larry@focsys.uucp (Larry Williamson) (08/09/90)
I want to automate our archaic, manual timesheet system. Every week we have to fill out these silly paper(!) forms reporting how much time we spent on which projects. Then someone must type all this info in to some other system. This is crazy. It does not much matter how we enter the data, it would be nice simply to be able to type it in every day and have the results posted to the proper authorities each week. It may be based on . a database (informix for example) . a spreadsheet (sco professional (lotus look-a-like) for example) . flat ascii files created by shell scripts and processed by awk or perl or ?? . ?? Any suggestions? Pointers? Help? -Larry
ssdken@watson.Claremont.EDU (Ken Nelson) (08/09/90)
In article <LARRY.90Aug8122254@focsys.uucp>, larry@focsys.uucp (Larry Williamson) writes: |> |> I want to automate our archaic, manual timesheet system. |> |> Every week we have to fill out these silly paper(!) forms reporting |> how much time we spent on which projects. Then someone must type all |> this info in to some other system. |> |> This is crazy. |> |> It does not much matter how we enter the data, it would be nice simply |> to be able to type it in every day and have the results posted to the |> proper authorities each week. |> |> It may be based on |> . a database (informix for example) |> . a spreadsheet (sco professional (lotus look-a-like) for example) |> . flat ascii files created by shell scripts and processed by awk or |> perl or ?? |> . ?? |> It seems to me that any system must have access to whatever system that "other person" is entering the data into. So, if you have access why not have everybody just type it directly into the system the "other person" is typing it into. If that is not feasible, then I imagine a system could be fashioned out of any of the approaches you mentioned. But they would still require some kind of access to the final time tracking system. AWK would do it very easily using associative arrays indexed by project names etc..... Good luck, Ken Nelson Principal Engineer Software Systems Design 3627 Padua Av. Claremont, CA 91711 (714) 624-3402
kjj@varese.UUCP (Kevin Johnson) (08/09/90)
In article <LARRY.90Aug8122254@focsys.uucp> larry@focsys.uucp (Larry Williamson) writes: >I want to automate our archaic, manual timesheet system. > >It does not much matter how we enter the data, it would be nice simply >to be able to type it in every day and have the results posted to the >proper authorities each week. > >It may be based on >. a database (informix for example) >. a spreadsheet (sco professional (lotus look-a-like) for example) >. flat ascii files created by shell scripts and processed by awk or > perl or ?? >. ?? IMHO.. Especially if you want historical analysis, you might find that a database package is the only package of the ones listed above designed to handle a non-trivial amount of information. That is, unless you're talking about 3 men in a tub :-) If one is in a multi-machine environment, it might be handy to build it under a client-server model. The idea here being: a. The server accepts a simple predefined format for transactions. b. The client can any form that provides the required format to the server. c. The transmission could be performed via email or via a network socket. This would be especially handy in a programming environment because the transactions could easily be built into the environment as a programmer/department saw fit. Some examples: a. a new emacs mode/window (sorta like buffer-menu ?) b. shell scripts/aliases c. an Motif radio-button window Me - I work in one department as sysadm so I only work under one 'project'. :-) #include <standard_disclaimer> .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Kevin Johnson ...!mcdphx!QIS1!kjj | | QIS System Administrator Motorola MCD kjj@phx.mcd.mot.com |