Case Study : To Charge or Not To Charge

CASE SCENARIO: sister (or brother, whichever you prefer) companies under the same flagship company. One is finance related, one is software development. Finance company encounters a small data entry problem and asks help from the software company to make small data corrections in the backend (database) level against a single transaction done against the system created by the software company. Despite the basic transaction, no existing function in the system is included by the software company to make this type of correction.

Finance company is unsure about exactly which tables in the database should be touched to fix this correction. The existing documentation does not give any indication of the dataflow in the system, enough to fix the issue. Finance company asks help from software company for suggestion and advice. Software company complies, and say they will look into the problem.

After a day, software company assesses that the correction will need to go through Quality Assurance procedures. It will take them more than 2 weeks to assess the changes that will be applied to one single transaction in the system.

From the finance point of view, it is a single transaction that comparatively, to all other major processes in the system, is simple. It can be classified as a basic transaction and therefore should take less than a week to address.

Therefore, this puzzling assessment given by the software company extremely confuses the finance company. But since they are looking for the software company's help, agrees on the assessment.

After a few hours, the software company comments that this is considered a charged item on the finance company's accounts.

CASE ASSESSMENT:
1. Software company has the right to charge sister finance company, regardless of severity level of the problem. This occurs as a procedure to streamline organization and cleanly separate the assets and profit earning capacity of both companies, despite the fact that both are under the same umbrella of companies.
2. Software company has the right to take the necessary duration and procedures to QA any changes made against the system, regardless of the severity level of the issue, to ensure smooth function and error free changes and deliver quality system to its customers.

CONCLUSION: Software company has every right to deliver the changes in more than 2 weeks time and charge the sister finance company for its services.

REALITY OF THE SITUATION:
1. Finance company is housing the support services of the software company. This includes email servers, testing sites and bug report databases. The finance company is sharing its resource to the software company.
2. There are no clear documentation given by the software company to the finance company to be able to correctly handle the system. Due to this, the finance company is forced to inquire and seek consulatation and advice from the software company, and consequently, be charged for asking questions which the documentation lacks.

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT: These software company guys are crazy.

A Day to Remember

I just had the worst 2 days of my life.

Well , ok, one of the worser days.

I was supposed to work on a Sunday (I call it "Special Sunday". It a name given just so I can sound more positive for Sunday work, even when I just simply can't BE positive about it) , and on this Special Sunday I had a major web deployment lined up for me.

Nothing new there I suppose.

I just had to upgrade the database software and patch it with an updated fix on a security alert. My target time is 12:00-16:00.

Ah well, the test run through was around 3 hours, so I wasnt exactly worried about it. Been there, done that kind of thing. Unfortunately for me, the test was done internally within the office (that sounds redundant, doesnt it?) and I wasnt able to take into account the access between internal office and our production network. I couldnt get the installer to run. It involves putting up an Xwindow on my local PC for it to work.

But life isnt always as simple as that, huh? I should've thought about the production access. Couldnt get the display to come out, so at the first step of my deployment, I was stuck. I had to make a few phone calls to coordinate the access.

ok, at 15:45, I was finally going to get somewhere. Access is fixed. I start applying patches.

Finished everything by 18:00. Oh, but wait. I had to also apply the same patch to the backup server. Now why didnt I think of that. (Patches everything again with the backup server. On the mid-way, I go down to get some food for dinner. Since i didnt have any money on me, I withdraw from the ATM machine downstairs. Perfect.)

20:00 I have to refresh the database since its upgraded. dum dee dum dee dum. What a Special Sunday!

22:00 Having trouble starting up the website. Man, i cant sleep now... Its so late.

22:30 Finally can go home! Drat, I left my money in the office. Now I have to withdraw from the ATM machine again.

23:00 Home sweet home. Now i have to wait up til 00:30 to see if everything works out ok...

00:45 Good things seem to be doing ok. Now i proceed to watch "Mean Girls"....

08:00 Drat! its 8am already! Im supposed to be in the office by 8!

Rushes to brush my teeth, change to office attire and fix my hair at the same time. Runs down to the bus stop. Oh good, Im only 10 minutes late right now...

Bus comes along. Here comes the bus! Hurry up, hurry up. Tugs at my bag to get the bus ticket. Wheres the bus ticket?? Im already late as it is. Drat i think i left it at home. No bother, i can pay cash. Hmm... my wallet's empty.

X_X

ATM machine again.... card's not being accepted... go find another ATM machine... find find gotta find. (2 of the same bus routes have already passed by in my frenzy to look for an ATM machine that will accept my card) I find a working ATM machine. im 30 minutes late already..!

Gets into the bus. Arrives 10 minutes later. Starts eating my breakfast.. and it spills all over my dress.

What a day.

Gym Progress Week 5,6,7

Ok I admit, I've gotten pretty lazy chronicling my "fabulous" gym days. Gym week 5,6,7 progressed leisurely enough without any incidents.

Highlights for the past three weeks?

Attended this "Into Step Moves" aerobics class on the Saturday of the 5th week. Its supposed to be a beginner-intermediate step aerobics class, so i figured out it was fine. Then I made the mistake of not informing the instructor that this is my first time to the class. What followed is an embarrassing experience where I spent a third of the time standing around staring at everyone and trying to figure out what the hell everyone was doing. Seems like the instructor figured everyone was decently experienced, and proceeded to make the combinations a bit more crazy. Eventually I got the combinations right, but this was 5 minutes before the class ended. :
After that, I've never seen step aerobics the same way again. Step aerobics for beginners seems a bit dull nowdays.

What else. I've progressed my weights for my bench press , tricep press and extensions, as well as my deadlift and row weights.

I also got nifty weightlifting gloves :D

Strangely enough, I dont feel like im improving anymore. I even think I've gained a little bit at the abdomen area. Strange. a plateau maybe? I cant believe I've been doing this for 7 weeks already. This is pretty amazing. I never been this consistent before ^_^

New Nephew 's name still under consideration

My nephew (see previous entry) shall be christened with the name of....

I cant really say. My brother and my sister in law are having arguments with the name. She wants it to be Tydus. He wants to be faithful and name him Tidus.

Honestly, Tydus soounds like a Old Roman name. Like Typhus (isnt that a disease?) or Brutus or Damocles (is that Roman? sounds roman.) Maybe they should just name him Sophocles or Aristophanes? Aristotle? better yet, how about Plato? If my nephew comes back to get his education in my home country, he'd be a laughing stock being named as a dish.

And how about Tidus? It sounds like a popular clothes detegent. Does it even sound formal and appealling? beats me. My brother got the idea from the Final Fantasy X game. One of the lead characters. The one with the shining white remarkably unrealistic looking teeth during one of the main song's FMVs. That one was really so cheesy. I'd preferred the digital looking FMVs better.

I suppose my brother just wanted his son to sound really japanese. Like Kobe Bryant. Kobe Beef. Kobe Island. How About Yoshinoya? does that name sound nice? or lets have a classic. Ai-ko. Isnt that a girl's name? Whatever.

I'd love to name my son "Oak". I hope my brother doesnt get to read this blog. I wouldnt want him to steal a perfectly fabulous name like Oak.

They plan to race it out in the government registry. Whoever gets to fill in the form and submit it to the government first, will have the last say.

Let the race begin!

For now ill just call my nephew "Squigly". I'll whisper it every chance I get when my brother and sis in law is not around. I think Squigly sounds like a promising name.

"Hey Squigly, how about some formula?"

Note Date : Nephew's Birthday

I'm now (again) an aunt with Big Responsibilities.

I've already had a niece and a nephew, but they're both living back in my home country. Since I am living in a (relative to my nationality) foreign land, I have abdicated myself of the responsibility to be a prim and proper person.

But since my sis-in-law (and brother, who I share the place with) just gave birth to a 8.16lbs baby boy (extremely heavy by normal standards) now I have to come back acting all proper again.

List of Things I have to Stop Doing:
1. Curse and swear in every single sentence that is being uttered by my mouth
2. Smoke Pot
3. Dress like a out dated fag
4. Come home at ungodly hours of the morning
5. Spend 100% of my savings on luxury
6. Act like a irresponsible dolt
7. Turn the speaker volume and bass up to its maximum levels at 3am in the morning
8. Hog the bathroom
9. Loud snoring
10. See how long I can stand not taking a bath

Hmmm. This should be a good enough list for now. I'll add some more later when my nephew's older.

Good day everyone.

Proof!

Yes, I just managed to prove that I actually ate too much yesterday.

Without eating anything until 9pm in the evening, I managed to go through the working day, attend a step aerobics and a weight lifting class and even did a little shopping . I went through it without thinking about food, or my stomach complaining.

Even the 5-piece sushi set I ate for dinner felt a little too much for me.

I think Im starting to become repelled to food because of last weekend's ordeal. Now I'm wondering if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The last time I felt disgusted over a food type (it was chocolate) I never touched it again. We'll see.

Gluttony, TV and Hibernation

Well, I managed to have a "wonderful" weekend. I had lots of food, lots of sleep, and lots of tv series. For the most part, the tv was wonderful... it did seem to have deprived me of sleep though. I guess if you spend the whole of your free time watching tv series the whole day, and still be up at 3am in the morning, that would just exactly be the end result.

But still, I'm glad that Star Trek Enterprise is as much fun as STTNG and STTOS.

I managed to turn my days into nights this way.. I sleep during the day and watch DVDs at nights. What's new.

Oh I think I've just set back my fitness goal. I managed to each 2 lunches and 1 huge dinner last Sunday. I could barely breathe, and I would really like to make myself throw up to relieve myself from the agony of having a full stomach. Trust me people, you dont want to attempt to stuff yourself, Its a whole different ballgame.

Just for that night, I blew my stomach to make myself look like I was three months into my pregnancy. Not a very pretty sight.

Gym Progress Week 4.-

Wed: Came 10 minutes late. The bus I was taking was 15 minutes late. The aero class already started. Well, No one's supposed to ome into the aero class anymore if that turned out to be the case, but fuck it. Tried today with raisers (again). Looks good. Went to body pump class after... Its a normal workout, I suppose.

Fri: Did I mention I have having some problems with deadlifts? I decided to take the morning class instead of the usual evening class so I can have my brother help me take a look at my posture. Seems like it was right. I guess slouching a lot isnt the way to go, but can't blame me when I've been that way since I learned how to stand up. Anyways, I used machines for the first time to workout smaller msucle groups. In today's case, its inner and outer thighs, and latrows. Its oooookaaaaay.

Gym Progress Week 4.1

I feel macho enough to handle raisers this time around. I've been thinking about it the whole week last week. Psyching myself up. Gotta improve myself. I've been at this for 3 weeks already. No more of those sissy I-can't-breathe reasons I had last week for step aerobics. Lets get those raisers in place and start pumping to the rhythmn.

(Gets a set of raisers, then finally plopping the step on top.)

The instructor tells us that she has a slight fever, and ideally she'd like to be in bed, but couldnt find herself a temp so she's still handling the step aero class today. Oh good, maybe she's going to take it easy today...

[after 50 minutes]

THATS WHAT YOU CALL TAKING IT EASY??? Its a good thing she had flu the first time (sort of) I tried the raisers. ugh.