The Decider

Anyone who has ever been through a software upgrade on a PC knows there are often hitches and glitches that can make it a job where the minutes for the actual transfer of files takes hours. Something conflicts with something else, some file is missing, outdated, or corrupted. It's a stress-inducing given.

Okay, so a software upgrade at a university level is multiples of 10 times as stressful, although I must admit that having IT people who test and plan and backup beforehand is amazingly helpful. Plus they do all of the work -- I just have to deal with the inconvenience and/or fallout. This week we undertook a major upgrade to our online payment software, a program that serves thousands of students by providing the ability to make payments, receive direct deposit refunds, set up payment plans, receive e-bills, and designate authorized users.

As the head of the Business Office I was given the task of testing the upgrade beforehand, however my time frame was short. I shut my office door, plowed in with little experience in testing but armed with a copy of the manual, and did it. I had my Director for consulting and that helped. When the testing was over and it was time to move forward we met and I was given a written plan so I knew what was expected of me, of my boss, and of everyone else, and that helped too. Deep breath...we were to begin the upgrade on Tuesday with the system taken offline. U-Day.

Monday morning there was an email from my boss. He wasn't feeling well and thought maybe he had food poisoning. He wouldn't be in that day. Little worried, but I can handle it. Then an hour later his office received a phone call that he was in the ICU with a bleeding ulcer. Uh...oh.

I contacted IT and the planning team immediately and we met right away. We had to figure out how to proceed and who would complete his tasks in the upgrade plan. Some went to me and some to the IT department. I acted braver than I felt, and more confident than I had a right to be. We finished up our meeting, and I tried not to think about what I had to do the next day.

The boss was doing better by the end of the day after the ulcer was cauterized, but would not be available for the next week or so. The system was taken offline on Tuesday, the notices went out to all of the affected users, and I awaited updates from the IT staff. Long day. At around 10:30 pm the email said the progress was slow and they hit a roadblock.

They picked up Wednesday morning at 6:30 and worked all day. It was a day I would normally run refunds and the offline software would create direct deposits. We were still offline at the end of the workday, so I ran refunds but held all of the ones that would normally go direct deposit until later. Updates throughout the day indicated progress and setbacks, and I was able to do a little testing. It was promising but we had to make a decision whether to keep going with the upgrade or pull the plug and go back. Or should I say, I had to make the decision. Seriously, all of these people are asking me. Damn!

This was normally something my boss would weigh in on and decide. To my great fortune, we had briefly discussed the possibility earlier and he was okay with going forward if it was necessary and it looked like the upgrade was moving forward. So my decision was educated, but it was still mine. Yowza!

Anyhoo, they went forward, the upgrade wrapped up today, we are back online, I ran refunds, and all is right in the digital world. And for my reward, a glass of wine and a dish of M&M's when I got home. And if I can think of something else fun (or expensive) to reward myself, I'm getting it. So there.