So what do I do in application support? Support the applications is the obvious answer. A more realistic answer is support the end users by maintaining and enhancing the tools they use to do their job.
The environment I support is a wide array of integrated applications that are built on numerous platforms, in multiple languages and not only talk to each other but across multiple other organisations to their applications.
What could possibly go wrong?
Scenario 1: Sometimes we send data to another organisation, they store it, manipulate it and when it comes back its not always in the pristine validated condition it was as when we sent it. Our system doesn’t like it any more as it no longer matches the record we have at our end and throws a hissy fit on the way back in. We have to repair it. Those are data fixes. They are frequent and numerous and make up a large portion of what our developers do on a day-to-day basis.
Scenario 2: As good as you make an application, and for all of the testing you do, there is always some scenario that you miss or don’t test thoroughly enough. The end result? Bugs. Bugs aren’t always simple to fix and aren’t always within our domain to fix. The problem could be across an inter-agency interface or embedded in a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) product and as a result unfixable. Or some could be just a result of the risk based testing you did (or didn’t do) and will require analysis, coding, testing and pushing through the various environments before releasing back into the wild.
Scenario 3: Patching or upgrading of underlying operating systems often introduce changes of functionality (or the application just stops working completely). Without the patches and upgrades though the operating system or COTS product may not be supported by the vendor. Any issues and the first question they ask is “Have you installed the latest updates?”. If the answer is No then the response is generally consistent across vendors. “Then that is what you need to do first”.
Scenario 4: User errors that can’t be reversed through the user interface (with generic permissions). If the user can’t fix it then it goes to a tier 1 support group who have power privileges to the application and can do things the end users can’t. Sometimes its a data fix, otherwise it may be a process that is locked up for whatever reason and the support crew (who are superusers) can remedy through their admin screen or admin account and wind back the process or just reset a status.
Scenario 5: Sometimes applications just stop responding, Sometimes they just won’t start. Sometimes they become slow beyond being usable.
Everything needs analysis before further action. And that is part of what my team does.
Apart from bug and data fixes………
Next article will be What else do we do?