Pointer Corporation

The Information Technology Architects

Project Management and Database Solutions ...
From the Desktop to the World

How to Dispatch the Fire Engines BEFORE They Call 911

Using an Old Tool in a New Way

Picture This:  You're under a deadline to finish a project, using an in-house custom software.  Something goes wrong and before you get a chance to save your work, an unexpected error message pops on the screen.  In a desperate panic, you grab a pen and right down whatever you see on the screen and then reach into the drawer to find your personal phone book and lookup the phone number for the help desk.

But wait a second, they just moved you to a new cubicle and you haven't quite unpacked everything yet.  Where's the phone book?  What's the help desk's phone number?

And then, the phone rings; you pick it up ... it's the help desk.  They're aware of your system's problem and all the necessary details; they have contacted the on-call system's person and they apologize for your inconvenience.

You hang up the phone, pause for a second, and look around to see if a candid camera is across the isle pointing at you.  There are no cameras.

Here's what happened: Your application's developer went the extra mile and included the following in your system:

  • An error-trapping routine, which captures name of the program causing any error condition, line number of the code where the programmer needs to look at, in order to fix the problem, and any other necessary details;
  • A link to your company's e-mail system;
  • An automated e-mail from the error-trapping routine to the help desk.

Sounds like having an intelligent smoke-detector in you kitchen or bedroom that calls 911, in case there's nobody home to deal with the situation in a timely manner.

Ben Aminnia, president of Pointer Corporation,  is a database architect with over 20 years of experience.  He's also the president of Los Angeles SQL Server Professionals Group www.sql.la and a board member of Los Angeles .NET Developers Group www.ladotnet.org.     

 

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