It looks like this site is generally frequented by IT types. Maybe there is even the occasional PD LL that browses here to find embers of possible rebellious ideas that need quelled before they grow. I have a question for our anonymous Ford family that frequents this website.
What is up with the monumental trainwreck that we use for our product lifecycle management which we call WERS?
Was it programed in some ancient language such as Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, C which limits its flexibility and adaptability? Why does it seem impossible to create an effective HTML interface that makes it more user friendly for the PD team?
I realize that it is considered blasphemy and heresy to voice any issues with our internal bureaucracy, but I see the first step towards finally reaching the product development 21st century is fixing this dumpster fire.
16 replies (most recent on top)
WERS launched in 1983 or 1984. I've seen the promotional video when it was released. Anyway, for all of its faults, I've never seen it crash or even have the slightest hiccup. The attempts at replacing it (AVBOM, FEDEBOM) may be more intuitive, but they lack that stability.
Lol : @4lzc+19ba8RXx. I would think IT would be the least bitter as if they are any good at IT their skills are transportable to any industry. Many Ford employees are tied to auto industry so if they are chopped they have limited options.
I have found that the institutionalized Ford-ites are bitter when chopped but those who actually have marketable skills are relieved to be out of the Ford hot mess. Those entitled people sitting on their laurels while others work surely do bleat the loudest when they are chopped.
WERS is GOD with one less letter. I cannot believe the whiners. WOW is a joke. The only true WERS experience is the green screen. Emulators rule even in the new pc world. Yes it was a mainframe designed system. WOW is the front end. Anyone that has participated in the multiple CPARS replacement efforts will tell you that newer is not necessarily better. Much of the world runs on mainfames. You think cloud computing will be secure. Joke. The general level of competence of what people are able to approve as an IT package is brutal. BWDIK
The IT guys seem really bitter - I noticed that the majority of posts on here are initiated by IT.
Interesting.....
Exactly! I worked in Quality/Warranty. Warranty Spend is pathetic. We used the analogy of putting out a forest fire with a squirt gun. My career is over.. so it will no longer effect me. I just feel bad for the kids getting out of college.
Yeah - WERS s—s. It stems from the same problem with Warranty Spend: Cheapness. We go cheap via TVM (used to be MCR) and beat the suppliers into oblivion to 'save a penny'. That manager gets promoted. Then we all stand aghast in wide-eyed-wonder trying to understand why the junk doesn't work, and 'spend a dollar' trying to fix it, not to mention the intangible cost of poor publicity and lost customers . . . The fingerprints of Purchasing once again disappear form the evidence. How cheap can we go ? We'll soon see. If most people can work from home now - Why pay U.S. wages ? Isn't there someone we can get for 1/8 of the cost ? I'm sure google will help us get the cheapest foreign labor possible . . .
WERS .... don't hit the escape key!!!!
@2rua, Exactly. What is needed to fix the issue? Let's have more and more useless meetings! Also, make the project managers contract employees and have a high turnover to really add fuel to the fire.
Going back in time Ford made a decision to off-shore maintenance and some new development so they could ‘save money’. Once the work was offshored, the long term Subject Matter Experts (the ones who knew what the code did and why) were laid off.
Having no SMEs every WERS code enhancement /restructure and revamp has been challenging and costly. Yes there have been failures and unsatisfactory results.
It doesn’t help that layers of management, liaisons and project manager types are inserted between the people doing the coding and the people who use the software. It is like a game of gossip- what the customer asks for is mangled by the time it gets to the software developer. This leads to disappointed customers and annoyed developers. Just another case of management and bureaucracy getting in the way of real work.
IT has more than its fair share of non-value add positions. Many were created to house people on the friends and family plan. These types of people continue to multiply.
They tried SO many times to replace WERS. Problem is, no one really understood what the application did and due to cost cutting, previous attempts to replace it failed miserably. This is funny as a retiree reading that WERS is still something employees are complaining about! LOL
@1obc we write code to conform to requirements (developed by you) and then launch that code with your signoff (thats an ITPM requirement). If the systems do not work the way that you think they should, then why are the business customers signing off on the launches? If you are unhappy with WERS, then your leadership needs to let IT know that you want a complete redesign. But I guess its just easier for you to sit on the sidelines and whine that your mommy didnt pack any ho-hos in your lunch.
You want to dump the IT department? Go ahead..... GM did that with EDS 25, 30 years ago and how did that workout?
WERS - that made me laugh to see that term again! I retired in 2018 (PRP) with 33 years at Ford PD.
I still can't believe that green screen still exists in 2021. WOW is no better - such a major time waste for all.
I always thought that Ford needed to dump their IT departments that write programs that are suited for IT coders, not the customer. To bad they can't hire the folks that wrote Turbo Tax - life doesn't have to be so complicated.
Oh no.. C programming isn't that ancient. You'll make me feel ancient. lol I have seen software used in the same format as WERS in other places such as, in of all places retail!! Best Buy and Menards use software that looks a lot like WERS. FCA also uses software that looks just like WERS. The software and different variations seem to be in wide spread use. It is the old saying.. if it ain't broke don't fix it!
I'm in PD and not at all knowledgeable in the IT world. I seem to remember someone telling me several years ago that it was cost prohibited at the that time upgrading this software package because it was designed to run on IBM mainframes.
Not sure if this is true or not.
The 60s? Amazing.
I use WERS on the Web, but I don't exactly consider it a user friendly experience. Sure, it is much better than a DOS command prompt window, but I still find people don't use it effectively.
Also, unless I am mistaken, it is currently only compatible with Internet Explorer, which is planned to be completely phased out in August. Is there a trick I am missing to use it in MS Edge?
And if WERS on the Web is the best we have as a solution, why does it take 3 weeks to get all the WERS approvals needed after we have sat in a cross functional group meeting with our LLs and all agreed to approve something? Ok, I realize this is fundamentally not a WERS issue, and more of a cultural issue that I am blaming WERS to the cause.
WERs I think is from the 60's.
You need to use WOW or wers on the web which is that effective user interface you dream of.
It is blasphemy and heresy to voice issues with many things in today's woke religious world of secular humanism.