[AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa

John R Bartow jbartow at winhaven.net
Sat Oct 11 21:50:10 CDT 2014


I've been contracting with this department longer than anyone in the IT dept. I used to work in IT. I contract out as IT for small business/government. I understand what IT  deals with. It’s a matter of perspective. If this particular IT was ever a capable IT dept they wouldn't have had to contract with me in the first place.

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of James Button
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2014 8:22 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa

Re local government PITA IT dept.
I was a systems support person in the IT team at a local government, and while I agree that there are many aspects of the IT (IS) department attitude that annoy and constrict the selection and usage of facilities, what should also be considered is that many of the users who want to go outside of the boundaries specified by the IT department do not have the expertise to ensure:
Their prospective supplier has the ability to not only deliver but also to SUPPORT their proposal Their prospective supplier has considered the legal requirements on local government They themselves have the expertise to evaluate and identify failure points in the proposal There are adequate backup and recovery provisions in place and being operated properly 

Among the 'fun' I had to deal with were:
Contract requiring NO changes to the installed hardware or software during the life of the product.
Not even fixes and hardware upgrades such as a bigger and faster drive, or comms network.

System supplied within a contract that stated  no documentation would be supplied.

Maintenance limited to a specific third party due to the built to spec hardware.
The supplier and the wholly owned maintenance company ceased trading

Charges of over a weeks pay for me for a 'techy' to visit and replace faulty cables, or do minor upgrades such as get the system to use a new printer - charge per 'action' not per visit.

Only backup option was to image the entire system (the app was interweaved throughout the OS - e.g. windows registry, policy, special drivers, hard links, hardware lock-down - you name the 'securing' technique - they seemed to have used it.

No changes/upgrade considerations in the contract - so even statutorily required changes were the subject of a whole new 'contract' negotiation.


AND -
Yes if your management insisted, you could go your own way with IT dept  support available on an as-available, and charged on a man-day basis.


Then again - where I was, PC supplies and support was partially 3rd partied under the control of the IT support staff.
So the user called us, and we got supplies delivered, or engineers, or suppliers staff to attend and as needed to keep the user department functioning effectively - do swap-outs, or training  etc. 
That support mostly included within the supply contracts - you supply, you install, configure, train, and maintain, and upgrade with parts we purchase from you or other suppliers.

Then 'acquisition' was moved to 'Purchasing' who looked for the cheapest supplier - 
note supply cost,  not install, configure train support and maintain.

So they would save - say 5% on PC supply - previously delivered, unboxed, assembled, and got working with the user involved as appropriate.

Now just delivered - as in the user had to sign for the boxes delivered to 'reception'.
Want a printer - previously installed onto system - having been delivered complete with pack of paper, cables etc.
Now printer is in the box, cables are extra - yes that is interface and mains cables, paper yes a box will cost you 
Installation - well our support staff charge is ...

So before castigating an IT department for constraining systems acquisition - consider the cost of having the ancillary functions and processes done properly. 

JimB     

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John R Bartow
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2014 12:17 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa
Importance: High

>From previous conversations here it would appear that it wouldn't be allowed. This is for a local government client with a very controlling (read PITA) IT Dept.

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 4:51 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa

Go with Alpha Anywhere. Free trial available and wonderful demos to prove what it can do.

Arthur

On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 4:03 AM, Gustav Brock <gustav at cactus.dk> wrote:

> Hi John
>
> Yes, Access is more and more positioned as a frontend tool for SharePoint.
> Access apps for SharePoint.
> This may not at all be irrelevant as SharePoint is included in many of 
> the Office 365 subscription plans, thus are or will be much more 
> accessible for the masses.
>
> /gustav
>
>
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:
> accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af John R Bartow
> Sendt: 10. oktober 2014 09:42
> Til: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Emne: Re: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa
> Prioritet: Høj
>
> Hi Gustav,
> From what I've read it appears to possibly be the beginning of the 
> future of MS Office application development. I'm looking at possibly 
> having to port a rather large, old (originally A97 and upgraded twice) 
> Access VBA application to it. I've looked over the JavaScript object 
> models for Office online and there isn't one for Access. I am thinking 
> I would then need to use the Outlook, Word, Excel and SharePoint OM to 
> attempt to have similar functionality. Seems daunting at the moment.
>
> Regards,
> John B
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav 
> Brock
> Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 12:51 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa
>
> Hi John
>
> It's still on my to-do list, but real work has kept me away.
>
> /gustav
>
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af John R 
> Bartow
> Sendt: 10. oktober 2014 07:46
> Til: DBA-Access
> Emne: [AccessD] Office 365/RT development using Napa
> Prioritet: Høj
>
> Hi all,
> It's been available for over a year now, has anyone delved into "Napa" 
> and developed anything yet?
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj220038(v=office.15).a
> spx
>
> John B
>
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> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>



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