h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Warning! Serious rant to follow, probably best left ignored, more an attempt to let off some steam than actually looking for support or consolation!


Suddenly I'm the general guru at w*rk? WTF?! *pardon the language*

So... we've been having these meetings on how to design a receipt/invoice that will meet the new demands from the EC...

The problem is that:

1) The EC want to have e-v-e-r-y-t-h-in-g specified on invoices - every little detail, every little item

2) Our customers don't want to know and don't bother - if they've bought a conference package, they're happy with just having to check that the number of packages being charged is correct.

We had this brain-storming meeting last week, with various print-outs of bills based on various ways of trying to solve or get around the regulations.

This was a meeting that included people from the sales dept (the section focused on conferences), the IT dept, the financial dept. (me and my boss) and a representative from the hotels, a 'super-user'.

The suggested solutions all looked a bit clumpsy - so I couldn't help but opening my big mouth and suggesting a solution that seems to be the one that will meet all the demands and that will be the one we'll adopt.

This morning we had another meeting - and the bills looked really neat and correct (based on my suggestion).

But - *I* was asked to write the instructions for the hotels on how to make the changes in the front office system to make this solution work!

I tried to push it back on the IT dept who I really think should be responsible for this, but to no avail!

To make this clear: before I started w*rking at the HQ there was *no one* in the finance dept who knew diddly about the front office system used in the hotels.

If I quit, they won't have *anyone*.

Note: the only reason I know *anything* about the front office system is because when it was first introduced in the hotel where I worked at the time, I demanded to get the same education as the front office staff. I have, however, never actually *used* the system myself.

And just because nosy parker Titania (curious and interested and engaged and enthusiastic and always listening to what's going on with one ear) happens to be working in the finance dept with a knowledge of both the financial system and the front office system - she ends up with this task to write a manual for how to set things up in the front office system.

Riiiight - I don't even have access to the current version of the front office system, so I can't make print screens. I have to rely on a person from our IT dept to provide me with those for the instruction!

This solution will probably end up being the one that will be used in the other Nordic countries as well - worst case scenario will be that once I've managed to put together the instructions in Swedish, I'll end up having to translate them into English! And my knowledge of English isn't really that good - I'm not even a true to begin with!

So.. to sum it up - I w*rk in the Finance dept, but my task is to write detailed instructions on how to change the settings in the front office system for the users of said system - a system that I've never actively used...

Damn!

I'd quit my job this very moment if it weren't for the very good staff benifits..

Right, make it up! your in control, allways works for me! and its EU stuff too so take your time, also ask the EU to help with the translations, as its there stuff they should be able to help (we pay enough)remember theres never enough red tape and if your good it could last for fair few weeks and also you can work from home, bonus points there! yay and start to ask questions of IT department, you know the ones like, do we have the Latest version/working copy of the system, on a pc as so that i can get a feel of it?? and lots of printers too!



If you need a hand.....

Oh, the instruction won't be a very long-winded or complicated one - maybe 2-3 pages depending on the size of the print-screens...

...the thing that annoys me is that I *really* think it's the IT dept who should be writing manuals for the front office system - after all, it's *they* that know all the settings, parameters, file transfers and other things about the front office system.

They are the ones that designed the new look (I don't even have that kind of knowledge)! Since they know how to make the bills look that way, why don't *they* write the manual!

*sulk*

Oh Ti, it's just amusing that we are so different - I am a chemist, but this would really tickle my need for a challenge! Write a manual for a bit of work that I am familiar with, for people I can understand how they think, about a computersystem that I had input into! Imagine this being the very first useful manual ever! IT people are brilliant in many ways, but manuals are not usually one of them...

Now, set off and get the IT people spill their beans about the techie stuff, and transform it into front office speak!




tjing
Milla

Oh, I don't mind the occasional challenge - provided I'm not already swamped with w*rk.

Last week it was the Food & Beverage dept who wanted help with a manual for new settings and revenue controls in the restaurant system - which I've never ever used, by the way...

...this week it has been the big boss of the finance dept (my boss's boss) who has been breathing down my neck about getting out some financial instructions to the hotels, coming up with last minute changes all the time, unplanned immediate meetings to check the latest updates (usually at a time of day that causes me to miss my lunch, so I sit through the meeting with a tummy rumbling with hunger hoping no one will hear it) and so on...

...*and* I've still got my regular tasks to do.

Yesterday I sent out an e-mail regarding internal invoices and instructions on how to replace the current routines. It couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes before the first phone call came from one of the hotels with questions, followed by other calls.

In the afternoon, before going home, I mailed yet another instruction to the hotels - on how to get the front office system(!) to post correct VAT on manual credit invoices. I had barely started preparing to go home when - yep - the first phone call came!

If I don't get some piece and quite next week to get my ordinary w*rk done I'm going to do what the current image on my w*rk top PC says:

'One day I shall burst my buds of calm and blossom into hysteria'

Ok, well whats the prob/challange, the IT people got to invent the screens/stuff and until they come up with the goodies, keep on to them and then ask questions from them, have a meeting or 10 but keep pushing it back on the IT dept!

Do you have a boss? I think it is time to tell her that some serious prioritising needs to be done! Either you officially get appointes the company know-it-all-do-it-all, or you do what is in your job description. Her call, really. Push the decision away!



Milla

*His* call, actually - and no, I haven't got a job description... *listens to the silences that follows*

I got hired just before a major hotel world-wide company bought the company I was w*rking for at the time. This meant that a lot of plans-for-the-future got cancelled or were put on hold, indefinitely...

...including the role that my boss had planned for when announcing the job I applied for - and got...

...so I've been w*rking in a sort of limbo ever since - desperately wanted by the financial departments in the hotels, very wanted by my boss (who got a boss above him after the take-over)...

...but sort of not-so-very-official to the owner company's people...

It's been pretty much a mess in general after the take-over - they did these evaluation tests on all the people in management positions - and a surprisingly large number had to go because they 'didn't fit in' (a very qualified IT person among others).

*shakes head*

It's very hard to tell these days where a case belongs - which department should be responsible, who owns the case, and so on...

*sighs*

" - after all, it's *they* that know all the settings, parameters, file transfers and other things about the front office system."

It may seem strange, but probably the users of the system will be glad if it is written by a 'professional user' instead of IT s.
They will make a 100 page incomprehensible manual that looks more like a 'implementation guide', while users are looking for a simple 2 page 'users guide'.

And when you send mails, make sure they leave just as you are leaving, so you will not be there when the phone rings. And switch of that mobile, nothing can be as important as getting home and having your own private time.

I agree with Marjin regarding the email advice. Knowing how well you write, Ti, I'll bet that most of the questions you get would answer themselves if the caller just read your email more carefully. Your being unavailable will encourage them to re-read the email and perhaps answer their own questions.

If it's any comfort to you, I was the go-to person in the bank I used to work for, so I know how you feel. It can be very frustrating.