Reply to: time reporting systems

[d000hg]

Timesheets are a typical in-house development, and in-house software doesn't have to be tested as thoroughly, and normally has a small budget since it doesn't bring any money in. So it's worked on my whoever has a spare day, or by new graduates as a way to get some experience.

[Doggy Styles]

Or invent a time machine?

[DimPrawn]

Seems like an ideal Plan B?

Write a TMS that is a good combination of:

1) User friendly
2) Customisable

Watch the money roll in.

Or write a killer search engine to rival Google?

[sasguru]

Seems like an ideal Plan B?

Write a TMS that is a good combination of:

1) User friendly
2) Customisable

Watch the money roll in.

[lilelvis2000]

Did one for the client about two years ago...uses excel spreadsheets (yikes!) into a Access Database..which then does the crunch.

The client seems to like Access with Excel input as the six database I have built for them all use Excel as a input method. So much for the Intranet!

But then I think their IT department..run by SCC and Xansa..charge £500/day and require 3 months notice of staffing requirements...whereas I'm available on a moment's notice and charge somewhat less.

But I'm not able to modify their servers to put a IIS instance on and etc...something like that I'm sure SCC and Xansa would charge £4000 for systems which in about 3 years time won't be needed.

[Mich the Tester]

One place I worked the system was so hard to use, and a smart PM had entered a time code for "filing out weekly timesheet".

More should do the same, and then these cacksacks would be abolished.

[swamp]

All timesheet systems are rubbish. My theory has always been that they are often internal systems written by people who don't (yet) know how to program taking requirements from managers who don't (yet) know how to manage. One place I worked the system was so hard to use, and a smart PM had entered a time code for "filing out weekly timesheet".

[Doggy Styles]

Why are they all so cack?

In my experience it's because they were knocked together by someone who might know his coding but knew nothing about usability.

I could go on a long rant about apps like that...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Why are they all so cack?

Because they are conceived by the kind of mentalist control freak nutters who think ID cards are a good idea, and that it's more important to pretend you know what is going on than actually get anything useful done.

Oh... and the other issue is that there are about as many ways of recording time as there are organisations who wish to record it. So you either have a cack bespoke system that has been written to follow a cack business process, or a cack COTS package that has been customised until it meets clientco's stupid processes, or you have a system that doesn't match much of the client's stupid processes and therefore needs a lot of manual intervention.

[Drewster]

Why are they all so cack?

Because although bean counters, HR and other oxygen wasters like to spout on that they (and thier proceses, procedures and time wasting/management tools) are crucial to the business - in reality no body really gives a toss........... and the bean counters etc KNOW they are worthless so don't want to draw attention to it by having anyone really look at whats going on........

[Purple Dalek]

My theory is that the writers of time reporting systems hate people.

"Oh, and let's host everything on an old Pentium 1 machine somewhere"

Yes, and one of them here really is on an old laptop with a dead screen in a cupboard, which gets unplugged by the cleaners every so often and no one notices until its battery goes flat sometime later.

[Purple Dalek]

Why are they all so cack?

5 different ones here, for extra giggles 2 start the week on a Sunday and the other 3 on a Monday, and just for the extra fun 2 are directly tied into the project planning systems, 1 of that pair and another one go to the HR, and 2 and a combo go to accounts, one weekly, one monthly and some weirdness that obeys dates, not days or weeks for quarters.

There are three spread-sheets for translating project names and codes across the various systems. These are maintained on an ad-hoc basis so are often out of date, such that the current work package is not listed, and older ones are just wrong.

Invariably nothing adds up, and so managers start swapping stuff about, by altering peoples registrations. The next month some functionary sends a snotty emails about booking to the wrong projects where for tulips and giggles one can point out you don't even have an account on that project so there is no way you could have booked time to it. They'll then have a series of meetings ...

[DiscoStu]

please name ClientCo and ask him if he wants a tester.

+1

[bobhope]

My theory is that the writers of time reporting systems hate people. Perhaps they were badly treated as children, who knows.

"I know, let's force the user to enter each day on separate web page, make them hit enter, then hit another button to go to the next page."

"Oh, and let's host everything on an old Pentium 1 machine somewhere"

[Mich the Tester]

Mines great. Quick email to the client contact saying 'I'm billing x days'. Then he sends one back saying 'OK'.

please name ClientCo and ask him if he wants a tester.