Re: Query/400 System Flowcharting or Other Documention -- MAPICS-L

Greetings,

May I suggest, (if you haven't already) set the Print Definition switch to Y under Define Printer Output. This may be found under the title of Select Output Type and Output Form of the main menu when creating or editing a query. This produces a very good (text based) document of the query, but will require one to edit each query.

Best Regards,

Robert W. Vass
Hitachi Electronic Devices (USA), Inc.

aldg wrote:

Hi Mapics ML:
In our shop, the prior cost accountant apparantly didn't have much love for the reports created by Mapics DB so he set up a large web of Query Definations and DB Files using Query/400. The actual numbers of Query Definations and DB Files in place (active and inactive) are staggering and perhaps even mindboggling. The result is that we create a huge number of Query/400 created reports daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
I've been trying to develop a method of documenting the different subsystems of Query Definations and DB Files that relate to a particular subject or report. I don't see anything in the IBM "Query/400 Use: Version 3" manual that discusses this point.
I went out and bought a Staedtler ADPs Flow Chart Symbols template but the symbols contained therein appear designed for more traditional data processing applications. I've tried to apply them to the above situation with limited success.
It seems to me that our shop is very deficient in not having written documentation in place to support the various groups of Query Definations and DB Files and I am trying to set the record straight.
It's generally easy to print out the Query Defination on "one" particular Query to gain an understanding of that particular Query but when you are dealing with groups of Queries that interact with each other to form new external DB Files, etc., the process gets very complicated.
How do you document a group of Query Definations and DB Files that interrelate to each other in some fashion? Is the flow chart template the best approach or are there better ones (spreadsheets, pencil and paper, etc.) that I should consider?
I look forward to your responces on this matter so please put on your "thinking caps." Besides your ideas, I would like to see some samples of your documentation if that is possible.
Regards.......
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Above message before copy enclosure (if any) was sent by:
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, OR 97526
aldg@mail.rvi.net & aldg@webtv.net;
and thru ICQ # 12342782
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