Steve;

This is not the answer to your question but an experience I had as a manager. Concern for in house systems is something that must be taken into consideration by management. I have one example that I experienced and it was a very sad event.

I was an Manager/Engineer for five departments. An engineer named Andy who worked for me and was also a close friend, was very talented. I depended upon him for many things that no one else could do. He and I shared a great deal of knowledge that no one else possessed, because of our backgrounds and experience. Andy worked on critical contracts for our corporation directly related with the Department of Defense (DOD), and was expert with multi channel wide band Instrument Tape Recorders and related test and measurement equipment used on B-52 and other aircraft.

Early one morning Andy’s wife and son came to visit us, which was unusual. They announced that Andy had been killed instantly by a drunk driver near his home in Santa Cruz, California, who broadsided his brand new car. The drunk driver had an eight-page rap sheet for DUI, no license or insurance. He was not injured in his pick up truck. We were all devastated and lost for words. I had lost a close friend.

After the shock sufficiently wore off I realized our DOD contracts were in jeopardy as no one other than myself knew anything about this phase of our work. These contracts were important to an entire division of our corporation and thousands of people who were employed for that work. I learned to cross train all personal in my departments so if anyone was gone for any reason we would be covered. Training manuals were created and a training program begun.

I knew Andy for ten years and miss him today some 18 years after he left us. Reality can hurt. I hope nothing like this happens to anyone else.

Tom


>I work for a small government agency in Florida. I am the only IT staff member. The office depends on an application that I have written for it's operation. My boss has become concerned that I am the only one who can support this application. More importantly, he is concerned that if I leave (I have no intentions), or Die, the office will be left in a lurch.
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>Can anyone recommend suggestions that I can use to alleviate my boss' concerns about application support. He is considering moving the office to a canned program. While this does have benefits in the area of support, it will cause major upheaval/stress for all employees, and our in-house application is tailored to our office and can be changed to suit our whims. Certainly someone has encountered similar problems before.
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>Thanks much, Steve.