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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Geek Squad
()
Date: April 20, 2012 05:50PM
Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Friday - 4/20/2012, 6:43am ET
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=149&sid=2834582
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Fairfax County is suspending work on the last phase of a $43 million contract to overhaul its computer system.
The county advised SAP Public Services of its intent to suspend work on the Fairfax County Unified System project this month after the software company requested "extraordinary additional costs," The Washington Post reports. The county says SAP's request to bill an extra 11,000 hours for technical support is improper.
The project is intended to save money by consolidating purchases and other administrative procedures in a database serving the county and its public schools. However, it has been married by delays and problems.
The county also says in its letter that the bugs caused a four-month delay in the project's launch and have persisted since it became operational in November.
Friday - 4/20/2012, 6:43am ET
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=149&sid=2834582
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Fairfax County is suspending work on the last phase of a $43 million contract to overhaul its computer system.
The county advised SAP Public Services of its intent to suspend work on the Fairfax County Unified System project this month after the software company requested "extraordinary additional costs," The Washington Post reports. The county says SAP's request to bill an extra 11,000 hours for technical support is improper.
The project is intended to save money by consolidating purchases and other administrative procedures in a database serving the county and its public schools. However, it has been married by delays and problems.
The county also says in its letter that the bugs caused a four-month delay in the project's launch and have persisted since it became operational in November.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
holy carp
()
Date: April 21, 2012 05:46AM
Seems to me the county has had a number of other computer programs they tried to install in recent years go blooey
must be getting close to $100 million+ in new software that could never get to work
why can't great big fairfax county get its shit together and the beat goes on
must be getting close to $100 million+ in new software that could never get to work
why can't great big fairfax county get its shit together and the beat goes on
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Olde Farte, II
()
Date: April 21, 2012 09:01AM
The problem is that the management was convinced that SAP was the way to go (probably rather than homegrown) - I've seen that happen before and not work quite as well as expected.
There's an old saying "No one ever got fired for recommending IBM" or something like that - this applies equally to SAP, unfortunately.
There's an old saying "No one ever got fired for recommending IBM" or something like that - this applies equally to SAP, unfortunately.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Lester
()
Date: April 21, 2012 10:01AM
The new purchasing system
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpsm/news-update.htm
I did one back in the 90s. It took me about 15 months. There was a team of about six contractors on the mainframe side handling the finance/billing portion of the system.
The contractors tend to throw a lot of bodies at projects, especially since the markup is larger on the recent graduates. One really good senior technical person can do as much as five or ten ordinary systems people. If they suck, it doesn't matter how many they throw at the project...
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpsm/news-update.htm
I did one back in the 90s. It took me about 15 months. There was a team of about six contractors on the mainframe side handling the finance/billing portion of the system.
The contractors tend to throw a lot of bodies at projects, especially since the markup is larger on the recent graduates. One really good senior technical person can do as much as five or ten ordinary systems people. If they suck, it doesn't matter how many they throw at the project...
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
free cheese
()
Date: April 21, 2012 10:02AM
Bah its only money. Bulova will say there is plenty more where that came from.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Ironic
()
Date: April 21, 2012 10:13AM
So they terminate it for a request for extraordinary additional cost. My Job is to price out IT Services contracts. An average billable fulltime man year is around 1900 - 2000 hours , So with SAP is requesting an addition 5 fulltime guys for a year if thats how much more time they need. Even if those guys were higher end and making $100K to really high end $150K or so by the time you burden it with overhead and profit your probably looking $300K per year year per person. How exactly is another $1 - $2 million on a $43 Million investment extraordinary ?
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Qwest
()
Date: April 21, 2012 10:14AM
Adding resources to a late software project only makes it later.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Lester
()
Date: April 21, 2012 11:17AM
Tech support add-on is supposed to be for bug fix. They're asking for 11,000 man-hours or one more year of a staff of nearly six. It sounds like the system is incomplete and needs major rework.
It doesn't compare to this DOD monstrosity where the government pissed away $4 billion on a program that they could've done for $3 million.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JUAN GONZALEZ: And when they didn’t use your system, they—the NSA developed another or attempted to develop another system to do the same?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, that one failed. They didn’t produce anything with that one.
AMY GOODMAN: And that one was called?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Trailblazer, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Trailblazer, and—
WILLIAM BINNEY: I called it—I called it five-year plan number one. Five-year plan number two was Turbulence. Five-year plan number three is—
AMY GOODMAN: And Trailblazer cost how much money?
WILLIAM BINNEY: That was, I think, in my—my sense, was a little over $4 billion.
AMY GOODMAN: Four billion dollars.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: But it was scuttled. It was done away with in 2006?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes, '05, I think it was. But yes, that's right. And we developed our program with $3 million, roughly.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Trailblazer was largely developed by SAIC, the—
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, they were contributing contractors, yeah. But they—I think they had the lead—they were the lead contractors in some of contracts, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And why did they go with this one, though, ultimately, they did not use it? This is under Michael Hayden at the time?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes. Well—
AMY GOODMAN: Under the Bush administration?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, I thought—my sense was it was a good employment program. And it was a large budget program. It would spend money, a lot of money, so it would build the budget and—
AMY GOODMAN: Go to a major weapons manufacturer.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: And heads of the agency, National Security Agency, would go back and forth working at NSA, working at SAIC.
WILLIAM BINNEY: It was—we called it an incestuous relationship, yeah.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_national_security_agency_whistleblower_william
It doesn't compare to this DOD monstrosity where the government pissed away $4 billion on a program that they could've done for $3 million.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JUAN GONZALEZ: And when they didn’t use your system, they—the NSA developed another or attempted to develop another system to do the same?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, that one failed. They didn’t produce anything with that one.
AMY GOODMAN: And that one was called?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Trailblazer, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Trailblazer, and—
WILLIAM BINNEY: I called it—I called it five-year plan number one. Five-year plan number two was Turbulence. Five-year plan number three is—
AMY GOODMAN: And Trailblazer cost how much money?
WILLIAM BINNEY: That was, I think, in my—my sense, was a little over $4 billion.
AMY GOODMAN: Four billion dollars.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: But it was scuttled. It was done away with in 2006?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes, '05, I think it was. But yes, that's right. And we developed our program with $3 million, roughly.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Trailblazer was largely developed by SAIC, the—
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, they were contributing contractors, yeah. But they—I think they had the lead—they were the lead contractors in some of contracts, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And why did they go with this one, though, ultimately, they did not use it? This is under Michael Hayden at the time?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes. Well—
AMY GOODMAN: Under the Bush administration?
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, I thought—my sense was it was a good employment program. And it was a large budget program. It would spend money, a lot of money, so it would build the budget and—
AMY GOODMAN: Go to a major weapons manufacturer.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: And heads of the agency, National Security Agency, would go back and forth working at NSA, working at SAIC.
WILLIAM BINNEY: It was—we called it an incestuous relationship, yeah.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_national_security_agency_whistleblower_william
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Fact Checker
()
Date: April 21, 2012 11:21AM
Lester Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tech support add-on is supposed to be for bug fix.
> They're asking for 11,000 man-hours or one more
> year of a staff of nearly six. It sounds like the
> system is incomplete and needs major rework.
>
> It doesn't compare to this DOD monstrosity where
> the government pissed away $4 billion on a program
> that they could've done for $3 million.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------
>
> JUAN GONZALEZ: And when they didn’t use your
> system, they—the NSA developed another or
> attempted to develop another system to do the
> same?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, that one failed. They
> didn’t produce anything with that one.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And that one was called?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Trailblazer, yeah.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Trailblazer, and—
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: I called it—I called it
> five-year plan number one. Five-year plan number
> two was Turbulence. Five-year plan number three
> is—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And Trailblazer cost how much money?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: That was, I think, in my—my
> sense, was a little over $4 billion.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Four billion dollars.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: But it was scuttled. It was done away
> with in 2006?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes, '05, I think it was. But yes,
> that's right. And we developed our program with $3
> million, roughly.
>
> JUAN GONZALEZ: And Trailblazer was largely
> developed by SAIC, the—
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, they were contributing
> contractors, yeah. But they—I think they had the
> lead—they were the lead contractors in some of
> contracts, yeah.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And why did they go with this one,
> though, ultimately, they did not use it? This is
> under Michael Hayden at the time?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes. Well—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Under the Bush administration?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, I thought—my sense was it
> was a good employment program. And it was a large
> budget program. It would spend money, a lot of
> money, so it would build the budget and—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Go to a major weapons manufacturer.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And heads of the agency, National
> Security Agency, would go back and forth working
> at NSA, working at SAIC.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: It was—we called it an
> incestuous relationship, yeah.
>
> http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_na
> tional_security_agency_whistleblower_william
Very interesting, thanks for posting!
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tech support add-on is supposed to be for bug fix.
> They're asking for 11,000 man-hours or one more
> year of a staff of nearly six. It sounds like the
> system is incomplete and needs major rework.
>
> It doesn't compare to this DOD monstrosity where
> the government pissed away $4 billion on a program
> that they could've done for $3 million.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------
>
> JUAN GONZALEZ: And when they didn’t use your
> system, they—the NSA developed another or
> attempted to develop another system to do the
> same?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, that one failed. They
> didn’t produce anything with that one.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And that one was called?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Trailblazer, yeah.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Trailblazer, and—
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: I called it—I called it
> five-year plan number one. Five-year plan number
> two was Turbulence. Five-year plan number three
> is—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And Trailblazer cost how much money?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: That was, I think, in my—my
> sense, was a little over $4 billion.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Four billion dollars.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: But it was scuttled. It was done away
> with in 2006?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes, '05, I think it was. But yes,
> that's right. And we developed our program with $3
> million, roughly.
>
> JUAN GONZALEZ: And Trailblazer was largely
> developed by SAIC, the—
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, they were contributing
> contractors, yeah. But they—I think they had the
> lead—they were the lead contractors in some of
> contracts, yeah.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And why did they go with this one,
> though, ultimately, they did not use it? This is
> under Michael Hayden at the time?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes. Well—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Under the Bush administration?
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, I thought—my sense was it
> was a good employment program. And it was a large
> budget program. It would spend money, a lot of
> money, so it would build the budget and—
>
> AMY GOODMAN: Go to a major weapons manufacturer.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: Right.
>
> AMY GOODMAN: And heads of the agency, National
> Security Agency, would go back and forth working
> at NSA, working at SAIC.
>
> WILLIAM BINNEY: It was—we called it an
> incestuous relationship, yeah.
>
> http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_na
> tional_security_agency_whistleblower_william
Very interesting, thanks for posting!
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
lololboy
()
Date: April 22, 2012 09:49PM
SAP is going way of EDS... failure after failure of false dreams and promises.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
RayRay
()
Date: April 22, 2012 09:58PM
Uh huh. Wow, another SAP implementation that's late, incomplete, and over cost... Who'd have ever seen that coming. lol
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Observer of Things
()
Date: April 22, 2012 11:04PM
SAP and "extraordinary additional costs?"
Jeez, nobody could have seen that one coming...
Jeez, nobody could have seen that one coming...
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Take a Stand
()
Date: April 23, 2012 08:02PM
My company got bought by another, and we went from using a internal system to SAP.
It is horrible. not just because of the learning curve from our old system , but nothing is intuitive, very buggy.
It is horrible. not just because of the learning curve from our old system , but nothing is intuitive, very buggy.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
RayRay
()
Date: April 23, 2012 08:18PM
Take a Stand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My company got bought by another, and we went from
> using a internal system to SAP.
>
> It is horrible. not just because of the learning
> curve from our old system , but nothing is
> intuitive, very buggy.
The Germans aren't big on intuitive. SAP is designed around "best practices" aka you'll do it our way." You can customize it but then you're into endless development and regression fixes and testing with every new version.
-------------------------------------------------------
> My company got bought by another, and we went from
> using a internal system to SAP.
>
> It is horrible. not just because of the learning
> curve from our old system , but nothing is
> intuitive, very buggy.
The Germans aren't big on intuitive. SAP is designed around "best practices" aka you'll do it our way." You can customize it but then you're into endless development and regression fixes and testing with every new version.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Sharon Bulova
()
Date: April 23, 2012 10:50PM
As I like to say when it comes to taxpayer funds: Easy Come, Easy Go!
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
Gordon Blvd
()
Date: April 24, 2012 06:03AM
wow........we certainly have a lot of money around here..
LoLz
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2012 06:04AM by Gordon Blvd.
LoLz
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2012 06:04AM by Gordon Blvd.
Re: Fairfax Co. suspends work on computer overhaul
Posted by:
FBO
()
Date: April 24, 2012 10:25AM
lololboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SAP is going way of EDS... failure after failure
> of false dreams and promises.
This.... My God this...
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I say "fuck" a lot...
-------------------------------------------------------
> SAP is going way of EDS... failure after failure
> of false dreams and promises.
This.... My God this...
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I say "fuck" a lot...