Search function in DCO 8 is a big step backwards...

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Search function in DCO 8 is a big step backwards...Now I have to open ALL locations to find a server. I have a lot of different serverroms, but also a lot of other rooms to keep track of my not rackmounted equipment e.g. equipment just arrived on the load dock, stored before it´s installed, scrapped equipment , "Sent items", etc etc and if all this tabs are not opened, I cant search them.

Same thing for equipment browser, which earlier was the best frien to change and perform mass configuration of equipment - now I´m not sure if I have changed a config in all servers without having ALL locations opened. Serch function really needs to cover the "Global" area.
Can we expect a change back to the former function of the search function in next release or have someone a recommendation of some kind of workaround for this?

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Peter. First of all, thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to hear that you feel the changes to the search feature is a step backwards, but unfortunately there were a couple of technical issues that sometimes resulted in inconsistent search result or very poor performance on the client side. As we didn't have a better solution to these problems at the time, we decided to limit the search to the open rooms which solved both mentioned issues. We are looking into how we can provide a better search option again in a future release. Depending on your specific reason for searching, you might be able to take advantage of the quick search function on the front page of the web client - this search is solution wide and very fast. /Lasse Simonsen Global Product Manager - Data Center Operation

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Lasse, and thanks for your answer.

Search function in web client solves the problem partly, but unfortunately the Equipment Browser problem remains.

Br
/Peter

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Understood - we will be looking into a way of improving mass configuration. If this is a common need for you, you might want to take a look at our web service API. That does require some level of programming skills, but might help you automate tasks that you today do manually and it could turn out to be even easier than the manual search'n'update in the equipment browser. You can find more information about the web service API here: DCO web service API and here: https://dcimsupport.apc.com/DCOAPIdoc/

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hello Peter,

Your problem exactly matches my problem. Now we are using 8.0.1
We use the "Equipment Browser" for exports to Excel in which we can make reports or search on "Custom Properties".

I find it unacceptable that functionality disappears suddenly in the new version. We are being forced to return to the previous version where the fuctionality works correctly.
We have never had any problems with the search function in the DCO client.

@ APC: When can we expect an update where the problem has been corrected? Is this fixed in 8.0.2 which has recently been released?

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Paul, I am happy to take feedback and the fact that you are also negatively impacted by this design change is noted. It's also good to hear that you have not experienced the same problems as some of our other customers unfortunately had to face with with the previous design. However, I have to disagree with you that functionality has 'disappeared' - if you need to do a solution wide search, you can still do that by opening the rooms before you search. I will also argue that some users find this a better approach as they might not like to see search results from a not opened room in a site in i.e New York if they are actually only searching for an asset in their site in i.e Paris. We have not changed the search behaviour in 8.0.2 - it still only searches the open rooms in the desktop client, and does a solution wide search in the web client. Are you familiar with our 'Export Database'? From this database, you can export everything you need to Excel, or you can make your reports look directly to the database and won't have the need to use Excel as a middle layer to populate your reports. You can even set a schedule for when the export database gets updated with any changes in the DCO solution, so you can ensure the data is updated when you need to run your reports. Exporting asset information on a schedule can also be achieved with the new web service API we released with 8.0. Using these web services is another way of making data available for reports or you can generate Excel files with the result of web service calls. And this can of course be automated, so you don't even need to go through the manual task of opening DCO, searching in the equipment browser and eventually exporting the result. /Lasse Simonsen Global Product Manager - Data Center Operation

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Lasse,

Your answer above is very much from a programmers perspective and not from a users perspective. The reason people are searching for something is usually that they don't know where it is. Having to go and open up every room before you search using the Java client to enable a successful search is just not a viable option as many of us may have hundreds of rooms. Version 8.x has broken this functionality from the 7.x series and is preventing people from upgrading to the new version. As a paying customer this is extremely annoying and is a major software regression bug that should be rectified immediately. My team uses this software extensively and basically are refusing to sign-off on upgrading until this feature regression bug is resolved in the product.

I have recently updated our dev environment to version 8.1 and this feature regression is still present and I am now pretty annoyed about the lack of any action to rectify.

Exporting our asset database every time that someone wants to locate a piece of equipment is just not practical in the real world and if this is your solution then you really need to talk to your end users more. By the way we are the people that pay the bills that keep this product going and support ongoing development.

Feel free to contact me off list to discuss if you wish.

Regards,
Scott.

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Peter / Lasse,

I also have this problem and the search function is absolutely critical for us for locating customer equipment as a data center collocation provider. The lack of of this search function is such a show stopper that we will not be upgrading to the new version.

The removal of the search function in a product upgrade is completely unacceptable.

I intend to make an official complaint through our APAC account manager. We have just renewed our support for 3 years costing 10's of thousands of dollars and I am pretty angry about this after looking forward to a new web based platform that could have held so much promise. This is a real classic case of software development teams not actually talking to their customers and understanding what functions of a product they value most and making sure they always improve rather than degrade with software upgrades.

My team has take one look at the new version and like elements of the web client but has said if the search doesn't work then we will have to stay put on 7.4.x until such time as the product is fixed or we will be forced to move to another platform.

Regards,

Scott Lawson

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

To add to this thread, the equipment browser search in the desktop client v7 was a powerful tool that will be missed and would be good if the technical issues can be addressed satisfactorily so that it is restored.

The web client is fantastic for searching but has three functions that are missing. The ability to export search results, change multiple items and to view all (at least up to 1000) entries. Appreciate that this can be accomplished with the export DB but for general read-only users access to this could be restricted/limited. Are there plans to allow this functionality in the web client?

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi James, We will look into how we can improve the search functionality - whether the solution will be in the web client or the desktop client is not decided yet.

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hello,

We can't migrate from my DCO v7 to v8 because of the search issue! My internal customers are angry.

Using Web services or direct queries to database are unacceseptable and seems more like a workaround.

When the issue will be resolved?

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

It doesn't appear that they have decided yet nearly 8 months after this thread started. Pretty poor really. I have lodged an official complaint with our account manager. This thread update is just reminding me to lodge another. I am now just Angry.

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

Hi Lasse, can you please provide a workshop or examples for mass-edit over API? Also I have a negative feedback from users regarding the equipment browser because they used it as a quick reporting tool. They need a full replacement. Web is not the point because it doesn't provide the sorting and export features they were using actively. Please don't live this without attention. (Several finance organizations including Raiffeizen have comlained about it). Thanks.

DCIM_Support · ‎2020-07-03

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