E
Edward Hermanson
I have what will probably sound like a stupid question. I am a developer
that was hired by a friend who was hired by a company (sub sub-contractor)
to build a custom outlook form solution. It is a large company using Windows
2000 Advanced Server and Exchange Server on a fairly complicated network
with many client computers in dofferent environments including OWA clients.
When I started the project I had no access to the company network (as their
environment is VERY secure and allows NO access from outsiders) or IS staff
and knew only what they provided my client as specifications for their
environment. The form they wanted was a type of order form and was to read
data sources from database files, perform calculations, write to files and
use custom print functions with word templates. In their specs it said forms
had to be published to organizational folders due to organizational form
storage so I assumed that they knew the form definitions would have to be
read from a trusted source and that this was part of their security
protocol.
Building the form was easy. The problem started when we went there to
demo/install and the administrator said the company did not publish forms.
He said they had to use templates on shared disc storage (contrary to the
environment specs they provided). I successfully demonstrated the form by
running in design view but know there would be many issues to come. I
discovered they did in fact have a process for publishing forms and we got
someone at the compay to go through the process and got it published.
We immediately had issues with functionality not behaving as expected and
after going to the company again (over and hour away as the administrator
did not seem to understand the issues over the phone) I quickly determined
that they had one-off forms and could tell the form definition was being
included with the item when it was published even though I had made it clear
in the documentation it must not be. They also had syncronization issues
with offline folders at some of the locations and knew this had to be fixed.
After new instructions to publish the forms without the definition, they
began recieving default mail messages instead of the custom forms. Obviously
the definitions were not being read from the published source but by now the
company, the administrator ( who still did not seem to understand where all
this was going ) and my friend were becoming impatient with me. Aparently
they believed it was my responsibily to make it work even though I had no
access to the network and the admin was doing nothing but what I
specifically told him to do (Very hands off as I came to believe he was not
consulted on the project before hand. In a phone conversation while
attemting to explain the issues "just put it all in the documentation and
I'll follow that and see if it works".).
I have explained the issues to my friend and the admin and made it clear
that the form definition has to be read from a trusted source when the item
is opened and suggested that if they can not get it to work any other way,
to publish the form to the users Personal Forms Library as there will be no
more than 30 users.
I have a feeling that the admin will not do this, however I see no other
alternative with the issues they are having and the fact that I cannot make
changes to their network myself and am getting very little help from the
administrator.
My question is, who is responsible for getting this to work? If the company
will not configure their network to allow access to the published form
definition when the item is opened I cannot do any thing about it obviously,
but now I am concerned that my friend (who is not a programmer) and the
people at the company who are not savvy enough to understand the issues
(including the executives) will think it is my fault that is does not work.
I don't want my friend to get in trouble (or get sued) and I don't want to
let anyone down. Was it my responsibility to forsee all this in advance or
is it their responsibility to make sure their network can support the
application before they hire someone to build it (or configure it correctly
afterwards)?
In an email to my friend the administrator has already accused me of not
knowing what I am doing. This is very frustrating as I seem to be the only
one troubleshooting the issues and all he want to do is make sure he can
blame someone.
Any help in any area (tehcnical, business, legal, OR company politics) would
be appreciated.
Edward Hermanson
that was hired by a friend who was hired by a company (sub sub-contractor)
to build a custom outlook form solution. It is a large company using Windows
2000 Advanced Server and Exchange Server on a fairly complicated network
with many client computers in dofferent environments including OWA clients.
When I started the project I had no access to the company network (as their
environment is VERY secure and allows NO access from outsiders) or IS staff
and knew only what they provided my client as specifications for their
environment. The form they wanted was a type of order form and was to read
data sources from database files, perform calculations, write to files and
use custom print functions with word templates. In their specs it said forms
had to be published to organizational folders due to organizational form
storage so I assumed that they knew the form definitions would have to be
read from a trusted source and that this was part of their security
protocol.
Building the form was easy. The problem started when we went there to
demo/install and the administrator said the company did not publish forms.
He said they had to use templates on shared disc storage (contrary to the
environment specs they provided). I successfully demonstrated the form by
running in design view but know there would be many issues to come. I
discovered they did in fact have a process for publishing forms and we got
someone at the compay to go through the process and got it published.
We immediately had issues with functionality not behaving as expected and
after going to the company again (over and hour away as the administrator
did not seem to understand the issues over the phone) I quickly determined
that they had one-off forms and could tell the form definition was being
included with the item when it was published even though I had made it clear
in the documentation it must not be. They also had syncronization issues
with offline folders at some of the locations and knew this had to be fixed.
After new instructions to publish the forms without the definition, they
began recieving default mail messages instead of the custom forms. Obviously
the definitions were not being read from the published source but by now the
company, the administrator ( who still did not seem to understand where all
this was going ) and my friend were becoming impatient with me. Aparently
they believed it was my responsibily to make it work even though I had no
access to the network and the admin was doing nothing but what I
specifically told him to do (Very hands off as I came to believe he was not
consulted on the project before hand. In a phone conversation while
attemting to explain the issues "just put it all in the documentation and
I'll follow that and see if it works".).
I have explained the issues to my friend and the admin and made it clear
that the form definition has to be read from a trusted source when the item
is opened and suggested that if they can not get it to work any other way,
to publish the form to the users Personal Forms Library as there will be no
more than 30 users.
I have a feeling that the admin will not do this, however I see no other
alternative with the issues they are having and the fact that I cannot make
changes to their network myself and am getting very little help from the
administrator.
My question is, who is responsible for getting this to work? If the company
will not configure their network to allow access to the published form
definition when the item is opened I cannot do any thing about it obviously,
but now I am concerned that my friend (who is not a programmer) and the
people at the company who are not savvy enough to understand the issues
(including the executives) will think it is my fault that is does not work.
I don't want my friend to get in trouble (or get sued) and I don't want to
let anyone down. Was it my responsibility to forsee all this in advance or
is it their responsibility to make sure their network can support the
application before they hire someone to build it (or configure it correctly
afterwards)?
In an email to my friend the administrator has already accused me of not
knowing what I am doing. This is very frustrating as I seem to be the only
one troubleshooting the issues and all he want to do is make sure he can
blame someone.
Any help in any area (tehcnical, business, legal, OR company politics) would
be appreciated.
Edward Hermanson