RE: Additional reports

[MJOconno <MJOconno@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gidday Dennis

We are running BPCS C/S 6.0.02 pld on a HP 9000 and Informix platform.
We are in the process of replacing our User Vision reports with Crystal.
We are using an IS Dept resource to produce the reports and where
possible we structure the reports to enable users to 
input the required parameters.
We currently report directly from production but are considering using a
reporting environment which would be updated each night.

We decided to replace UserVision as:
*       it was not considered to be user friendly
*       it was slow and affected system performance
*       SSA could not provide any assurance for its future 

Whilst user flexibility in being able to create and run reports at will,
appears to be an ideal solution, our  feelings and experience lead us to
believe otherwise. Whilst there may be merit in training some users who
have regular needs, most users needs are either infrequent or not
sophisticated, so training could be a waste of time and money. There is
also the risk of a semi educated user creating and running an
inefficient report.

Our strategy has been to provide a suite of everyday required reports
and develop 1-offs as required. Additionally, whilst Crystal can have
some problems with converting a report into a spreadsheet (e.g. every
2nd line is blank) regular users can work around this and obtain their
data requirements.

Crystal was chosen primarily because of its level of market penetration,
functionality, resource availability, potential portability if used with
other systems and consistency for users as it is being used throughout
the organisation across other systems.

I trust these comments are of use

BFN
Martin O'Connor
TOYOTA New Zealand Ltd
PO Box 46 PALMERSTON NORTH, NZ
Email          mjoconno@toyota.co.nz
DDI             NZ 64 6 350 3415
CellPh       A/Hrs 025 734952
http://www.toyota.co.nz
http://www.lexusnz.co.nz


                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Dennis Munro
[mailto:DMunro@badgerminingcorp.com]
                Sent:   Friday, 29 January 1999 10:27
                To:     'BPCS Users'
                Subject:        Additional reports

                We are running 6.0.02, C/S, plf., & March'98 cum tape
and have been live
                since August 1, 1998.

                What I am wondering is what other BPCS support staff is
doing for the
                reports that their users have requested.  Do you have a
3rd party product
                that lets the users do their own thing.  Letting the
users do their own
                thing sure helps an understaffed IS team but that will
probably cause me
                more work and headaches and wasted system resources in
the long run.

                UserVision is slow and will not be further enhanced.
SSA will not give a
                date or statement of general direction on its
replacement product.  
                Queries work to a point but are a system resource hog
and not really user
                friendly.
                Tried to convert some of the User Vision reports to
Access '97 but that
                definitely is not user friendly for most users.
                We have some Visual Basic experience on staff and I have
VB5 Professional on
                my machine.
                I have also "played" some with ASNA's Visual RPG product
and have the latest
                version installed.
                I have also talked to the mrc (michaels,ross, & cole)
people about their
                Productivity Series.  It just violates the requirement
that I not spend any
                more money.

                We have some alternatives but the problem is it all
needed to be done months
                ago and here we are trying to recommend a course of
action.

                Again, our IS team is trying to make a recommendation as
to what direction
                we feel the company should take and of course, do not
spend any more money.
                <VBG>

                I am looking for some ideas of what other users are
doing and what are the
                pluses and minuses of your approach.

                Dilbert's Words Of Wisdom:
                "I love deadlines.  I especially like the whooshing
sound they make as they
                go flying by."

                Dennis Munro    
                Badger Mining Corporation
                dmunro@badgerminingcorp.com
<mailto:dmunro@badgerminingcorp.com> 

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