Re: Programmer Authorities

[DAsmussen@xxxxxxx]

Howard,

In a message dated 97-09-16 14:28:46 EDT, you write:

> If you dont trust your programmers and give them some sense of  your 
>  confidence
>  in them,  they will soon be working for your competitors.

True, but if we let them run amok they could cost us more in a day than they
would earn for us in a YEAR!  Heck, _I've_ accidentally deleted
files/programs that I thought were in MY library but instead were in
higher-order libraries for development and prototype.  At these levels, the
objects were easily replaceable.  In production, I would have shut down the
largest plant of its kind in the WORLD for almost a day!

When your production backups are taken over an hour's drive away every
morning by an archival service, it's no small matter to restore data files.
 It takes an hour or so for the tapes to be located by the service, then you
have to wait for an available delivery driver, then another hour to bring the
tapes back, then who knows how long for someone in Operations to be available
to restore it.  The latter only IF objects aren't locked that require another
hour or so to get all 300 users off the system!

EVERYONE makes mistakes (well -- I thought I was wrong once, but I was
mistaken).  We have an obligation as IS personnel to minimize the impact of
those mistakes on production data and programs.  Restricting developer access
to production data/programs is only one, but an integral, part of this.

I realize that on small /400's this is often not a large issue.  Heck, I used
to specialize in small systems.  But the AS/400 has grown exponentially and
precautions MUST be taken.  If you've ever been on a shop floor and watched
100 hourly employees sit down SIMULTANEOUSLY when a router went down, you'd
rapidly grasp the importance of keeping a tight grip on who affects
performance of production programs.  I'm all for restricting developer
access, as long as it's not just a wholesale removal of command line
access...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@AOL.COM

"Let us be thankful for the fools.  But for them the rest of us could not
succeed." --(Mark Twain)
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