Solving Core Bug Issues on Unsupported RightAngle Versions

No one likes it when stuff doesn’t work. It is especially frustrating when you ask for help and are told you are unsupported, even worse than being told to turn it off and back on again. This is the case for a number of RightAngle users today. As of May 8, 2023, RightAngle S20.1 and every older version are “unsupported” by the vendor. This may mean something slightly different for each organization, but the bottom line is your core issues will not be fixed with a core product change unless you fork up more cash. You likely don’t want to burn the time, money, and business disruption to execute an upgrade. This begs the question: what are you supposed to do when your core bugs won’t get fixed? 

Fortunately, there are many options. While most would prefer a core code change, often you’ll find alternatives that can provide even better solutions with more flexibility. Triarc Support has approached this situation a few times as we offer support for many customers who are on “unsupported versions.” After the vendor says no to the core bugs we’ve logged, we’re left to help the customer in creative ways to provide relief. Here are the options we’ve explored and executed that allow you to approach core issues without core code changes:

Manual Intervention

‍I probably don’t have to explain this one to you. Everyone dreads it, and it is likely the default answer for most organizations when a core bug won’t be fixed. In one such instance, a support customer was experiencing incorrect behavior within the “Create Offset” button found on the Future Delivery Tool. Manual intervention was the only answer they knew. After utilizing the functionality, they would manually open the created items and correct them. This was of course taxing, time intensive, and, most of all, user-error prone. 
‍

Business Rules

‍If you are not familiar with the Business Rules concept around RightAngle, I can almost guarantee your environment has some already. These are pieces of functionality which allow you to add custom logic into various points of an entity’s lifecycle. In RightAngle, those entities include deals, movements, orders, etc.

This capability gives you the flexibility to inject resolutions during the saving of those entities, updating, creation, etc. This offers a consistent and deterministic way to resolve data bugs by cleaning them up before they hit your database. The downside depends on the narrowness of your scenario. These rules can be complex to write and only impact the buggy data. Adding too many can also increase the time it takes to work with those entities, as the more rules that run can increase the processing time (e.g., saving your work). 

‍‍‍

‍Custom Functionality

‍A step deeper and possibly a more complex resolution is to write a fully custom version of the broken piece of functionality. This could be as simple as a broken report getting a new criteria manager and inheriting the properties of the original one. But it could be as complex as a set of tasks and tables which produce accurate WACOG values as your business expects.

In the example of the “Create Offset” bug, Triarc Support produced a new custom version of the Future Delivery Tool which delivered proper logic per the customer’s request for the button on the custom version of the report. This eliminated the manual intervention and improved the accuracy of their actions within this process. ‍

‍

Outside RightAngle Resolutions

‍This will be a big concept for many, but you can build exactly what you want, how you want it, and even with the potential to introduce advanced features far beyond RightAngle’s own by producing a piece of software outside of RightAngle. The solution would be to build a different user experience or process for capturing the data or scenario which is a core bug. This provides the freedom to capture it exactly as you need and eliminate the buggy situation. Finally, once you have it as you need it, the APIs available from RightAngle utilizing a .NET platform afford you the necessary pipelines to deliver the properly formed data directly into RightAngle maintaining your system of record. If you’re more interested in understanding these APIs and the benefits of .NET extensibility of RightAngle, check out this blog from our sister organization Triangle Software. 
‍

There are more options than what I’ve highlighted, but most of the time you can solve your problems with those above. There are obviously other areas which can be a little stickier, such as database performance and .NET performance. In many of those cases, we may have to deploy any of the above solutions with additional options such as hygiene techniques, custom indexes, and, depending on your support status with the vendor, even custom SQL resolutions.

‍
The bottom line is it is possible to have a healthy and stable RightAngle environment while on an “unsupported version.” The product offers you the ability to interact, interject, and interface with it in manners which provide all the necessary access to fix every core issue we’ve seen. Some are large efforts—maybe so large they end up failing to justify the cost to resolve. But still yet, the option to fix it for good is available. 

‍

Triarc Can Help

The next time you find yourself staring at an immediate canned response stating you are on an unsupported version and your bug won’t get fixed, don’t fret! You have options. Explore those above with your internal development team, or better yet, just call us! We’re prepared to guide you through each of these challenging issues and provide resolutions which are non-user dependent and built for the future. 

If you’re in need of RightAngle support from a team of people who are both experts in their field and passionate about their work and the customers they serve, then give us a call. We can help to resolve your challenges and help you love RightAngle again!

‍