So, here I am at work, being bored, reading a PHP/MySQL book, taking calls from users. Unfortunately, the call logging system we use here at work is based on Siebel 7. I have never used such a steaming pile of crap as this program. The entire thing is built with Oracle (big surprise, because guess who makes it?) and Java (because they’re retarded). This application is singlehandedly the biggest roadblock to us doing our jobs properly.

Trying to log multiple tickets for a call requires something that it shouldn’t: Notepad. Going from one screen to log the details of the first ticket, then back to the customer data screen to generate a new record, then go INTO that record to enter the data for the next ticket, it’s easier to just copy everything that’s not on the original ticket into Notepad and make the tickets after the fact.

Also: Queries. Why the DEUS is the only field that’s case-insensitive in this application the “Last Name” field? EVERY SINGLE OTHER FIELD requires the search string to EXACTLY match what you’re trying to search for. If an O is capitalized where it shouldn’t be, no match.

Speed-wise, the system is average, though I can probably blame half of that on the hardware it’s running on (given how Oracle is with what they’ll put their software on…), but it could be better.

The biggest problem I think we encounter is the pure complexity of the application itself. There are so many fields listed in the ‘applets’ that aren’t necessary or useful that I have had to pretty much re-configure every single view to only show me the basic information I need at any given point in time. All this other stuff just gets in the way.

I’m through ranting about this for now, but I’ll probably post more about this crapplication at some point again.