When my trip to Manchester was cancelled while in the New Airport as the Turkish Airline check in counter employee were trying to find any information about the Antigua & Barbuda passports I figured out the computer system information was incomplete, my doubts were confirmed later on by the Lufthansa check in counter employee no communications with the old airport server no internet moreover no ups allowed or possible!
At the beginning I was furious about this luck of information but giving it a second thought I start thinking this is a kind of extreme security as I noticed thought I was able to receive mobile phone calls I was unable to call over any of my multiple lines local or overseas and I could see network coverage was full well if not how do I receive calls?
The reasons of that are:-
Years ago when I was just a programmer I was assigned to task to computerise the exams, that is enter the printed names over a typewriter from the students affairs division and the exams schedule the subjects each student have to pass an exam and data entry will enter all that in a database I designed this database was in fact 4 different individual databases as at the time we had in the Institute of statistical studies and researches for short ISSR four different diplomas. In the databases -all similar no extreme programming skills I could alphabetically arrange the names of the students, and set up for each subject a date for the the exams then print the re-arranged names in their new position as a sit number and print the dates of the subjects as the computerised schedule of exams and sit numbers! Then the results the idea was that each professor will enter the results of his subjects exams, and in the future the student affairs personnel would have their own computer to enter new admissions straight in the database then I’ll develop the necessary software to follow up each student until he finally gets the PH Degree and may be become a member of the staff so all this information will be passed to the personnel division as someone -could be me again- will build up a database of the personnel!
All those dreams never come true, as the only computers available at the time were for training purposes of to be used by the programmers whenever available, and as well professors never entered the results of the exams it remained the task of data entry! And I did leave in special leaf shortly after that so no follow up on my project!
Now years later when I ended my special leaf and resumed work I was assigned once more the computerisation of Student Affairs, not as a programmer but as a system designer, here Internet was spreading in Egypt but still in its first steps comparing with another 3rd world country Antigua & Barbuda that was a full generation ahead of Egypt!
There in Antigua & Barbuda I used to use the Internet from home to complete tasks at work, I used to work at nights networking with my Computer system at work!
In this new task at my old job at ISSR I tried to locate my databases I left years ago no one could help me or pinpoint where they were! So I did not really needed them I was just curious to find out how much it was developed after I left obviously leaving was the end of that database, no problem I had in mind a more general system that will allow people to admit for the studies in ISSR through the Internet and avoid the crowds new admission season was creating, and the new students they had only to come with an identity proof the day of the admission exams and if they succeed then they will have to complete all documents of their credentials within the scholar year! Once again a dream never come true as I could not stand the retard systems and methods that were still in use in ISSR and soon enough I did leave again for a long sick leaf till retirement, but I was following the news through my ex co-workers who certified to me nothing changed in their old systems!
The fact is in Egypt birth certificates are issued computerised, that is health system is half way computerised as new born babies have a record in the health computerised system, since the national number was introduced in Egypt all adult -over 16 years old- citizens have a record in the ministry of internal affairs and so on, however we miss a general information system, each hospital has his own system not integrated in the ministry of health is the minister needs an information they have to start from scratch like if no citizen had any record in any computer system!
It is still a dream to accomplish tasks using the Internet avoiding crowds in transportation and offices and ... And... We will find on line forms to issue car licenses or smart cards for petrol and fuel or food provisions or ... But no one is there to check on those forms or execute them and after spending hours on the net filling up the forms and checking to see if the card is done then end up going still to the office and re-fill other paper forms with your hand writing and still have to bribe the employ!
Each Information Technologist thinks he is the best he can on his own build the system and he will spend his whole life gathering information but whoever succeeds him he will start all over from scratch cause what his ex-boss did was crap and the story continues, excuses are well known like:-
1. Database too big to fit a hard drive!
2. No real code to match similar records!
3. Still need manually to sort out doubles and correct mistakes!
Well simple solutions exist to all those excuses like modifying the database structure without loosing information adding a field or more to be your link to the same person data, or having the data base in separate hard drives as they grow up to fill up the hard drive taking in consideration some records become obsolete and useless overtime but we can never delete them like people died when we issue intelligent cards for food supported distribution by the government or fuel for cars records or new births in a data base filled up a hard drive 10 years ago, and yet computers can sort out mistakes of non matching records of a individual way faster than the manual procedure finally we can bind old and new records using the internet technology that needs to keep an eye on servers holding data all over the country!
Finally once all this excuses are properly treated we shall have a complete Information system!
This is what I started doing in the late seventies that was never accomplished so do I have a reason to be furious when I see an incomplete information system or not?
May God keep blessing Egypt and Egyptians I read a comment I liked and put it right here for Egyptians to read [You are Muslim for 1400 years and I’m Christian from 2000 years but we are all Egyptians from 4000 years] true may God keep blessing you all and may the peace of the Lord be with you ALL!
