SMS Host is a steaming pile

When it was time to replace our old hotel system with a new one, the company tested several different systems with the people who would have to be using them. They got feedback from a large number of people in multiple divisions. Then they completely ignored it and bought the cheapest software. So we got Springer-Miller Systems Host.

At first, it wasn't too bad. It was weirdly and inefficiently programmed and looked to have been made in parts by people with no overall plan or reference to what each other were doing. Finding out which groups are in house today involved processing every single active reservation in the system which is usually several hundred thousand. Prompts worked differently in every module. The workslate looked like it was from a different program entirely. Still, it more or less worked.

Then they stated to "upgrade" it. They started to replace the existing character interface with a graphical interface. I actually asked one of their people why and she said, "Because it's industry standard". That's the corporate version of "all the kids are doing it".

So the upgrade mainly consisted of tacking a slow, kludgy , glitchy, ugly resource hog of a graphical interface over the existing inefficiently, idiosyncratically programmed structure. For the most part, it added nothing at all while slowing the system to a crawl and making doing simple tasks difficult and time consuming. They are "upgrading" in stages so some functions use the graphical interface while others still use the old text interface. Some functions are still only accessed through the character based interface while some can only be accessed though the new graphical interface. Fun times.

The few actual new features are implemented in a half-assed, lazy sort of way. They added an option to pre-set parameters for reports instead of having to enter them every time like you had to do before. That's an actual, useful feature. However, the implemented it in a half-*** way that creates an endless pain in everyone's *****. When a user brings up the list of already set up reports, it should first sort by user and show them only their own reports. They should only be able to see, access and change parameters on those reports. It doesn't. It just puts up the full list. Everyone can see, access and change parameters on every report of that type set up. Guess what dumbass people are doing? Exactly. They are doing what anyone with two brain cells to rub together should have known they would be doing. They are going into the first random report of the right type they see, changing the parameters to suit their immediate needs and then leaving it that way because they are lazy. People can set up their reports ahead of time but they also have to review the parameters every time they run those reports in case some lazy dipshit has changed them.

Every time they "upgrape" the system it gets a little slower and glitchier. They manage to break some functionality every time. It usually isn't fixed until the next patch when they fix that but break two other things. It just keeps getting less and less useful.