Slashdot Mirror

Option 1
The most prevelant asset managment package I've seen is Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG. This package has an incredible number of features depending upon how much you want to spend. Here's the package you're most interested in.

"Asset Managment Option"

The nice thing about Unicenter TNG is that it supports "DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, and VMS." I believe that CA is also porting many of its applications to Linux. Check with your local sales associate for more information...

Option 2:
Build your own utility to get exactly the information you want. If you limit the set of information that you want to something fairly small, it shouldn't be too dificult to write a little client-server that sends asset data from each workstation to a server. Then you could make it cross-platform and Open Source it for the rest of us.

Here's a web based tool, Tech Tracker, that will do the tracking for you, but not automatically.

Option 1
The most prevelant asset managment package I've seen is Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG. This package has an incredible number of features depending upon how much you want to spend. Here's the package you're most interested in.

"Asset Managment Option"

The nice thing about Unicenter TNG is that it supports "DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, and VMS." I believe that CA is also porting many of its applications to Linux. Check with your local sales associate for more information...

Option 2:
Build your own utility to get exactly the information you want. If you limit the set of information that you want to something fairly small, it shouldn't be too dificult to write a little client-server that sends asset data from each workstation to a server. Then you could make it cross-platform and Open Source it for the rest of us.

Here's a web based tool, Tech Tracker, that will do the tracking for you, but not automatically.

Option 1
The most prevelant asset managment package I've seen is Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG. This package has an incredible number of features depending upon how much you want to spend. Here's the package you're most interested in.

"Asset Managment Option"

The nice thing about Unicenter TNG is that it supports "DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, and VMS." I believe that CA is also porting many of its applications to Linux. Check with your local sales associate for more information...

Option 2:
Build your own utility to get exactly the information you want. If you limit the set of information that you want to something fairly small, it shouldn't be too dificult to write a little client-server that sends asset data from each workstation to a server. Then you could make it cross-platform and Open Source it for the rest of us.

Here's a web based tool, Tech Tracker, that will do the tracking for you, but not automatically.

With proper implementation, you may never have to be face-to-face with a user again. At my company, we had 1500+ users scattered around town (outgrew our offices), and simply didn't have the time for techs to drive around and fix stuff. So when the helpdesk sent us an issue, we would call the user, make them save their work, then (and this is the key) make them watch as we remotely fixed the problem. That way, they'll learn the proper way to do things, and won't have to call back the next time. Eventually, the helpdesk started using the app, and we had enough free time to work on important things, like upgrading network infrastructure and performing Y2K audits (did I mention this was a couple of years ago?).

As to the trust issue, many remote admin tools (Remotely Possible comes to mind) have a VCR-type function that allows you to record your terminal sessions. Initially, we only recorded sessions with "problem users," but the cost savings we realized allowed us to build a file server to store all of our sessions.

Finally, if users don't want the software on their system, well, tough. Remotely Possible (now called Control IT) allows you to push the software onto the client's box without the user's knowledge, and do so every time they log onto the network, in case the user somehow discovers and deletes it. This is useful with the aforementioned "problem users."

Give remote admin a try, but don't use it as an excuse to abandon phone support. The two, used together, make an excellent "teach a man to fish" tool, and will save your company a fortune in man-hours and support costs.

Oracle's PL/SQL is considered a 4GL, you can find all kinds of documentation on it at technet.oracle.com.

Also many years ago I did a lot of work with Ingres's OpenRoad which used to be called Windows4GL. It's basically a GUI-builder/runtime product that uses its own 4GL and a lot of OO concepts to implement client-server systems. I'm not sure what it's evolved into the past few years, but it's worth checkin out.