My method to counter this was as follows.  It's a little tedious, but it works!

1.  Agree you don't HAVE to have access, but you will have to direct someone who
does have the rights to do some work for you.  Try to get it to be the person
most vocal that you don't have access.  Let's call them Bob, to make things
easier below.  Make sure both your and Bob's management sign off on this (get it
in writing).
2.  Do what you need to do, with the rights they give you.  When you hit the
wall (it will happen fast), send Bob a note with the EXACT things that need to
be done.  If a return code/result is needed by you, make sure you explain it, in
detail, to Bob, or just ask for Bob to copy/paste the screen in a note to you,
or attach the log files.
3.  15 minutes later, if it's not done, escalate Bob.  Bob is now interfering
with your ability to do your work, and Bob was selected to assist you, in step
1, and isn't getting the job done.


Obviously, problem determination can take days this way.  When asked why the
backups aren't happening (or, better yet, a restore won't work), you have a
paper trail of Bob's failure to do what he has been contracted to do.

As a result of Step 2, Bob will want to give you access.  As a result of Step 3,
the data owner on the client will want you to get access.  If that's not enough
to get you access, you will now have two allies in the fight.

Bob is obviously a ficticious name - used to protect the guilty ;-)


Nick Cassimatis
Distributed Systems Management / Storage Management

If you don't have the time to do it right the first time, where will you find
the time to do it again?