nomadd]

On some contracts I had visit those support guys who give access and I stand behind them until they do their job.

Didn't work for me on my last gig. But a chance encounter at the coffee machine with the IT Director did the trick.

"How's it going..?", he asks. "Well, I've been here four and a half weeks and still don't have a PC..."

At this point I see him walk over to his phone, punch a few numbers, and start shouting. Comes over to my desk a couple of minutes later and calmly and politely says, "OK, everything is sorted now. Let me know if it isn't."

And by the end of that very same day it was sorted.

The helpful people you meet whilst grabbing a coffee...

[Paddy]

Hi,
Tried searching for any previous posts on this issue, as I believe this is can be 'a real headache' for contractors starting out in any new contract.
This being any unreasonable or prolonged delay between submitting your request for userids and access to the various computer systems and networks you are being employed to work on and the time it
takes for the request to be granted & notified to the new contractor.
As we all know 'in an ideal world' these submissions for Userids would be submitted and granted within the
first week of starting the contract on the client site ( using a typical non defence related employer )
But the tales of woe I've heard lately from contractors that have worked for IBM in the past and other employers ( who's user access request system leaves much to be desired ) - that is the User access request is countersigned by the manager and goes off into the wide blue yonder, usually another office or site in a different part of the country or even abroad. Leaving you waiting days or weeks waiting for your Userid to come through, only for you to submit the request again ( with the shift manager checking your request ) and again it disappears into a black hole with no response.
Of course such sites 'usually come with the Permies tales of woe' about the User access request system.
The danger for the contractor is its no laughing matter, within 4 weeks hes expected to be upto speed with all the systems hes expected to work on - anything that inhibits his performance ( eg hasn't got all his user ids, regardless of who's fault it is ) will result in contract termination.

Keep yourself busy. Bring your own laptop. Make notes and find out about the systems. Get someone with access to regularly send email reminders to your LM that you still haven’t got access.

Bribe the support staff with biscuits

On some contracts I had visit those support guys who give access and I stand behind them until they do their job.

[Clippy]

Hi,
Tried searching for any previous posts on this issue, as I believe this is can be 'a real headache' for contractors starting out in any new contract.
This being any unreasonable or prolonged delay between submitting your request for userids and access to the various computer systems and networks you are being employed to work on and the time it
takes for the request to be granted & notified to the new contractor.
As we all know 'in an ideal world' these submissions for Userids would be submitted and granted within the
first week of starting the contract on the client site ( using a typical non defence related employer )
But the tales of woe I've heard lately from contractors that have worked for IBM in the past and other employers ( who's user access request system leaves much to be desired ) - that is the User access request is countersigned by the manager and goes off into the wide blue yonder, usually another office or site in a different part of the country or even abroad. Leaving you waiting days or weeks waiting for your Userid to come through, only for you to submit the request again ( with the shift manager checking your request ) and again it disappears into a black hole with no response.
Of course such sites 'usually come with the Permies tales of woe' about the User access request system.
The danger for the contractor is its no laughing matter, within 4 weeks hes expected to be upto speed with all the systems hes expected to work on - anything that inhibits his performance ( eg hasn't got all his user ids, regardless of who's fault it is ) will result in contract termination.

Would have been much easier to read if the paragraphs didn't run into each other - still boring, but much easier to read!

[bassy]

This^

At my previous gig it took 4.5 weeks from me turning up to them getting my dev. PC set-up and working. Took in my own laptop and did as much as I could, along with reading lots of documentation. Client was apologetic, I kept on invoicing. No problems.

+1
Took me almost 3 months to get login stuff for my current gig. Continue to invoice, be pro-active and see how much you can do without access to the network (I had my laptop set up and wrote all the code and database stuff on there and then ftp'ed it to an area which the client could access so they could get hold of it)

[2BIT]

Hmmm, whenever I've worked for Big Blue I've had all my userids, permissions, etc. waiting in an envelope for me on the first day...

^whs

[Wanderer]

I believe this is can be 'a real headache' for contractors starting out in any new contract.

Absolutely. I've turned up on sites and it's taken a week to get me a PC. If you need privileged accounts then it can take even longer to convince them of your credentials and earn the trust/authorisation to access the systems you need.

Causing contract termination? Possibly in extreme cases, but if you have a decent project manager then they will sort this stuff out for you.

It's an occupational hazard really. As nomadd says, try and keep busy as best you can, keep chasing them and get the invoices in.

[nomadd]

Relax and just keep invoicing.

This^

At my previous gig it took 4.5 weeks from me turning up to them getting my dev. PC set-up and working. Took in my own laptop and did as much as I could, along with reading lots of documentation. Client was apologetic, I kept on invoicing. No problems.

[TestMangler]

Hmmm, whenever I've worked for Big Blue I've had all my userids, permissions, etc. waiting in an envelope for me on the first day...

WHS.

O/P you are a tulip monger......

[darmstadt]

Hmmm, whenever I've worked for Big Blue I've had all my userids, permissions, etc. waiting in an envelope for me on the first day...

[xchaotic]

Relax and just keep invoicing.
Unless it's some sort of PlanB software that you plan on selling to BigBlue that automates the approval process...

[pmeswani]

Sooooo... what's the point of this thread?