ServiceDesk 4.4.55 Update 03/05/10

Virtually from its inception, each ServiceDesk package has included a superb backup utility called SD-Backup.  The design intent is for this utility to run continuously at any computer aside from the server.  In such a state, it automatically maintains five layers of backup (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly).  As just one tool in your backups arsenal, it's an excellent system, and positively should be in deployed in every ServiceDesk office.  If you have not been using SD-Backup, please fix that fact now! 

Sadly, SD-Backup does not solve every need-for-backup situation.  One problem is, some people (in spite of the fact ServiceDesk almost constantly pesters otherwise) choose not to run it.  Seriously, we've had numerous people who suffered data loss -- then, to add insult to injury, they had to face our scolding for the fact that, though pestered every day by ServiceDesk to run SD-Backup, they'd still refused to do so.  In some cases these folks had other backup systems in place, which they thought obviated the need for SD-Backup.  However, the other systems proved to have not been doing what they claimed.  Please, do not NOT use SD-Backup. 

Of course, even when you're faithfully running SD-Backup just as you should, it may fail to provide a wanted salvation.  This is particularly true because each hourly backup overwrites the previous hourly, and each daily overwrites the previous one in its class, and so on.  Because of this, if you don't notice there's a fault in data prior to such an automatic backup, its class of backup will have replaced -- what was formerly a good backup -- with a defective copy.  It's one of the Achilles' heels of automated backup systems (because of this, if you notice a major fault in any data, it's a good idea to momentarily terminate the SD-Backup program, pending immediate investigation and resolution).

Regardless of whether the issue is SD-Backup having not been running, or because it's already replaced a prior good backup with now defective data, we've often found another salvation when users have had data faults occur (no software, by the way, is immune from data failures when the underlying system hiccups in any of several possible ways).   It's based on the fact that many processes in ServiceDesk make their own, in-process backup as the process runs (as a rule, these backups go into the LclData folder for station that's running the process).  Virtually all the archiving processes do this, for example (Callsheets, JobRecords, ScheduleList, PartsProcess, etc.).  Because of this, it's often been true that when we could not find an optimum backup anywhere elsewhere to use, we were nevertheless able to find a good in-process backup, and restore a user to good operating condition. 

Even here, however, the results have sometimes not been as good as wanted.  The major problem has been that, after having discovered a data fault, the user again runs a procedure where the same in-process backup is made.  This overwrites the prior (and formerly good) in-process backup with a copy of the now defective data -- and very much frustrates our effort to make a good restoration. 

This release will directly remedy that occasional deficiency.   

Specifically, each station's LclData folder will now receive seven sub-folders, one for each day of the week.  All in-process backups will to go the sub-folder that pertains to the day on which the process is running (meaning if there's a fault today and you already overwrote today's previous good in-process backup, there should still be backups in yesterday's sub-folder to look to, and so on). 

And that's not all.  Within each days' in-process backups folder, instead of each backup (as for that day) overwriting its predecessor (assuming its from the same calendar day), it makes a new one (appended with 001, 003, etc.). 

Based on this, any occasion where we can't turn to an in-process backup for these critical files should now be very rare indeed.  You still should/must be running SD-Backup as well (when it comes to backups, it's hard to have too many layers), and you positively should also have an off-site backup system as well (we recommend burning critical data to a CD on a daily or weekly basis, and taking those home, assuming home is not the same place as the office). 

Improved "Unvlbl" Entries in the ScheduleList:

Another very old ServiceDesk feature involves the fact that, in the ScheduleList form (F6), you can create entries denoting times when a tech is unavailable.  The method is to place, in what's normally the customer name space, any of three potential text strings:

(a)  "Unvlbl" (for denoting a time-frame in which the tech can't work;

(b) "Unvlbl Until" (for denoting he'll not arrive on the indicated day until a particular time); or

(c) "Unvlbl After" (to indicate he'll be ending work at a particular time). 

Also very old was a shortcut for inserting these key phrases.  It involved typing either "U", "UU" or "UA", then hitting Shift-F3 on your keybaord, which made ServiceDesk change the short string into the somewhat longer full one.  To be candid, in the last many years I've been embarrassed to show people how this feature works, because the method is so clumsy and un-Windows-like.  I'd made the feature in my earliest programming days, when I still had a rather DOS-oriented mindset.   

Anyhow, we recently co-opted the Shift-F3 command for displaying the new Rolodex, without realizing it messed up use of the same function for the above-described purpose.  This made a perfect opportunity for modernizing the latter.  Now, when you're in the F6 form's CustomerName box, you'll see a drop-down with the three magical options, and all you need is to select one. 

We introduced drag-and-drop hyperlink creation a couple of years ago, and imbued several of the textboxes (in various ServiceDesk locales) with the capability.  We also said, if people wanted the capability in other boxes, let us know.  Recently Scott at Carter Services asked for the capability in two new places: (a) the Notes box of the PartsRequest form (Alt-F8); and (b) the Notes box of a SpecialSituationsAdvisory (Alt-F11).  The ability is now added to those boxes.