I have been to several rescue missions when a customization or integration stopped working on a different type/version of input and the client had no idea how to modify it. Because there was very little accurate document about the customization or integration, I had to reverse engineer the whole thing from various source code, configuration files, and test cases to understand how the customization or integration was done. Then I needed to make necessary modification to make the customization or integration work again. After that it took me some time again to write the complete documents that should have been there at the first place including release notes, deployment guide, and troubleshooting guide.
All the time spent in reverse engineering and re-documentation increased the total cost of the ownership to the client. Sometimes, the customization or integration had to be completely re-written because the original one was not architected right. In this case, the total cost of ownership would be increased even more. However this cost along with the headache can be completely avoided if the customization or integration was done right at the first place.
How did this happen? A typical story goes like this: The IT organization hired an employee or long-term consultant responsible for day-to-day operations support including installation, configuration, reporting, user support, and trouble shooting. At the same time, the same person is required to develop customized solution, to program PSL and MRL, and to integrate 3rd-party monitoring software into BPPM.
We all know operations and development require different skill sets. A person who is good at repetitive work in day-to-day operations support often does not have enough experience to develop robust and maintainable solution for customization and integration. A person who is good at developing customization and integration is often bored with day-to-day operations. Requiring one person to do both operations and development is often the root cause of many troubled BPPM operations.
As an example, here is job description from a recent job ad:
- Administer and configure Enterprise Systems Management/Monitoring systems such as BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management (BPPM),BMC Event Manager (BEM) and TMART.
- Integrate end to end Infrastructure solutions to BEM for Unified Event Management
- Integrate enterprise solutions such as Netcool , Omegamon, CA Wilyto BEM/BPPM
Because the hourly rate of operations support staff is lower than a developer and there are many more people with operations support skill than people with development skill, most IT organizations end up hiring an operations support staff and also requires him/her to develop customization and integration. On the surface, it appears that it would lower the cost due to lower hourly rate. In reality, the opposite is true. Due to lack of experience and skill, it takes considerably longer for an operations support staff to complete the development work of customization and integration. And the solution is often hard to maintain, extend, or troubleshoot. The one who developed the solution is often the only person who can understand and maintain it. The entire solution falls apart when this person moves out of the organization.
To avoid this mistake, it is highly recommended to hire an experienced developer to develop a robust and well-documented solution for your customization and integration requirements. A good developer can develop a robust solution quickly and hand over his/her finished work to your operations support staff for maintenance. The hourly rate of a good developer may be higher than an operations support staff, but the time required to complete the development is much less. Development work is a one-time cost. When the development is completed, there is no need to keep the developer around anymore. Do a math on your total budget vs just the hourly rate. At the end it should cost you less on your total budget by hiring a good developer.
We have been doing customized BPPM development for the last 12 years. To further eliminate a client risk, we offer fixed-price quotes on well-defined requirements that will fit your total budget. For example, if you estimate that it will take your operations support staff 6 weeks at $75/hr to finish an integration project, we can take the project to fit your total estimated budget ($75 x 240 = $18,000). We can afford to do this because we have developed a time-approved methodology for any integration and most of source code has already been developed. Of course, we will be able to deliver the solution to you in far less than 6 weeks.
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