Today I give you a cautionary tale about placing your trust in the backups you make of your Sage Accounts software. Sage advise that you make regular backups using the backup facility built in to the software. What they don’t tell you is that these backups are not always much use.
One of the companies I work for switched from their old Merlin accounts package to Sage Line 50 in December and at the end of last week we carried out a financial year-end which involves a significant number of journal adjustments and transactions. Once everything was completed and checked we cleared out all old backups and took a new one and we stored multiple copies of the backup in case one got lost.
On Monday this week one of the salesmen managed to invoice every open order on the system, a mistake which would have meant creating a few hundred credit notes, correcting the stock and re-creating the orders. However, since we had a backup, we decided the easiest way was to just restore the backup and simply re-process the morning’s work. Simple? You’d think so!
Continue reading ‘Use Sage? Don’t Trust Your Backups!’
There is an interesting article over at TidBITS which discusses the persistent reluctance of many in the technology field to fully embrace new communications media such as Instant Messaging and Twitter. The author, Joe Kissell investigates the reasons for this from his point of view as a self-confessed introvert and finds that the way in which different personality types prefer to communicate is more complex and unpredictable than you would imagine.
As he explains, being introverted is often confused with being shy, whereas it is not really the same thing. An introvert, and I count myself as one, is not necessarily reluctant to communicate. It is more that we are more likely to prefer or require time alone rather that in a large group and our preference for communication is quality over quantity. Take Joe, for example, who is quite happy presenting to and organizing a large room full of hundreds or thousands of people and yet he classes himself as an introvert. He is certainly not shy!
I enjoy a quiet life. When I’m working I prefer to focus on the job in hand which is why I prefer email for day-to-day business communication. Instant Messaging and services such as Twitter are too intrusive. Even the telephone intrudes too much into a good thought process, particularly when it rings every five minutes and the conversations are not urgent. Email allows a suitable balance between the long winded conversations on the phone and the short, sharp nature of Instant Messaging. I can easily ignore emails until my concentration can be lifted or at least I can scan for urgent messages as they come in and deal with them in a timely manner. I am always logged into IM but I always show myself as away. It’s there only if I need it. Out of choice, I would always choose face-to-face communication wherever possible.
My preference for a quiet life extends to home where I enjoy peace and quiet with my fiancee. I prefer it when we are alone or in the company of a small group. I can often find the presence of others an intrusion into my life I can easily do without! I read one comment regarding the article that said that the company of a large group draws energy away from an introvert whereas an extrovert needs the energy from such a group and is drained of energy without it. That theory certainly works for me.
If you class yourself as an introvert, geek, nerd or just someone who likes time alone, the article is well worth a read.
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