That means you are dealing with the most savy style of management in the arena of managers. You have good managers that can listen to employees, talk to each other, and work things out to keep the ship sailing. The worst environment for managers is in the manufacturing sector. It has no mercy on a manager that does not perform up to expectations. I am possitive that you are not the only one who is stressed out at your work place.
you also said:
I can't mention who I work for since we deal with government contracts
That means that the source of finance for your company to finance production and operations are not from the stock market. Your company is getting financed by treasury bills, or treasury notes.
To know the meaning of it, it simply means that the government issues a bond to investors (usually in increments of $1,000 bonds), to do a certain project, for a certain amount of years until the bond reaches maturity. T-bills are less than a year (4-weeks, 13-weeks, 26-weeks), T-notes are 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years.
What it means to you, is that sources of finance for your manufacturer has been issued already, and there is no more money coming in AT ALL.
You are working in a tight ship, just like everyone around you in the whole company. You are not the only one suffering in your company. You are NOT getting financed by Corporate America stock market. Corporate America has different dynamics for finance that works in the increments of 3 months, or quarterly budget, that drives from an annual budget.
In Corporate Amrica, you can convince people that the need for better software, hardware, networks, security, and trainning is needed, and the board of directors will be VERY VERY HAPPY, as they will issue more stocks in the market to finance the growth, making them eligible for a cut of the deal as a bonus, making them also looking good infront of the investors as they are on "the top of new technology.
That is not your case. Welcome to the world of Government contracts.
You also said:
I presented a proposal to them about 2 weeks ago which completely negates that and several other ideas they've had about IS. Management accepted the proposal
That means that:
1- Your management team listens to you. 2- Your management can see that you are working very hard, and trying to come up with ways to do things better. 3- Your management trusts your judgment, and willing to give you what you want IF and only IF you take it easy on them, and explain it in their language, which you did.
Bottom line; Good job.
You also said:
When the IS department was started, it was started by a hobbyist... who knew nothing about management or any of the major issues that befall a traditional IS dept.
That means you are left with old undergraded hardware, old operating systems (I estimate that you might have a win95 machine running somewhere on the floor) non-matching hardware (your ghosting process takes longer than it should), in addition to aging wires, routers, switches, and network cards.
You also said:
we have an in-house programmer in accounting who uses Access
That means you have a buddy in the place, and he is aware of the problems of Access, and wishes to use something else that has more power.
I believe that if you know how to build an application on Access, you definetly can learn how to build an application in Oracle, PHP/MySQL, and on DB2. A programmer is a programmer, and can get to work, regardless of the platform.
Above said, summery in 3 points
1- No more money coming in for major Hardeware changes. 2- Old software and small scale applications consume your companies resources. 3- Change is possible in your company, but in small steps.
Bottom line; Software change is what is needed, and the only possible one.
Slashdot Mirror
brainee, you said :
:
... who knew nothing about management or any of the major issues that befall a traditional IS dept.
I work in the IS department for a manufacturer
That means you are dealing with the most savy style of management in the arena of managers. You have good managers that can listen to employees, talk to each other, and work things out to keep the ship sailing. The worst environment for managers is in the manufacturing sector. It has no mercy on a manager that does not perform up to expectations. I am possitive that you are not the only one who is stressed out at your work place.
you also said:
I can't mention who I work for since we deal with government contracts
That means that the source of finance for your company to finance production and operations are not from the stock market. Your company is getting financed by treasury bills, or treasury notes.
To know the meaning of it, it simply means that the government issues a bond to investors (usually in increments of $1,000 bonds), to do a certain project, for a certain amount of years until the bond reaches maturity. T-bills are less than a year (4-weeks, 13-weeks, 26-weeks), T-notes are 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years.
What it means to you, is that sources of finance for your manufacturer has been issued already, and there is no more money coming in AT ALL.
You are working in a tight ship, just like everyone around you in the whole company. You are not the only one suffering in your company. You are NOT getting financed by Corporate America stock market. Corporate America has different dynamics for finance that works in the increments of 3 months, or quarterly budget, that drives from an annual budget.
In Corporate Amrica, you can convince people that the need for better software, hardware, networks, security, and trainning is needed, and the board of directors will be VERY VERY HAPPY, as they will issue more stocks in the market to finance the growth, making them eligible for a cut of the deal as a bonus, making them also looking good infront of the investors as they are on "the top of new technology.
That is not your case. Welcome to the world of Government contracts.
You also said:
I presented a proposal to them about 2 weeks ago which completely negates that and several other ideas they've had about IS. Management accepted the proposal
That means that
1- Your management team listens to you.
2- Your management can see that you are working very hard, and trying to come up with ways to do things better.
3- Your management trusts your judgment, and willing to give you what you want IF and only IF you take it easy on them, and explain it in their language, which you did.
Bottom line; Good job.
You also said:
When the IS department was started, it was started by a hobbyist
That means you are left with old undergraded hardware, old operating systems (I estimate that you might have a win95 machine running somewhere on the floor) non-matching hardware (your ghosting process takes longer than it should), in addition to aging wires, routers, switches, and network cards.
You also said:
we have an in-house programmer in accounting who uses Access
That means you have a buddy in the place, and he is aware of the problems of Access, and wishes to use something else that has more power.
I believe that if you know how to build an application on Access, you definetly can learn how to build an application in Oracle, PHP/MySQL, and on DB2. A programmer is a programmer, and can get to work, regardless of the platform.
Above said, summery in 3 points
1- No more money coming in for major Hardeware changes.
2- Old software and small scale applications consume your companies resources.
3- Change is possible in your company, but in small steps.
Bottom line; Software change is what is needed, and the only possible one.
My suggestion is a 4 steps prorgam;
Phase A