RE: A few questions for Nextphase....."3. David Savage, get your head out of your anus. How do you get established in the market place when your programs take 12 freaking weeks to install? Windows XP takes an HOUR and its a pain in the butt....what makes you think that your program is going to be the wonder that it proclaims?"
Rainy,
this is not personal
your XP comment displays a huge ignorance of what is involved for a corporate to change a key system.
I just rolled out an upgrade from widows 3.11 to XP for a bank, I had automate the entire installation, including all applications, many of which had conflicts both with XP and each other which involved repackaging the setup programs into MSI's, loading all setups into a database, running conlict resolution over each new application and resolving issues where different applications would install differnet versions of the same dll, create different registry keys for the same apps, and 30 plus other conflicts.
Then I had to roll the system out in stages, windows XP PC's on some desks, widows 3.11 on others, all sharing office files and the banking systems. I had to be able to rollback to windows 3.11 in under an hour if any critical problems were found. Business interruption was simply not allowed, the bank had to continue business as normal at all times.
In addition to that I had to recommend install and roll out the management tools to effect the upgrade. Keep the managers happy the BOD and at the same time explain what I was doing at each step in detail to management consultants who worked one day a week for what I earned in a week to ensure the project stayed on track, knowing fuill well that they hadn't the wit to understand half of the issues involved, and were coming out with suggestions on ways forward that had holes you could drive a bus through.
If management backed Project management the project would fail, if they backed me then they had no defence from bod IF i DIDN'T DELIVER.
I was on a fixed price contract, Project managers on time and materials, they made more out of arguments, I got nothing out of resolving the rubbish they talked and negotiating to keep everyone onside on track and focussed. A 4 month project took over 8 months.
The project was to upgrade the desktop from windows 3.11 to windows XP. That required a server upgrade (NW4.11 to NW6), Application upgrades (MS office was the easiiest though had by for the most erros in it when run through conflict solver), desktop management sofwtare (Zenworks and admininstudio, and all new hardware throughout including test Ntewaorks and the Disaster Recovewry site.
A Tour operator moving to TT/SB from their existing system is a lot more like the project I descrihbed above and absolutely nothing like taking a PC, formatting the hard drive and waiting for windows XP setup program to run. ALmost anyone can do the latter in an hour. In comparison, 70% of large corporate IT projects fail. TT/SB and their customers lie somewhere in between.
Hope that gives you a taste of wehat is involved, I didn't even get to talk about data take on, change management and training....
My g/f is working on a systems upgrade for the NHS. They have to review business processes by talking to staff. Carry out a BPR (business process re-enginerering design, get it approved, write / customeise the software (It may be in Oracle too, just like TT) and roll-out. Initial estimates are 7 years, everyone is already sure it will run over, and they are barely 1 year in.