Re: BPCS support alternatives

> From: ED_DAY@csiltd.co.uk 
>  
>  Al,
>       BPCS is written in RPG not ASSET, ASSET is a CASE tool used to
>  generate RPG! I would think that if SSA return to the days of non-ASSET
>  generated code, they will see an huge improvement in performance!

Ed

There are people who argued with me when I called As/Set a CASE tool.
They said it is LIKE a CASE tool, for someone who has never experienced the 
real thing.

I now understand that what BPCS & many ERP call PDM is LIKE Computer 
Engineering, but it is nothting like the REAL thing which you can study about 
at sites like http://www.pdmic.com/IPDMUG/index.html

As far as we AS/400 users are concerned, what As/Set DELIVERS to us is RPG, 
but is that also the case for the BPCS users on Unix & NT versions of BPCS?

The main problem with performance, as I understand it ... SSA wants to write 
one set of code & run it through some tool like As/Set & have the result WORK 
on As/400, Unix, NT, and whatever OTHER platform comes along that they can 
market BPCS to.  Performance considerations are secondary.

I believe there is a solution to this, without SSA having to increase 
programming staff to provide different service to the different platforms.  
If you saw the latest Midrange Systems magazine (Sep 4 Vol 13 #12) there is a 
column page 38 on IBM marketing painting a bulls eye on Oracle false claims 
that they're superior to UDB, but he says for IBM to win, they need to 
integrate UDB marketing with a set of tools useable on any platform.  This is 
not just IBM platforms.

It is pretty amazing to me that DB/2 is delivered on more platforms than any 
other vendor and beat Microsoft's SQL server to Windows 2000 data base 
certification.  

Did you know that business rules can be placed IN THE DATA BASE without 
programs to enforce that?  So for example, there could be a business rule 
that the cost, this level or previous level of CMF file is NEVER to be 
negative (we always have several that are negative & I suspect some bug or 
incomplete record that I have yet to track down).  How this works is that ANY 
program ANY user ANY bug that TRIES to put a negative into a cost is stopped 
... and error message at the DATA BASE level ... the FILE will not let any 
action violate the business rule.

Now if ERP complex rules can be put in the DATA BASE instead of in the 
programs, then ERP vendors can deliver their software package to EVERY 
PLATFORM for which IBM has delivered their data base capabilities.  For more 
info on what is possible in a package that takes business rules to the utmost 
... check out http://www.erros.co.uk/

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
MIS Manager Green Screen Programmer & Computer Janitor of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 
running on AS/400 V4R3 http://www.cen-elec.com Central Industries of 
Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and electrical 
sub-assemblies
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