brown@lincoln.ac.nz (06/11/91)
Our computer technicians are looking for a multi-user, multi-access inventory and faults recording and analysis system. We are looking for information on what products are available/in use, contact names/addresses, pricing/support information, user experiences, etc. The preferred platform is : - VAX/VMS, including a number of compilers, Rdb Our only other platform choice is : - Novell/DOS, typically ATs with 1 Mb memory, Turbo compilers, Paradox Below is the specification, as far as it has been developed, for the system we would write if we had to write it ourselves. While we would still be interested in hearing about systems which can handle most but not all of our requirements, this will give some idea of what we have in mind. ________________________________________________________________________________ Martyn Brown Phone: 64.3.252811 extn 8012 Senior Computer Consultant Fax: 64.3.252944 Centre for Computing and Biometrics Pacnet: 05301.30000047::m.brown P. O. Box 84, Lincoln University Bitnet: m.brown%lincoln.ac.nz@relay.cs.net Canterbury, New Zealand Internet: m.brown@lincoln.ac.nz -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inventory base record : - Inventory Number (primary key) in the form llnnnn, eg MB0578 - Manufacturer - Model - Serial number - Delivery date Inventory activity record : - Inventory number (primary key) - Activity date (secondary key) - Owner - Charge code for repairs - Current location (secondary key) - Building - Level - Room - Designated location - Building - Level - Room - Maintainer - Comments Hardware Fault record : - Fault number (primary key) system automatically allocates next unused number to a new fault - Inventory number (secondary key) - Status (0=Entered, 3=High priority, 4=Medium priority, 5=Low priority, 1=Waiting for parts, 2=Sent away, 9=Closed) (secondary key) - Technician assigned - Time fault was reported - Contact person's name and phone number - Fault code - Description of fault - Time fault was logged with support company - Name of support company - Time service was restored - Time support company engineer arrived - Time fault was fixed - Repair action taken Hardware Fault record : - Fault number (primary key) system automatically allocates next unused number to a new fault - Inventory number (secondary key) - Status (0=Entered, 3=High priority, 4=Medium priority, 5=Low priority, 1=Waiting for parts, 2=Sent away, 9=Closed) (secondary key) - Technician assigned - Time fault was reported - Contact person's name and phone number - Fault code - Description of fault - Time fault was logged with support company - Name of support company - Time service was restored - Time support company engineer arrived - Time fault was fixed - Repair action taken - Time fault was fixed - Repair action taken Software Fault record : - Fault number (primary key) system automatically allocates next unused number to a new fault - Status (0=Entered, 3=High priority, 4=Medium priority, 5=Low priority, 9=Closed) (secondary key) - Consultant assigned - Time fault was reported - Contact person's name and phone number - Fault code - Description of fault - Time fault was logged with support company - Name of support company - Time service was restored On input, the following items need to be checked against lists of known valid entries; also these lists must be able to be updated : Two letters of Inventory number, Manufacturer, Model, Owner, Building, Maintainer, Status, Name of support company When a hardware fault is entered, the system should : - look up the corresponding Inventory base record and ask the user to verify the Manufacturer, Model and Serial number of the item as a cross check. - look up the most recent corresponding Inventory activity record, to verify that the Current location is up-to-date. If not, generate a new activity record from the old one, with Current location updated. The frequent user activities will be : - entering a new inventory item (one base record plus an initial activity record) - modifying an inventory item (a new activity record) - entering a fault - displaying and modifying outstanding hardware faults a) summary by status, one fault per line, giving fault number, inventory number, status, technician assigned, fault code, first few chars of description) b) detail by status, one fault per screen giving all info. c) summary by technician assigned d) detail by technician assigned - displaying and modifying outstanding software faults in status order a) summary, one fault per line, giving fault number, status, consultant assigned, fault code, first few chars of description) b) detail, one fault per screen giving all info. c) summary by consultant assigned d) detail by consultant assigned Infrequent user activities include : - displaying the history of an inventory item in reverse chronological order (inventory activities and faults interleaved based on timestamp) a) in summary, one per line b) in detail, one per screen - finding all inventory items of a particular kind (all VT220s, all items delivered before 1 Jan 1989,...) a) in summary, one per line b) in detail, giving inventory base plus latest inventory activity records - analysing fault data, eg, finding the mean time to restore service by fault code - updating the validation lists for the various fields