Advice on My First Project

VHubb16

My first project for my new position in IT is to learn how to maintain and support the foxfire technology systems. I am kinda of by myself here, so I'm trying to figure out how this system works. I am now the only IT person we have, but I'm confident I can figure this out. I have thought about this all weekend and I think I have figured it out but I just want another opinion from someone who has more experience in IT. Foxfire Technologies is a system that manufacturing facilities use to keep track of cut orders in each of their plants. It keeps track of status's on cuts, along with employer absentees, pay codes, and much more. Right now I'm working on trying to get a report that is generated from each plant to show the correct work in progress cut status. We have five plants and for all five, only one report is pulling correctly. No one really knows exactly how to fix this... really no one knows very much about the maintenance and support for the foxfire systems period. This system has been outdated for years and I am pretty sure as of right now they do not want to update since they want me to try and figure it out. From what I can tell... I think I probably will have to use IBConsole to maintain and support the system. When the Foxfire application was installed on my computer, to check the Work In Progress reports, this icon for IBConsole showed up in my start menu. When I open this application it looks like the console panels for the servers. So I'm thinking this is where I would need to go to try to fix the problem with the reports. I'm thinking I would need to go into the parameter for the reports on each plant and check them to make sure they are all set to generate what is needed. Am I thinking right? If anyone has any other suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Lynn

DatabaseHead

Assess the situation and if you are unable to deliver let senior management know that you'll need to reach out the vendor if that is a option. Of course brute force is an option.....

I'd look at the report that is working correctly, capturing all the parameters etc... Then roll into the other reports and start to look at the detail and how they are reporting, where are they off. Then compare the settings, it could be something obvious like a condition that is being missed on the other 4.

Good luck, sounds like you got a nice steamy pile of crap to start off your IT career. Nothing more inspiring than solving a problem on software you'll never be able to leverage in your career and a company to seedy or cheap to actually hire a professional to fix it....

VHubb16

Thanks DatabaseHead, I'm afraid I will be needing all the luck I can get. I didn't have a chance to look into the reports today but your suggestion about the conditions was what I was thinking. I'm going to compare the reports tomorrow and see what I can figure out. Does anyone know of any place I could download a copy of the manual for Foxfire Technologies? There use to be a manual but no one is able to find one. Does anyone have any experience with Foxfire Technologies?

Thanks

EANx

These are great situations, they force you to think outside the box. 14 years ago, I was working at a place and the telephone system started going belly-up. The guy who maintained it was pushing 60 and knew telco but not PCs and this was a "new-fangled" system, new being it was sitting on a 386 (in 2003). I eventually got it working but made sure there were backups (hadn't been in years) and put together a report to management. Got a minor award out of it, which was worth more as a way to prevent someone saying I was doing a bad job.

In my opinion, these are no-lose situations. You win and you look good. You lose and who could expect you to succeed with old tech that isn't your specialty? As you make progress, play up how hard it is to figure out X, Y and Z.

VHubb16

Thanks EANx I'm confident I can do this and I will work hard to get there. I've been researching for weeks just to try and learn as much as possible about the systems that are here. I started my first job in IT making more than what I expected and I do love what I do, computers has always been my thing, so I will keep pushing myself even when it gets rough. My situation is kind of similar to yours... the IT guy that they had, where I work, was hired under contract but wasn't doing his job to make a long story short. This was one reason his hours was cut to only 2 hours a day. When they hired me last summer, I was to replace him once his contract was up. I have learned quite a few things on my way to IT and I also was able to take my first plane flight not long back for a seminar. My first time ever flying and I loved it.

Priston

Looks like they have some videos on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIdajmFhW78FGj5qxOghoIA

Unless it's this really old software
ftp://www.dssapps.com/homepro/FF/FoxfireUserGuide.pdf

DatabaseHead

Try to find a group on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/9397691/ No idea if this is their company but you know what to do.