NWTHS Axiant conversion update

[Walter Lucas III]

Tim,

How do you groan and moan in e-mail? ;-)>

Our systems seem to be about the same size.  Fortuantely, we don't have
users interfacing with demand reports -- yet.  Our QUIZ reports run at night
in a batch process that we intend to keep intact as much as possible.  The
issue of screens has concerned us since we first started talking to Cognos,
and it is to this end that we really hope CCI can help us.

I'm going to tell my DBA about your stability problems, especialy since we
also have a Compaq server and Billy Boy's software.

We have the latest and greatest Axiant, build 8.26, though to be honest, I
wouldn't know one from the other.  The last time I looked at Axiant, it was
separate from Powerhouse.

As far as the conference goes, we might go if we knew what it was.  No
information has come our way.

Walter

-----Original Message-----
From: Snyder, Timothy <snydert@bsci.com>
To: 'Walter Lucas III' <whl3@nwths.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 1999 1:40 PM
Subject: RE: NWTHS Axiant conversion update


Walter,
Thanks for the update of the progress of your Axiant efforts.
I think you may be a little ambitious to get such a large effort
done so quickly but you have very qualified assistance from Creative
Computing.  We have had several of their best Axiant gurus here from time to
time and we are actually running a production application (went live in June
1998).  We migrated from HP/Image Powerhouse 7.09 QDD to NT/SqlServer also
with Fast Start services.  It took us over a year to migrate just one
application (60 screens, 60 reports) with about 100 registered users (5-15
concurrent).
We have had many problems with the stability of the repository
(particularly with more than one developer working at a time), the stability
of the server (more a Compaq/Microsoft hardware/OS issue we think), and the
performance of QUIZ reports.  We allow run-time prompts from the QUIZ
reports and have had to embed SQL (cursors, stored procedures, etc) to get
decent run times.  If you can run QUIZ on your server instead of the
desktops, you may get better results.
Keep in touch.  There are very few active Axiant sites out there and
I think Cognos needs to know that we expect better results than we have seen
recently.  What build of Axiant are you using?  Do you plan to attend the
conference?
Tim Snyder
Boston Scientific
508-650-8420

----------
From:  Walter Lucas III [SMTP:whl3@nwths.com]
Sent:  Tuesday, July 13, 1999 2:29 PM
To:  Powerhouse Maillist
Subject:  NWTHS Axiant conversion update

Hey guys,

Way back in April I sent a message asking about Oracle and Axiant
for NT saying that were migrating from the HP-3000 MPE platform.

The information I received help a lot :-)>   Thanks.

I also promised to keep you informed of how the process was
evolving.

It is in this light that I offer the following.


0 AD - Chist is crucified, Christianity is born, and so is the Y2K
problem.

1582 - Pope Gregory XIII puts us on the Gregorian calendar system
and takes 10 days out of the year.

1622 - The slide rule is invented

1623 - The mechanical calculating machine is invented

1833 - Babbage invents his Analytical Machine

1890 - Here come the punch cards

1924 - CTR (Calculating-Tabulating-Recording) becomes IBM

1946 - The birth of ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And
Calculator) Now we can program!

1964 - BASIC is invented.  Now anyone can program, but memory is
high, and the machines don't have much.  Code must be written efficiently.
Years are two-digits.
            Does anyone see a problem?

1992 - Some people start to make noise about a problem with
computers at the turn of the century.

1998 - The rest of the world starts to figure it out.  We start our
own Y2K solutions.

Jan 1999 - We look at Oracle as a base for movement from the
soon-to-be-defunct, non-compliant, HP mainframe.

Feb 1999 - We contact Cognos about the Fast Start package.  We have
15 years of mainframe Powerhouse experience and feel this is the fastest and
most efficient route to take.  We start taking Oracle 8 courses and order a
huge file server and NT.  [We think nine months of lead time should get us
through the conversion in time.]

Mar 1999 - We don't have Axiant, but I did get to speak to a nice
Englishman who asked me some questions about the application.  [Eight months
is still plenty of time for a project that shouldn't take more than six
months to complete.]

Apr 1999 - I come to you guys for help with the Oracle issue.  The
Englishman I talked to has been spirited away, and we are forgotten.  [Seven
months will work.]

May 1999 - We find out that Axiant will not work with Oracle 8.  We
find out from a tech.  Lesson learned:  Always go to the guys who fix the
problems.  We order Oracle 7.3 and get it.  No Axiant.  [Well, we thought we
could do it in six months.  It looks like we get the chance to see.]

Jun 1999 - We get Axiant, but we can't convert our old QDDR
dictionary to PDL, so we begin a round-and-round about upgrading the system.
Money changes hands, and we are told we can get a new version of QSHOW to
help us convert.  Yea!  [If we give up Thanksgiving, we should be OK.]

Jul 1999 - It's the middle of the month.  We have Oracle installed,
Axiant installed.  We still don't have the QSHOW upgrade, but it's coming.
However, it's available only on CD.  Any of you have a CD-ROM drive on your
HP-3000s?  I think they are sending us a PC version.  I've sent an e-mail.
We still don't have a consultant scheduled to help us start our education.
Maybe by August, maybe not.  I did learn that we didn't get the 10 days of
consulting that we thought we ordered.  I'd thought we had a week, the folks
at Creative Computing planned on sending us someone for a week.  I rechecked
the invoice and saw I signed-off on four days.  Worse still, Cognos says we
bought 10 coupons, not days.  My contract says otherwise, but this is going
to cause further delays.  [Maybe if we give up Christmas and weekends...]


And there you have it.  The sad journal of a small hospital in a
small town in a very large state.  Well maybe not so small on either
account.  Still, the frustration is worse than the impending deadline.

On the plus side, I have met some very nice people through the mail,
I get lots of rest at work, and I can play Free Cell with the best of them.

Until the next installment (hopefully soon and much happier),

Walter


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