FAO : Anyone who works for SAP

[Wij]

Never let the business decide how a system works. They should (nay must) give detailed requirements but the actual business logic the system follows and the user interface need to be IT led. The business do not understand how systems should be consistent and what can and cannot be enforced in a system.

I had business people insisting that a certain piece of paper had to be swiped through a certain reader before staff could go home. "The system has to force them !", they insisted. Unfortunately our computers aren't linked to the doorways in our outlets and they have no control over their own off-switches so we just end up with a system that constantly annoys us when trying to use it in a testing environment without the full set of hardware.

System-design is a constant drain on my patience

 

[TdC]

ME:you must include a facility for backups in your system design
THEY: too expensive, bugger off thx
*system crashes*
THEY: please return the system to the state it was in yesterday or we'll call your boss and tell him what a heel you are and how you failed to implement a backup recovery system.

or Wij's example:

THEY:the system must force the user to do suchandsuch!
ME: ok
*everyone hates the system and finds ways to bypass it because it's so shit so the point becomes moot*