Re: User Documentation

Susan --

Welcome to the rather small BPCS world, and to this list.  I see you
have already met Al Mac and Milt.

I had a couple of years experience as an SAP Basis administrator in
between PRMS and BPCS experience.  You will find BPCS to be at least
an order of magniude easier to comprehend and to work with than SAP,
particularly from a database and a user standpoint.

Depending on your experience with the iSeries, you may also want to
subscribe to the midrange-l and/or the rpg-l offered through
midrange.com.  You will at times wade through a bunch of technical
minutiae, when you are having the problem the minutiae is usually
helpful!

On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 08:25:33 -0400, Susan Kapplinger
<slkapplinger@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> All,
> 
> I am a new BPCS user but have a strong systems (SAP) background.
> 
> I need user documentation that:
> 
> *       Identifies the overall structure and module base of BPCS (system
> summary level)
> *       Explains module integration between the financial and
> non-financial modules  (financial entry, general ledger, sub ledger
> supported modules, MRP, purchasing and logistics, ABC, change
> management, etc. (system summary level)

I see that Milt at Unbeaten Path has pointed you to their reference
books.    The "Overview Training" guide should give you a good jump on
these two items.

> *       "Data Coordinator's" version of each module showing the in-depth
> table builds and relationship between the base tables.

You might also get some of this from the UPI book, but most of it you
will get from perusing the data directly.  Frankly, for the most part
the BPCS database is organized in a simple and straight-forward. 
Compared to SAP, you will find it refreshingly simple.

> *       Manufacturer implementation guidelines on customer/vendor
> coding, chart of accounts, transactional processing, etc.

As far as I know, there is no published "best practices", although you
can certainly get opinions if you pose questions or issues to the
list.  I do not know if SSA has guides for internal use or provided to
OGS (their support service) customers; my company discontinued OGS
long before I got here 2.5 years ago.

> *       Best resources for answering questions or reviewing solutions to
> problems encountered in the past.
> 
> What are the best sources?

If time is not an issue and you can afford to explain and put your own
effort into a solution, this list is actually an excellent resource. 
The list messages are kept on the midrange.com server, and searching
them can extraordinarily helpful.

There are a number of good organizations that offer support for a fee,
either on a contract or per call.  These same organizations offer
training, consulting services, and programming services.   I have had
good experiences with several; contact me offline if you want more
information.

> Susan Kapplinger
> SLKapplinger@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Phone  989-839-5997
> Cell      989-284-4784

Most messages on this list is saved on the midrange.com web site for
posterity.  Are you sure you want to put your cell phone in the
signature?

-- 
Tom Jedrzejewicz
tomjedrz@xxxxxxxxx