[Chapter-delegates] AMS - extremely slow and cumbersome - logs me out while waiting
Anne Lord
lord at isoc.org
Thu Apr 14 19:08:03 PDT 2011
hi All,
I'm adding some information to this thread which I hope is useful.
The AMS is a business tool used by ISOC staff as well as Chapters,
many of whom actively use it to manage their members. The Chapter
portal (as part of the AMS) was always intended to be (and is being)
replaced by an open source solution. This is already "work in
progress" in a project called the "Engagement Platform" which is being
led by Lincoln McNey . It will also support some ISOC business needs
as well as those of Chapters. Right now, pieces of the Drupal-based
'Engagement Platform' are under development notably, the SAML/
Shibboleth (single sign on) and authentication for membership and
chapter sign up. This is a critical first step. Work on the
replacement of the current chapter portal with the Drupal open source
version is scheduled to begin after this piece of work is deployed
(end Q3/Q4).
As before, we will be consulting with the Chapter community and asking
for volunteers to help specify requirements. In fact a committee of
volunteers was formed some time ago, but yes, we have not yet posted
anything to the list as much work has been around the SAML/Shibboleth
authentication piece. For anyone with an interest in this subject
and who has some time to help as part of the committee, please contact
<chapter-support at isoc.org>.
regards,
Anne
btw: FYI. Alan's comments regarding his performance issues were
followed up off- list by Lincoln and the AMS team.
> I would not put more efforts in fixing the AMS. My recommendation
> will be to just replace it with something more geared to today's
> Internet. And it will be netter if it an opensource solution.
>
> -ed
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 2:03 PM, Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn at gmail.com
> > wrote:
> Dear Alan Levin
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 9:26 PM, Alan Levin <alan at isoc.org.za> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Hope you're all well. Sorry for my quietness on this list, ISOC-ZA
> has been quiet as most users AND ISPs in SA are struggling to deal
> with Internet freedom in SA. Next month we will see a 1Gbps (fibre
> ring based) connection to businesses in the city for only $400 p.m,
> this is a reduction of ±98% on pricing only 3 years ago.
>
> Just a quick note to report that previous requests in this regard
> have not been resolved. I understand that some issues cannot be
> fixed at this point as they will cost too much. I believe that the
> 'new' AMS is more crippled than the previous and was wondering if
> there is the 'open-source' effort as previously suggested?.
>
> I participated in the AMS working group that provided all the inputs
> necessary for the committee that took its decision soon afterwards.
> While the working group was in session, I sought external opinion,
> as from http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/information-technology/databases/TCH_ITS_DBS/233725-17150723?browseIdx=17&sik=1302634093618&goback=.amq
> which generated quite a few responses. There are several open
> source solutions, but probably it was decided not to opt for a open
> source only solution due to perception of difficulties in migrating
> the earlier proprietary system. I don't know.
>
>
>
> Sabrina wrote:
> > I can re-assure you that my colleagues from the AMS team work very
> hard and try to fullfill all the requests that come in. However, one
> size never fits all and we need to balance the needs and
> requirements of the majority. Not an easy job and it can leave
> disappointment for some. You probably know this from your own
> projects.
>
> I think this is a poor response to the essential components and as
> suggested by Sivasubramanian:
> > In my communication to the ams support in the support thread I
> have also pointed out that these are basic features that a good
> software designer must have foreseen as required and must have built
> in as default features. From what I understand, the basic
> corrections are now expensive 'features' and a time consuming process.
>
> AND Sivasubramanian wrote on: 26 July 2010 8:16:16 PM SAST:
> > As I try to work on the list of members waiting for
> > approvals -there are 250 members in the isoc chennai list- I find it
> > extremely difficulty to compare the data in the ams portal with the
> > data available at the chapter (which includes info about the
> member's
> > affiliation etc).
> >
> > What is the reason why there are so many unwanted limitations on the
> > user interface? The members waiting for approval spreadsheet can not
> > be sorted in any desired order. By default it shows data sorted by
> the
> > date of application and the user can't sort the data in any other
> > order - name-wise, city-wise.
> >
> > The sheet does not generate any other summaries such as a sub-
> group of
> > the pending applicants belonging to a certain class ( a city, a
> > company, a date range )
> >
> > This data is also not downloadable, unlike the approved members
> data.
> > I had to send a special request to you to get the data emailed to
> me.
>
> I am still making requests for export of the members waiting for
> approval data, Lincoln McNey is very responsive, he exports it to a
> spreadsheet using his privileges and posts in on a web-dav folder
> and sends me the link and password. Good support, but is the
> situation necessary?
>
> After responding to my recent request for data in a spreadsheet,
> Lincoln had this to say:
>
> We do have some changes coming to the Review Applicants page soon
> (hopefully this week), among them the ability to email Applicants
> directly from the page. I know you have been requesting this for
> some time.
> For a variety of reasons, the direct export from the Applicants page
> will not be coming anytime soon, but I will discuss it again with
> the developers this week.
> Perhaps some of the Chapter-delegates who are technical experts join
> this discussion to help them understand the simple gaps in the
> system that they have developed and offer them technical help and
> guidance on completing this task ? How many do we have in Chapters
> with expertise in Web Technologies ?
>
> Thank you
> Sivasubramanian M
>
>
> >
> > The chennai list has 242 members waiting for approval, the page
> shows
> > about 20 names, without a next page button, without options to alter
> > the number of applicants shown per page. So if I have to see the
> > second page (for which there is no button), I will first have to
> > approve all names in page 1 and then move on to page 2?
>
>
> Veni wrote in another post how slow the system is. I find it's
> always timing out and I have to login again so it's effectively
> unworkable. Similar to the problem mentioned above some 9 months ago
> I get this error:
>
> > Server Error in '/EBusiness' Application.
> >
> > Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.
> >
> > Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution
> of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
> information about the error and where it originated in the code.
> >
> > Exception Details: System.OutOfMemoryException: Exception of type
> 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.
> >
> > Source Error:
> >
> > An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the
> current web request. Information regarding the origin and location
> of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace
> below.
> >
> > Stack Trace:
> >
> > [OutOfMemoryException: Exception of type
> 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.]
> > System.String.InternalCopy(String str) +28
> > System.Text.StringBuilder.ToString() +76
> > System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexCharClass.ToStringClass()
> +400
> >
> System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexFC.GetFirstChars(CultureInfo
> culture) +31
> > System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexFCD.FirstChars(RegexTree t)
> +139
> >
> System
> .Text
> .RegularExpressions.RegexWriter.RegexCodeFromRegexTree(RegexTree
> tree) +304
> > System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex..ctor(String pattern,
> RegexOptions options, Boolean useCache) +352
> > System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(String input,
> String pattern, String replacement) +34
> > Telerik.Web.UI.RadInputControl.FormatCssClass(String prefix,
> String userDefined) +114
> > Telerik.Web.UI.DatePickingInput.SetStyleClasses() +146
> > Telerik.Web.UI.RadInputControl.OnPreRender(EventArgs e) +32
> > Telerik.Web.UI.RadDateInput.OnPreRender(EventArgs e) +286
> > Telerik.Web.UI.DatePickingInput.OnPreRender(EventArgs e) +238
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +80
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171
> > System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
> includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
> +842
> >
> > Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:
> 2.0.50727.3603; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3601
>
> After 10 years of promises that ISOC will assist chapters I do feel
> this outcome is somewhat concerning.
>
> Sincerely
>
>
> Alan
>
>
> --
> Alan Levin
> Internet Society of South Africa
>
>
>
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Anne Lord, Senior Manager <lord at isoc.org>
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