How To Successfully Complete The Job

[BJCooperIT]

Here is my dilemma. I am working on a contract that has, from the beginning, been difficult. Now I seem to be between a rock and a hard place. Here are the basic facts:

[ul][li]I am a consultant[/li]
[li]I sit in a laboratory (part of a US state government department).[/li]
[li]I work for a group of non-IT folks (engineers & chemists).[/li]
[li]I am tasked with performing a data conversion to load legacy data into a purchased software package.[/li]
[li]The DBAs at the IT department are non-responsive to my requests, however well documented.[/li]
[li]I have been here since December 2002.[/li]
[li]I requested a development software tool, a development database, tablespace, and private schema since day 1.[/li]
[li]I now have a database but it is an older version so I cannot use the features available in the production environment. The DBAs won't touch the old version but they won't give me privileges either.[/li]
[li]I still have no tablespace, no schema, no tool[/li]
[li]They have put in a purchase order for the tool but it seems to be caught up in the goverment's red tape.[/li]
[li]I have offered to purchase the tool myself if they can assure me that permission will be given to load it on the state's PC I use.[/li]
[li]I cannot find out if backups are being made of the database or whether I will be able to test and request a restore so I can retest.[/li]
[li]My manager looks me straight in the eye and hears what I say but offers no response, even when I say I am handcuffed and cannot get the work done. He just has me write more useless emails.[/li]
[li]I keep my consulting firm current with the status.[/li]
[li]I have offered to my consulting company to stepdown from the contract, but they have declined.[/li]
[li]My users flip-flop on how they want things done.[/li]
[li]When I first got here I was bombarded with data files but no one had any idea what they wanted done with them. I have given them a mapping document of legacy data and how it will be loaded into the new system. They have no idea if it is correct. I can get no feedback.[/li]
[li]The software vendor is less than helpful and is still modifying the software and database without keeping me in the loop (despite repeated requests).[/li][/ul]
Does anyone have any constructive suggestions? I am at my wits end because the July deadline is looming large. Am I as doomed as I feel?

select * from Life where Brain is not null

Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
[sup]When posting code, please use TGML for readability. Thanks![sup]

 

[CajunCenturion]

Our fingers are crossed - sounds like progress, and hang in there.

Please keep us posted if you can.

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[sleipnir214]

Correction:

Please replace the word "CajunGrocer" with "CajunCenturion" in my last post.

CajunCenturion is a fellow TT member and a friend of mine. CajunGrocer is a client.

Sorry, CC.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[CajunCenturion]

I have to admit I started laughing when I read it. I understand it to be an understandable Morlock mistake. LOL

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[palbano]

Late to the party as usual LOL

BJCooperIT,

I’m going to change the track a bit here. I will focus on two points:

Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
and
I am tasked with performing a data conversion to load legacy data into a purchased software package.

Does this mean that your requirements are well defined? And if they are you are limited in scope as to the implementation of the technique for the conversion?

If either question is answered, no, then perhaps some research time would be in order. Keep in mind I really have no details about your project, but in general something along these lines would not be totally outrageous;

I would consider using that PC and internet connection to install JDK 1.4 and Forte from the sun site. Use them to research various approaches to the project. In the course of doing this I would likely expand my knowledge base and would not be wasting my time at least.

-pete

 

[BJCooperIT]

Pete
The state will not allow me to download or install *any* software. I used a trial copy of PL/SQL Developer without permission just get get this far. I have been formally told that I cannot use it any longer. I can achieve my goal however I desire - they just have been unable to give me the means to do it. When I first arrived I had no computer so I read all of the documentation for package they purchased. Then I studied everything I could about Oracle built-ins so that the conversion would be a click and go. I have defined my requirements, written my conversion scripts, and re-written them twice (because the requirements & software versions changed). I documented the data mapping in an attempt to get a user sign-off. I have written scripts to highlight data that is in the legacy system that needs to be added to the new system. In short I have tried to make myself useful in whatever capacity I could.

It took 3 months before I had a PC. In the meantime, I got my company to loan me a laptop so I could download a couple of tools and get busy. The IT department would not allow me to use that laptop to connect to the network, thus I had internet access but no database. I used the time to take CBTs and write a huge number of scripts that I was unable to test. I have one script left to write, but cannot until I get a response from the DBA group so that I know how to proceed.

I had access to a database for 4 weeks during which I got my scripts running, but I had to be very careful because they would not give me my own schema and I was mucking around in the production data. Then they setup a new server and upgraded to Oracle 8.1.7 and basically that is now the production environment. Not only can I not test there, I wouldn't. It would be grossly inappropriate.

I have the old Oracle 8.0.5 database but its tables are outdated and no one will take DBA responsibility for it (they won't give me privileges either). It took me more than 2 weeks and uncountable e-mails just to be able to connect to it after the upgrade. I cannot even find out if the server is being backed up. This prevents me from completing my test plan and that fact keeps me up at night.

I have not been busy buying or selling on e-bay, or in chat rooms, but I still count the time in which I cannot analyse, code, test or document to be wasting my clients money. I feel that researching & learning should be on my time, not my client's. But I was told to sit there and try to look busy. I have been busy but not the way I would like.

select * from Life where Brain is not null

Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
[sup]When posting code, please use TGML for readability. Thanks![sup]

 

[palbano]

BJCooperIT,

>> In short I have tried to make myself useful in whatever capacity I could.

It sounds to me you have been much more than useful. I would categorize your effort as diligent beyond your duties. The bottom line is that you are responsible for a specific aspect of the project. Other people must be responsible for their portions, if they are not or cannot it is not your responsibility.

I understand the desire to have a project succeed that you are working on. But one should not shoulder the burden of managers and supervisors failures to the point of personal stress.

On the other hand, are you sure you are on a consulting contract? Perhaps you've been arrested and you are in Jail! ;-)

-pete

 

[BJCooperIT]

Pete:
There are times when I think an insane asylum would be an appropriate description.

All interested parties:
A snowstorm of emails are swirling here today. The lab manager is trying. Unfortunately, there have been no responses back from the powers that be. In the meantime I am receiving theraputic treatment on thread717-528463.

select * from Life where Brain is not null

Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
[sup]When posting code, please use TGML for readability. Thanks![sup]

 

[ralphwiggum]

WOW! Do I know you? I am also a consultant performing data migration. Everything you mention is like deja vu. One thing that's tough to get used to for me is the feeling I get when I go into a client site and I know that I'm eliminating peoples jobs. Typically the IT staf that is currently supporting the legacy system will get canned after the go-live for the new system. Many of these people are the ones we rely on to not only make the legacy data accesible to us but also to interpret how the data is used. I'm actually hoping to get out of this ASAP, data migration is one of the toughest jobs in the IT world and you get no recognition for your work. I made my company more than a $250 K last year in billable hours and they were reluctant to spend $50 on PC Anywhere so I wouldn't have to travel to client site through the snow in the winter. My advice is to quit whenever you have a better oportunity, I'd take a pay cut right now for a job that was more enjoyable on a daily basis. Good luck and remember...your not alone.

 

[BJCooperIT]

ralphwiggum:
Perhaps we were related in a past life! I am sorry to hear that your presence eliminates jobs - that must make it even more difficult for you. It is important for me to have the client on my side or I could never get the job done. Fortunately for me, the IT staff (one person) here will simply have more time to devote to other projects.

UPDATE
My client finally got approval to buy a development tool for me. The boxed set of CDs arrived yesterday. I don't know how long it will take to get someone to take the 3 minutes to install it (since I am not allowed).

Although it will be helpful to have a tool to use, I have no development database in which to use it. I requested a development environment 5 months ago. Two weeks ago I was told that I would have one by last Friday. It hasn't happened yet. Probably won't because IT is busy moving servers for the next couple of weeks. My July deadline is fixed but I have yet to be able to test a thing!

Now there is a battle over privileges because the DBAs have a rule that developers cannot create tables. While testing, I will need to create, alter and drop my tables many times a day. If I am not allowed privileges to do so I will have to rewrite many of my scripts. This would mean that I would have to e-mail a request to the DBAs to perform this function each time it needs to be done. It would severely restrict my ability to test. How did they imagine I could do a data conversion without a place to put the data? I suspect they never even gave it a thought.

In the meantime, a huge political power struggle has begun over control of the system and it would not surprise me to have someone hand me a box and tell me to pack up my desk. The client wants me here desperately, but I am not so sure that the IT group who want to run the project share that feeling.

In the meantime, I am looking for front-end work closer to home - this stuff is wearing me down!

select * from Life where Brain is not null

Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
[sup]When posting code, please use TGML for readability. Thanks![sup]

 

[flapeyre]

ralphwiggum, you have a point. The last time I was between jobs (1996), I was offered a consulting job and it took me all of two seconds to say no.

Where I am now, and have been for nearly 7 years, I am respected, fairly compensated, and relatively non-stressed. I have an easygoing supervisor who does not have unrealistic expectations of us programmers (she was and still is a programmer). We are in a business for which there is no canned, off-the-shelf software, so we wrote it ourselves (except for the financial and HR side of things).

The best managers are those who are promoted from within, not those who get the position by virtue of being related to the CEO.


"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for here you have been, and there you will always long to return."

--Leonardo da Vinci

 

[BJCooperIT]

Postnote - the anatomy of a government contract:

Dec. 9th - started contract, no PC, no support
March 9th - got a PC
April 29th - got a development tool
Interim - updated scripts, wrote many validation reports
June 11th - DBAs finally fixed UTL_FILE parameter problem
June 13th - client left for 2 weeks vacation on June 13th
June 18th - finally got a test database
June 19th - tested scripts
June 23rd - I asked about the contract status
June 24th - told client did not sign a PO for my services
Today - still waiting for client to clean up their data
Tomorrow - last day of contract, project unfinished
June 30th - Fiscal year ends

Now - looking for a new contract...

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[CajunCenturion]

Thanks for the update, and my fingers are crossed for you -- Best of luck

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[flapeyre]

BJCooperIT:

Oh, well. For what it's worth, I've written my share of programs that never made it to production due to bureaucratic caprice. But I never worked for a government agency (shudder).


"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for here you have been, and there you will always long to return."

--Leonardo da Vinci