3 Risks due to Lack of Routine Database Maintenance

Relationships with databases are surprisingly similar to those between people. If we don’t regularly dedicate time and resources to maintaining and nurturing them, they may not be there when we need them the most. Since it has become increasingly clear to industry executives, C-suites, and other thought leaders that data is the hottest commodity, protecting yours should be a top concern. There is no reason to risk losing your entire database, which could have catastrophic consequences. Let’s examine a few of the risks of failing to perform regular database maintenance.

False Conclusions About Productivity

You might have one database or you might have several. In either case, all data is organized in structures sharing one trait: associated indexes that allow data to be located efficiently. Database indexes need constant updates and adjustments. Without regular maintenance, indexes become fractured, making data retrieval cumbersome and time-consuming. From the outside, it could seem that you need to add staff to your team to complete tasks on time while the underlying problem is a system running slowly due to unmaintained indexes. False conclusions about productivity levels can have devastating financial impacts.

Security Breaches

Database security is simple common sense, but the associated risks with lack of it are less obvious. Some consider database security secondary database maintenance, but it is no less critical to business operations than index maintenance. Your Human Resources department will likely handle the paperwork, but that doesn’t determine current and former employees’ level of access to your database. Login credentials change with every personnel shift, so you need someone on the backend to monitor user access and to review access rights for each instance of on-boarding, promotion, dismissal, and department transfer. A worst-case scenario would involve a disgruntled former employee accessing and wreaking havoc on the database in retaliation for a perceived wrongdoing. Other unforeseen negative consequences of inevitable employee shuffle are violations of federal and state privacy statutes, from HIPAA to FCRA to ECPA, not to mention company policies and standard operating procedures.

Database Crashes

A good old fashioned hardware crash is the stereotypical disaster nightmare when we think of neglected backup databases. There is good reason for this. Database crashes can be disastrous. Even a standard (versus catastrophic) hardware crash can result in an inability to recover data. This causes one to appreciate just how important data is to your company. Is yours a financial advising firm that lost transaction records or a healthcare payer who lost claims information? This is not an industry-specific concern. Companies and organizations in any industry should conduct regular backup checks or they will eventually lose a lot of data. Alternately, well-maintained databases are less impacted by hardware crashes and data loss and take less time to backup. Without routine database maintenance, standard overnight backups are likely to infringe on daytime operations. If the initial daily backup doesn’t finish within its allotted 24 hours due to a slowed system, the two backups overlap when the next daily backup begins at its scheduled time, causing various complications.

If data recovery becomes necessary, there are two options for database restores. The first is to manually repair them by extracting as much of the data as possible and determining how to patch over things you cannot recover. The second is to manually re-enter data that cannot be recovered. Data recovery is one of the most damaging incidents your company can experience, so don’t put yourself in the position of putting out that fire. Every company needs a comprehensive data recovery strategy plan, whether you backup nightly, on weekends, or quarterly.

Some companies falsely assume that they can rely solely on cloud maintenance as a sound means of backing up data. Companies cannot expect cloud maintenance to suffice. Of course, it is strongly recommended that you take advantage of any data recovery options built into your cloud provider, but that doesn’t alter the points we’ve covered. Cloud providers will not look inside a database to help you locate data; that’s why a well-maintained index is integral. When data recovery is involved, it is irrelevant if your database is on premise or in the cloud. As long as we have databases, database administrators must be involved since there are no self-maintaining databases. Luckily, the solution is simple: the safety of your data can be ensured with routine database maintenance by a DBA.

A critical human gatekeeper (i.e. the right DBA) can protect you from data loss. The days of megabytes are long gone; today there are terabytes, even petabytes of data at stake. With that in mind, enlisting the assistance of a team of qualified, reliable, experienced DBAs is the safest, most reliable method of ensuring your databases are well-maintained to prevent data loss. When it’s time to level-up and secure your data, contact Spinnaker Support for the best in database management.

How to Hire the Right DBA, Remote or Onsite

In this post, let’s take a closer look at how to hire the best database administrator for your company.

Establish and Share Your Expectations

For the benefit of your company and your potential candidates, clearly define the DBA’s role and your expectations in a thoughtful, detailed job description. Provide a thorough, specific list of daily and periodic tasks the DBA will perform. Clarify whether the DBA will be providing production support, development support, or support for a hybrid of the two, wherein several third party applications are involved.

Production vs. Non-Production DBAs

The prime objective of a production database administrator is to keep your system running with as little disruption as possible. A DBA in this scenario, would rather keep today’s business processes running before taking radical actions to resolve an issue, this is a case by case decision and needs careful consideration. A non-production DBA is more likely to approach things differently, using trial and error and being more cavalier about when to perform system reboots, checks and maintenance.

DBAs should instinctively seek to isolate the problem, minimize its impact on workflow, and keep the production system running. A key trait to actively seek in a DBA is the ability to isolate impacts and analyze the situation. If there is a  tendency rebooting the system to fix a problem is always the first option, may not be a good choice. Perhaps they can fix the issue, perhaps not, but a good production DBA will do what it takes to not halt production and will opt to make repairs after hours. The primary concern of a production DBA is to maintain business continuity with minimal disruption. Of course, it all depends on the severity of the issue and the impact to production performance overall, or even impact the data integrity.

In many cases, the ideal candidate would have production and non-production support as well as SQL coding experience. An understanding of coding is critical because sloppy coding is the root cause of most database issues. Developers often write code that slows the system and conflicts with other applications accessing the database.

Save time in the early stages of the hiring process by determining whether candidates have production support and coding experience by asking pointed questions and role playing disaster scenarios. A few questions and requests that can reveal much about their experience and skills are:

  • Give an example of a production issue, how you isolated the problem, and how you proceeded.
  • Have you done SQL development in the past? If yes, please provide examples.
  • Describe some of the mission critical projects you were involved in and what were your specific responsibilities?
  • What was the objective of a project you worked on with a development team?
  • Provide an example of a code walkthrough.
  • Describe the process you had to follow to apply changes to a production database?
  • What was the process to implement application releases into a production system?
  • What were your responsibilities during this process?
  • Have you ever reboot a system to solve a database problem? If so, at what stage of the process did you decide that rebooting the system is the best solution? What conclusion did you draw that let to the reboot of the system as the only solution to fix the issue?

Remote Versus Onsite DBAs

Deciding whether to hire a DBA who works remotely or onsite largely depends on the company’s policy and standard operating procedures, which vary widely. Consider your company’s remote access protocol. If there is none in place, it must be established which can be a cumbersome process. Another thing to consider is the real estate overhead of providing another workspace. The majority of the work done by DBAs is behind the scenes, so they are typically only seen when there is a major database problem.

Focus on hiring the best one to meet your company’s database maintenance needs. If a remote DBA is best for your situation, your hiring decision may be determined by trustworthiness, which is difficult to gauge. Database certifications and vendor-specific database tests can help narrow your field of choices, as can checking your candidate’s references. The candidate may have impressive technical skills but may not know how to effectively communicate or may fold under pressure. Their knowledge and experience might be based on older and different versions of your database, which can get changed frequently at some companies. Other companies rely on decades-old databases that have even been migrated into the cloud. In either case, your best candidate may be a DBA who is familiar with years of database evolution, and has experience with both tried-and-true and cutting-edge applications. This is hard to find in a single DBA, so hiring a support team to ensure your daily operations are never interrupted is often a good option to consider. That’s exactly the type of excellent database management service that Spinnaker Support provides. Contact our team today to discuss the best solution for your company.

JD Edwards Customers – now is the time to consider third-party maintenance and support!

April 19, 2017 | Karen Blazek | Director, Product Marketing

The author of this blog is Karen Blazek, who just joined Spinnaker Support as a Director of Product Marketing. Previously, Karen spent the last 15 years in leadership roles within Oracle’s application support organization. Most recently, Karen’s team worked to drive upgrades and migrations from legacy applications to Oracle’s latest application and technology releases.

Now is the time to investigate the benefits of third-party maintenance and support, especially since Oracle is no longer publishing dates of future major releases from JD Edwards. With questionable future investment in JD Edwards from Oracle and no promise of a new release, this is an optimal time to move off of Oracle support maintenance.  Companies have long been frustrated by the constant push to stay on the latest releases churned out by Oracle. Annual IT budgets are exhausted on the constant upgrade cycle, as you are “forced” by Oracle to stay on fully supported releases. Did you know that Oracle achieves over 90% profit margins on your support dollars? Not many other organizations in a competitive environment can achieve higher than 90% profit margins. What are your support dollars really paying for?

Fact:  Oracle’s support model is based on customer self-service. Companies are shelling out excess amounts on maintenance fees to resolve issues on their own.

Fact:  Oracle’s support focus is on Service Request time to resolution, not customer satisfaction. Support engineer’s performance is not only based on how fast they can close a Service Request, but also how many they can close each month.

Fact:  Oracle support will NOT support your custom modifications.

Fact:  Oracle delivers patches on a scheduled release cycle. You have to wait for your fixes and there is no guarantee that your issue will even be looked at. You are continuously asked to apply the latest electronic software update (ESU), prior to support even troubleshooting the issue. And, if a BUG is identified, it will most likely only be delivered in the latest release.

Paradigm Shift in the Way You Think About Oracle Support

So why should you look at Spinnaker Support for your JD Edwards software maintenance? The most obvious reason relates to the huge cost savings in annual maintenance fees, average annual cost savings of 62%. We do recognize there is a “paradigm shift” that you as a customer need to make when considering third-party support. It’s more than just a replacement of your vendor support, it is a different way of thinking about support.

Benefits outlined below, should be even more compelling:

  • Spinnaker Support is concierge support not self-service support offered by Oracle.
    • At Oracle, a critical service request can sit in an automation ‘hold’ pattern for up to 7 days and never be assigned to an engineer. Waiting for you to upload multiple files or logs that may not even be relevant to your issues.
    • Oracle’s published SLAs only apply to the initial response due time requirements. After the initial response is met, it may be days or weeks before you hear back from your assigned support engineer.
    • Oracle’s global service request handoffs drive little to no issue ownership and resolution.
  • Spinnaker Support assigns a Named Account Support Lead (ASL) to serve as the single business/commercial point of contact, beginning with the onboarding process and continuing throughout the life of the contract. You will be working on a regular basis with a dedicated team of support engineers that know your environments and your personal preferences.
  • Full support for modifications. Spinnaker Support will troubleshoot and support your custom code along with developing new customizations to meet your future business needs.
  • You need to understand the benefits of Spinnaker Support’s Archive*. Spinnaker Support creates for you, an archive of upgrades and patches supplied to you by Oracle prior to the end of your support contract. As a separate work stream during the onboarding process, we perform the archiving process for you. Your archiving team works in concert with the dedicated customer support team during onboarding to ensure you have all fix packs available for future need and help ensure that your archive only contains what you’re legally entitled to retain.

*This is an offering that Rimini Street is no longer allowed to provide for their customers under Oracle’s Cease and Desist letter.

At COLLABORATE 17, Oracle announced a 10 year premier support policy, but only for E1 9.2 and World A9.4. With little future investment in JD Edwards from Oracle and no promise of a new release, there is no risk in moving away from Oracle support maintenance. You have full rights and access to all software that is available today. Spinnaker Support has a no “sunset” support policy, meaning that its customers can stay on their current products for as long as those products fit the customers’ businesses. We currently support customers with application and technical architectures well over 20 years old. Break free of your software vendors’ restrictive annual support contract, and put your savings to work on other IT projects.

Contact me today! I worked for Oracle for nearly 20-years in the JD Edwards support organization and would love to help explain the benefits of switching to third-party maintenance and support from Spinnaker Support.

The Denver Post Names Spinnaker Support a Winner of the State of Colorado 2017 Top Workplaces Award

DENVER, CO, April 12, 2017 – Spinnaker Support, the fastest growing global provider of third-party support and managed services for SAP and Oracle software applications, has been awarded a 2017 Top Workplaces honor by The Denver Post for the second year in a row. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Numerous aspects of workplace culture were measured through the survey, including alignment, execution, and connection.

“The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume it’s all about fancy perks and benefits,” says Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics. “But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every day—the employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that what’s most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how it’s going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together.” Claffey adds, “Without this sense of connection, an organization doesn’t have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.”

Spinnaker Support was founded in 2008 to provide a lower cost, higher quality alternative to the software support provided by SAP and Oracle. The company hires employees who embrace the consistent delivery of best-in-class customer support to maintain high-performance business-critical software systems.

“Our employees have spoken loud and clear. Winning the Top Workplaces award for the second year in a row further validates that we have created a culture where employees feel valued and are excited about company direction,” stated Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. “We hire and retain world-class talent that delivers industry-leading customer satisfaction. We continue to attract new team members and customers from our fiercest competitors and it is this talented team that forms the foundation of Spinnaker Support’s ongoing success.”

About Spinnaker Support

Spinnaker Support is the fastest growing provider of third-party maintenance, managed services, and consulting – providing a unique blend of services for organizations that run SAP or Oracle. Our maintenance customers gain better support while saving an average of 62% on their annual maintenance fees. Savings are often redirected to fund and accelerate innovation, transformation, and cloud migration. Customer resources focus less on ERP system issues and more on delivering cutting-edge IT solutions that support business strategies. Our customers are 98.6% satisfied. We also deliver tailored managed services, allowing reduced vendor count for less cost. Our consultants engage in strategic projects that drive continuous improvement, development, and migration of Oracle and SAP enterprise applications with the unique surrounding technology environments in which they operate.

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, PA, WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in over 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces™ campaign—a program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. Workplace Dynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.

Avoid DBA Burnout: 5 Steps for Management

As the importance of database administrators – DBAs – continue to grow, along with a strong economy that offers an abundance of DBA job openings, many companies are concerned about the threat of DBA turnover. Your DBA is responsible for the performance, integrity, and most importantly, the security of your database every day, including nights, weekends, and holidays. Any down time, and your company can suffer lost revenue, or even worse, a significant data breach. The nature of this work lends itself to burnout because it is a daily, ongoing challenge and seemingly never complete. With these constant stresses, many DBAs often feel overlooked and as though they perform a thankless job. Some fear they’re only noticed when the inevitable hiccups in database systems occur.

There is no shortage of job opportunities for talented DBAs, and there are only so many to go around. More and more companies are making it a priority to keep their DBAs happy to avoid burnout and thereby minimizing the chance they will proactively seek out a new opportunity. Following are some practical ways to keep your DBA engaged at your company to reduce the risk of turnover.

5 Steps to Prevent Burning Out Your DBA

Your DBA is one of the most valuable employees at your company. Go out of your way to demonstrate how much you recognize their value. If your DBA feels underappreciated they can leave your company with serious problems if they leave to pursue another opportunity. Not only would you have to take over database management responsibilities, but you’ll also have to recruit, hire, and train a new DBA. And once they’re settled and operating at maximum efficiency—which can take several months—you could face the same problems of burnout if you don’t implement the five recommendations outlined here to prevent a DBA burnout at your company.

Step 1: Commit to Training

The IT industry is constantly changing. Your DBA needs to stay up-to-date on the latest techniques, systems, and best practices, not to mention the latest security threats. Send your DBA to training courses and national conferences to provide a much-needed break out of the office. This helps keep them up-to-date on industry standards and shows that you’re interested in their career development as well. Another approach to training is to allow your DBA to block out time on a weekly basis for reading or watching technical, educational webcasts. DBAs want to continually learn. When you enable it, you reduce the chance of burnout.

Step 2: Recognize Their Efforts

One of the best ways to avoid DBA burnout is to show how much you value them as important members of your team. The ongoing burdens and responsibilities of a DBA can sometimes seem like an exercise in futility due to the stress level of the job. Make sure you take the time to celebrate their successes. Take them to lunch. Give them time off. Buy them tickets to sporting or theater events. Also, take time to listen to the challenges they face and help in any way possible. Treat your DBA as a human by showing that you care about their well being. The more you demonstrate genuine care for your DBA the less likely they will burnout.

Step 3: Encourage Work – Life Balance

We all have responsibilities outside of work. While there are times when work has to come first, likewise there are times when family circumstances need to take top priority. Be understanding about those situations to show your DBA that you value them as a person and not just for the technical role they play in your company. The less time people spend with family and friends, the more stressed and frustrated they can feel. The better the work-life balance at your company, the more you reduce the risk of burnout and the more you increase loyalty to your company. Loyalty can be a big asset when other companies come knocking on your DBA’s door with new job opportunities.

Step 4: Involve Your DBA in the Company Vision

The more a DBA is aligned with your company’s values and the pursuit of your mission, the more they’ll feel part of the team. Everyone at your company should be working towards achieving the same goals. Your database management team is critical to the continued success of your company. Make sure they understand how their role fits into the overall strategy and create an environment where they feel good about coming to work every day.

Step 5: Competitive Salary

It’s not always about the money, but minimizing the importance of paying a competitive salary is a mistake that your company cannot afford to make. Reliable DBAs are hard to find and retain. Don’t allow your company to be the cheapest in town, or your DBAs will be motivated to leave whether they are burned out or not. There are too many good job opportunities for competent DBAs. While salary may not be the only factor, it is an important part of any career decision. Do your research on current industry standards and – if you can – pay more than average to keep your top DBA talent.

DBA Burnout at Smaller Companies

DBA burnout is especially common in smaller firms because often, the database management team is one person. They know they have the data of the entire company on their shoulders. When your DBA is stretched to the limit, they may miss deadlines and succumb to the pressures of the high demands placed on them. As an executive, it’s important that you know the pulse of your employees. Take the necessary precautions to avoid burning out your DBA.

What to do if Your DBA Leaves

JFK once said,* “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Heeding this advice, you should create a contingency plan to be prepared in case your DBA leaves. If your DBA does leave, assess your security risks, understand the different processes and backups, and know about any problems or concerns.

No matter how tempting it might be, I urge you not to hire a database development team. They are constantly on the prowl for the “next gig.” Often, they come in and take on a number of responsibilities. However, once you’re set up, they might move on to the next project, with no one left behind to maintain your database.

I hope these five suggestions will help you reduce the risk of DBA burnout. Another one for you to consider is augmenting your team with a top tier database management firm like Spinnaker Support. We can help you improve your efficiency which can free up your DBA’s time to focus on work that is more rewarding to them. Get in touch with us to explore this further.

JFK quote attribution: BrainyQuote

Spinnaker Support Once Again Expands Oracle Support Services Business at Record Pace

Showcasing Comprehensive Oracle Support Services at COLLABORATE 17 This Week

DENVER, CO, April 3, 2017 – Spinnaker Support, the fastest growing provider of third-party support, managed services, and consulting for Oracle and SAP software applications, today announced that the Company continued record growth across its Oracle practices in the full year ending December 31, 2016. The company also reported that it is extending its global reach with the opening of new sales and operations centers in early 2017.

“2016 resulted in yet another year of record growth and expansion across our Oracle Services business lines,“ stated Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. “Net new sales grew by 52.5% and we signed new customers in 11 international countries. After highly competitive sales campaigns, we were selected on the merits of great customer references, award-winning and unique blend of services, financial staying power, and our history of litigation-free support delivery. 2017 is shaping up to be another explosive year as we are extending our sales and support capabilities into South Korea, Russia, and the Middle East.”

Award Winning and Recognized in 2016

  • Honored as Stevie Award Winner for Customer Service Team of the Year
  • Recognized by CIOReview as a Top 20 Most Promising Database Technology Provider and Top 100 Most Promising Oracle Solution Provider
  • Named by the Denver Post as a Winner of the State of Colorado Top Workplaces Award
  • Included in New Gartner Research on Third-Party Support Market

Spinnaker Support is exhibiting at COLLABORATE 17 in Las Vegas, NV from April 2-6, 2017. This Oracle user conference will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Spinnaker Support can be found in booth 1335 where the company will be showcasing its wide range of Oracle services covering E-Business Suite, Oracle Technology (Database and Fusion Middleware), Hyperion, Siebel CRM, and JD Edwards. Spinnaker Support is also hosting their annual reception for COLLABORATE attendees Monday, April 3 at Border Grill following the opening reception in the exhibit hall. Stop by their booth for more information.

New Employees with Extensive Expertise

Spinnaker Support announced that it expanded its workforce by 34.6% in 2016, adding Oracle support expertise in several departments. Recently, the company hired Karen Blazek as a Director of Product Marketing. Ms. Blazek served most recently as Senior Manager in Oracle’s Tools and Technology support group. “After nearly two decades watching Oracle’s customer support approach diminish to a self-service model, it is refreshing to join a company where world-class customer support is the only priority,” said Ms. Blazek. “I have already realized the paradigm shift that Spinnaker Support enables featuring experienced, dedicated engineers who deliver a wide-range of fast-response services to very satisfied customers.”

About Spinnaker Support

Spinnaker Support is the fastest growing provider of third-party maintenance, managed services, and consulting – providing a unique blend of services for organizations that run SAP or Oracle. Our maintenance customers gain better support while saving an average of 62% on their annual maintenance fees. Savings are often redirected to fund and accelerate innovation, transformation, and cloud migration. Customer resources focus less on ERP system issues and more on delivering cutting-edge IT solutions that support business strategies. Our customers are 98.6% satisfied. We also deliver tailored managed services, allowing reduced vendor count for less cost. Our consultants engage in strategic projects that drive continuous improvement, development, and migration of Oracle and SAP enterprise applications with the unique surrounding technology environments in which they operate.