Tuesday, September 09, 2008

oh, SirsiDynix

You strike again, SD. Our serials cataloger pointed out that when working in Sirsi's Java Workflows, you cannot always get the html links in a marc record to take you to a browser. The link simply will not work. They are speculating that this has to do with links that include special characters, like an ampersand.

Our IT guy says, and I quote: "This is a bug at our current Unicorn patch level. it will be cleared after we upgrade to a new version in the coming Christmas holidays."

Point of order, IT guy! When links are broken that are supposed to work, and links are presenting themselves as being in working order when they are not, is NOT A BUG. It's a functionality failure.

Now, do I think that our IT guy is the one who called it a "bug"? No, I do not. I'm absolutely positive that SirsiDynix is calling it a bug, because they would often do the same thing when we had "bugs" in Horizon. I put "bugs" in quotes because those problems were really basic functionality failures. This isn't something like "oh, when I hit this and this and do this thing and then I try to enter a 520 field in the MARC editor, it freezes!" No. This is "our links don't work, but they're still made to look like they work." That is basic functionality, and it is broken. We shouldn't have to wait for the next upgrade for this to be fixed. It's madness.

Although I did escape most of the SirsiDynix craziness when I left my former job, at least I can rest assured that the craziness continues without me, and that it has not miraculously gone away now that Symphony is in full developmental swing.

2 comments:

Dave Pattern said...

Isn't it comforting to know that in today's topsy-turvy world, some things still stay the same? ;-)

One thing that's really surprised me is the volume of bug fixes for each release of Symphony. Whilst it's great that they're getting fixed, I thought SirsiDynix were touting Unicorn as a more "stable platform" than Horizon?

Anyway, and I hate to be pendantic, but it's neither a "bug" nor a "functionality failure" -- it's a "temporary feature enhancement" :-D

Melissa said...

Oh, right! (smacks forehead) I forgot that it was an enhancement. Silly of me.
In regards to the Symphony thing...since Symphony is basically Unicorn, I have to say, Horizon actually seemed much easier to use and to maintain. I'm surprised that everyone thinks Unicorn is more stable.

"Wicked people never have time for reading. It's one of the reasons for their wickedness." —Lemony Snicket, The Penultimate Peril.