Re: Documentation needed -- BPCS-L

Welcome.

Just as BPCS is not free (it cost your employer many thousands of dollars to buy the software), likewise BPCS documentation is not freely available to download off the Internet.

There are open source ERPs in the marketplace, with freely available documentation. BPCS is not one of them. It is part of the for-profit commercial software capitalism industry.

I suggest you go explore the Archives of this BPCS_L list at http://archive.midrange.com/bpcs-l. and also look at my sig link http://radio.weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html (which is long overdue to be updated) as the question of access to documentation has come up many times, with many people sharing links to documentation, and providing guidance how to navigate what passes for documentation that comes with BPCS.

In summary here, BPCS comes with comprehensive documentation (such as BPCSDOC file accessible via DOC menu) that is very poorly indexed, and difficult to navigate with tools designed for navigating documentation. There are also security problems with the native BPCS resources for computer professionals. This has generated a market for better documentation, and several companies, independent of the BPCS vendor (SSA GT), have issued BPCS manuals, that individually cost around 150 to 400 US $, each.

I do not believe that there is any single manual that can communicate all of the BPCS Basics, but there are manuals that make BPCS concepts intelligible to people who individually specialize in one area, such as Accounting, Computing Management, Costs, Engineering, Inventory, Planning, Production Control, etc. There are also BPCS conferences, and classes in BPCS concepts.

There are classes in the BPCS basics ... they generally take a whole week, and cost in excess of 1,000 dollars American.

A lot of the documentation assumes you have a fundamental understanding of manufacturing concepts. If this is not true for you, then I suggest you also look into manufacturing education, such as that which is provided by APICS.

A lot of the documentation assumes you have a fundamental understanding of concepts relative to the computer platforms on which the software operates. If this is not true for you, then I suggest you check out what education, and documentation, is offered for people working on IBM and Microsoft platforms.

If we assume that your employer is NOT new to BPCS, then in all probability, the company already has some of this documentation, and you ought to go looking for it. For example, where does your company get its BPCS tech support? Several such sources (but not all of them) have very extensive Internet based documentation available to employees of its clients, and regular BPCS newsletters, which can be downloaded by people who are not yet clients.

What is ailing about BPCS_L?

hi,

         I am new to this ailing list & also to BPCS. I would like to
   have documentation for bascs of BPCS so that i can have my cocepts
   cleared. please send me some docuentation or links from where i can
   download these documents.

   0Aregards
   Gaurav

[IMG]

- Al Macintyre http://www.ryze.com/go/Al9Mac Find BPCS Documentation Suppliers http://radio.weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html BPCS/400 Computer Janitor at http://www.globalwiretechnologies.com/